Impacts of Dementia on Human Brain

Dementia is a term mainly used to refer to various brain changes such as loss of memory, thinking, and behaviors. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the major causes of dementia, which involves damaging cells, leading to their inability to community and normally. Healthcare professionals argue that the likelihood of developing dementia increases with age. Therefore, the condition is more common among older adults than in younger individuals. This report focuses on what happens to the brain when people develop dementia since the condition involves changes in intelligence.

Shrinking of the Brain Leading to Memory Problems

Dementias are progressive diseases, and they get worse over time. Health practitioners have revealed that with the progression of dementia, the brain shrinks, and individuals encounter memory problems. In this case, the hippocampus is damaged as the brain shrinks due to its dead cells (Carr, 2017). The hippocampus is an important area since it enables individuals to learn new things and make new memories. Therefore, the shrinking of the brain affects this area and makes it difficult for people with dementia to remember new things, such as their recent conversations. Patients with Dementia can also develop amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the areas of the brain, causing them to experience changes in their memory. For instance, they are likely to experience loss of distant memories. The whole of the cerebral cortex is also affected and gradually shrinks, making it hard for the cells to communicate. Thus, the shrinking of the brain due to dementia largely leads to memory problems. Healthcare providers also revealed that dementia could spread to the whole brain, causing the brain to become small and gradually shut down all the body systems.

Damaged Frontal and Temporal Lobes

The human brain plays an important role in the decision-making process. Therefore, individuals with dementia experience problems when making various decisions since the condition interferes with how cells communicate. For instance, the frontal lobes enable individuals to make decisions and perform complex tasks. Hence, dementia impairs the frontal lobes, and tasks such as paying bills and following manual users become difficult to perform. Additionally, these individuals can display changes in their behaviors, whereby they display impaired judgment.

The temporal lobes are vital in humans since they enable them to recognize different images. The area controls the visual system and allows people to remember the pictures that they have seen before. Therefore, dementia impacts the temporal lobes since cells are destroyed and cannot communicate properly to enable an individual to recognize a particular image (Snowden et al., 2018). For instance, persons with dementia may struggle to recognize their friends and family due to their poor ability to know faces that should be familiar. Cases of people with dementia who experience encounters trying to locate their houses and getting lost in a familiar neighborhood have been experienced in many states. Consequently, both temporal and frontal lobes are primarily affected by dementia and have a major impact on the patient’s brain.

How Dementia Affects Language Due to Brain Damage

Language is another vital aspect controlled by the human brain. Typically, individuals have to remember different words and their meanings to socialize effectively. For instance, children are taught different words as they grow, making it easy for them to recall since they have a good brain and the cells are not damaged. In people with damaged brains due to dementia, communication becomes hard and encounters problems with intelligence (Banovic et al., 2018). The parietal lobe is vital as it helps humans develop their language and perform gestures and other skilled movements involved in communication. The area also enables people to understand written language. Hence, difficulty speaking and expressing thoughts due to the damaged brain cells is encountered by patients with dementia (Banovicet al., 2018). Healthcare providers have encouraged people to ensure that they provide care and monitor individuals with the condition due to such challenges. Using unusual words to refer to familiar objects and places is another issue related to dementia and can impact how the patients interact with other individuals. Thus, dementia disrupts an individual’s ability to understand spoken and written language due to the destruction of the cells of the parietal lobes.

Damaged Cerebellum Leading to the Loss of Balance

Many people with dementia lose balance while standing or walking due to the damaged cerebellum. Typically, the cerebellum is the part of the brain that controls body movements. Consequently, dementia impacts the cells in the cerebellum, causing an individual to encounter challenges in movement. Vascular dementia is one condition that may lead to loss of balance since it primarily affects the cerebellum. Moreover, the illness is caused by a lack of flow of blood carrying oxygen to the cerebellum. Some patients with the condition claim that they experience vertigo and can later encounter trouble with memory (Aggio et al., 2018). Therefore, another impact of dementia on the brain involves the cerebellum and people’s movement.

Conclusion

Dementia is a condition that has different impacts on the human brain. Many people with the condition have experienced various challenges that make their lives harder. For instance, the shrinking of the brain leads to memory problems. Language is also impacted by dementia since the illnesses damage the parietal lobes. The decision-making process is another vital aspect that dementia interferes with in humans since the frontal lobes are affected as the brain shrinks. Thus, various issues happen to the brain when people develop dementia.

References

Aggio, N. M., Ducatti, M., & de Rose, J. C. (2018). Cognition and language in dementia patients: Contributions from behavior analysis. Behavioral Interventions, 33(3), 322-335. Web.

Banovic, S., Zunic, L. J., & Sinanovic, O. (2018). Communication difficulties as a result of dementia. Materia socio-medica, 30(3), 221. Web.

Carr, P. (2017). Types of dementia: A introduction. British Journal of Healthcare Assistants, 11(3), 132-135. Web.

Snowden, J. S., Harris, J. M., Thompson, J. C., Kobylecki, C., Jones, M., Richardson, A. M., & Neary, D. (2018). Semantic dementia and the left and right temporal lobes. Cortex, 107, 188-203. Web.