How Does Alzheimer's Disease Erase Your Mind?

Alzheimer's Disease affects an estimated 6.5 million people of all ages. What exactly is it? What happens if you develop it?

Learn more about the relationship between music and memory, as seen in Stranger Things, in this video from Science to Save the World: https://youtu.be/Pn_J-f1-8dg

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What is Alzheimer's Disease?

Imagine waking up and not knowing what day of the week it is. Or the month, or even year. The room you wake in is unfamiliar and you can’t remember what you were supposed to do today. You go to the kitchen to make coffee, but can’t remember where it is. You go to feed the cat, but can’t remember if you already have. Then someone comes in and says “Good morning”, but you have no idea who they are.

This is what it's like to have Alzheimer’s disease.

This brain disorder slowly destroys memory, thinking, and eventually the ability to complete simple tasks, have conversations, or respond to stimuli.

In the United States, it's the 7th leading cause of death, affecting about 5.6 million Americans 65 years and older and 200,000 under 65 with younger-onset Alzheimer’s. Scientists are still working to determine the cause, but believe it’s due to a combination of genetics; health, environment, and lifestyle factors; and age-related changes in the brain.

Two key features of Alzheimer’s disease are plaques and tangles that develop in the brain. Plaques are deposits of the protein beta-amyloid that build up between nerve cells, or neurons, and tangles are twisted fibers of the protein tau that build up inside cells. Most experts believe that they block connections, and therefore communication, between neurons causing cell damage and death.

Currently, there is no cure, though there are several treatments to manage symptoms. But newer medications are being developed to prevent or delay the progression of the disease, including the recently app