Toll From Stress: Links to Parkinson’s and other Diseases

From Scientific American Mind,( www.ScientificAmerican.com/mind) an article about brain disorders result from a complex interaction between our genes and the environments to which we are exposed. A set of recent studies has just uncovered an important environmental instigator of neurodegenerative disease: stress. It goes on to say that stress has been shown to have an adverse effects on numerous psychological condition The idea that stress may figure into neurodegenerative disease, is relatively new. The research was done on rats and monkeys, but the implications for human disease are pretty clear.
Their Fast Facts:
1. A recent wave of research has unveiled an important environmental player in the genesis of neurodegenerative disease: Stress
2. Pairs of identical twins developed Alzheimer’s disease in concert only 40% of the time, showing that factors other than genetics must contribute to the disorder.
3. Stress seems to impede the ability of certain brain cells to recover from insults, triggering aor aggravating the symptoms of disorders such as Parkinson’s.

We know from the work of Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn that telomeres show increased cellular aging in patient populations with increased stress, so it is not too surprising that Alzheimer’s would be influenced by increased stress levels also.
As readers of this blog know, stress is my particular area of interest especially using acupuncture as a mitigator of the stress response. (I have a page on my website here.)
Be Smart! Relax! And get your acupuncture! (As well as exercise, meditation etc…_
(For information about my practice, please click here.)