The Spiritual Life and Alzhiemer's

Spirituality May Slow Alzheimer's

Researchers in Israel have completed a study that suggests an involved spiritual life may help to reduce the chances of cognitive decline. The benefit of connecting with people, emotional engagement, and other social activities could be important contributors, in addition to the benefits of positive thinking and optimism.

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A rewarding spiritual life may help slow the devastation of Alzheimer's disease.

"The data suggest there may be an association, meaning people with higher levels of spirituality and religiosity have a slower progression of Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Yakir Kaufman, director of neurology services at Sarah Herzog Memorial Hospital in Jerusalem.

Kaufman, who conducted the research while a fellow at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto, was to present the findings April 13 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, in Miami Beach.

Kaufman and his co-authors, however, stressed the need for caution when interpreting the results.

"This is the first study to actually attempt to look into a relationship between spirituality and religiosity and Alzheimer's disease," Kaufman said. "We did not specifically look into the mechanisms, and we certainly need to replicate these results and do a larger study."

Vincent Corso, a former priest who is now manager of spiritual care and bereavement services for Visiting Nurse Service of New York Hospice Care in New York City, said he was not surprised by the findings, however preliminary.

"People who are connected with a spiritual presence in their life, whether it takes the shape of a family member, close friend, support network, meditation or yoga, have a sense of peace and probably, by extrapolation, longevity," he said. "What's important to people is how much they're able to connect with the people around them. If that creates a feeling of well-being, then that aids in the healing process."

Other research not related to Alzheimer's disease has started to show a relationship between spirituality and better health outcomes.

"There's a growing body of data showing the positive effects of higher levels of spirituality/religiosity on health outcomes, especially in other disease states," Kaufman said. That data includes studies on other neurological conditions.

For this study, the researchers assessed 68 people who met the criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease. Participants were asked to complete a structured questionnaire which included questions such as how spiritual the participant viewed themselves, how often they attended religious services and how often they engaged in private religious activity such as prayer, meditation or Bible study. There were also several true or false items, such as, "In my life, I experience the presence of the divine" and "My religious beliefs lie behind my whole approach to life."

Participants who had high levels of spirituality or of religiosity seemed to have a slower progression of cognitive decline.

The authors were reluctant to posit any reason for this relationship. "We can't do speculations based on our study but, in other disease states, there are several factors that may be causing this effect," Kaufman said. "Some could be related to well-being. Some have been related to stress."

Instead of dwelling on possible explanations, Kaufman said he was considering doing another, larger study to try to replicate the results and look into the possible mechanisms.

"The findings of this study need to be replicated before one can start drawing conclusions," said senior study author Dr. Morris Freedman, head of neurology and director of the behavior neurology program at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. "This is one study. It needs to be repeated."

Alzheimer's Survey on NPR

Jerry Yesavage, who heads the Stanford/VA Alzheimer's Center, was on NPR yesterday with Michele Norris in a discussion about Alzheimer's treatments.


Several drugs are currently FDA-approved to treat Alzheimer's disease. At best, these drugs lead to only modest improvements in the cognitive functions of patients; none can stop the destruction of brain cells that underlies the illness.

Michele Norris surveys the current treatment landscape with Jerry Yesavage of Stanford University's Alzheimer's Disease Center.

Facts about Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease gradually destroys brain cells, extinguishing a person's memory and ability to learn, reason, communicate and care for themselves. The disease advances at different rates, lasting from three to 20 years.

The first symptoms people notice are often forgetfulness and confusion, progressing to profound memory loss, language problems and difficulty performing everyday tasks.

Scientists believe that by the time symptoms emerge, brain damage has already begun. As Alzheimer's progresses, sufferers may exhibit changes in their personality, such as anxiety, suspiciousness or agitation, delusions or hallucinations.

Eventually, the loss of brain function will kill an Alzheimer's patient, even if that person isn't otherwise seriously ill.

Risk Factors

There's no single cause of Alzheimer's disease. The most common form of the illness is late-onset Alzheimer's, which mainly affects people over age 65. The risk of developing the late-onset disease increases with age and family history of the disease. Scientists have also discovered one gene that boosts the risk.

Rare types of Alzheimer's linked to specific genes have been found in a few hundred families around the world. Individuals who inherit the genes are almost certain to develop the disease, sometimes as early as their 30s.

Alzheimer's has no known cure, but preliminary evidence suggests that controlling blood pressure, weight and cholesterol levels, keeping mentally and physically fit and staying socially active may help reduce the risk of developing the disease.

Causes

Scientists regard two different brain abnormalities as hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease -- "plaques" and "tangles." Plaques are protein deposits on the outside of brain cells that result from a protein called beta-amyloid. Tangles are deadly, twisted strands of another protein (called tau) that form inside brain cells.

Alzheimer's researchers disagree on whether plaques or tangles are the primary cause of the disease. However, research over the past couple of years has suggested that plaques outside of brain cells may trigger an enzyme inside the cells that in turn causes tau proteins to form tangles.