Caregiving Heals?

[From A Report on Alzheimer Disease and Current Research -- For the non-specialist by Dr. Jack Diamond, scientific director of the Alzheimer Society of Canada]

An Exciting Proposal: Caregiving Could Be Promoting Brain Repair

Nerve sprouting from surviving nerve cells is a key feature of repair in the diseased or damaged nervous system. The new sprouts make connections with other surviving nerve cells, compensating for the connections lost when nerve cells died. Nerve sprouting is induced by growth factors among which NGF [[Nerve Growth Factor]] is very important.

However, there is another way to induce nerve sprouting [[Jonathon's note: discovered in 2005?]]; this is by initiating impulses (nerve messages) in the nerve cells. Experimentally this "driving" as it's called is done either by electrically stimulating the nerve cells, or by increasing the "sensory input", that is by providing increased sensory stimulation such as light, touch, sound, and so on.

Now in the parts of the brain that control feeling and thinking, the input that matters most is that from the social environment – from people talking and touching or caressing, physically and emotionally interacting with the individual. This means that the more of this "social stimulation" a person with Alzheimer's disease gets, the more likely it is that their surviving brain cells will be induced to sprout and restore lost connections. Not only that, but research is showing that in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease,"environmental enrichment", which is a form of increased social stimulation, actually reduces the levels of A-beta and the amyloid deposits. The caregiver, family member or anyone else involved with the person with Alzheimer's disease has a critical role here. We should never be put off by absence of immediate response because nerve sprouting and the subsequent making of connections with other nerve cells can take many months.

Now this proposal has obviously not been proven experimentally in humans, but a lot of animal research would support it, and anecdotal accounts from caregivers support it too. The emotional benefits of maintaining contact between people with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers and family members can only be guessed at, but the bottom line is – keep trying to communicate, keep talking, and keep on showing affection like holding and caressing (without overdoing it of course, which could cause distress to both sides). The thing to avoid at all costs is social isolation.

[The contents of this page are provided for information purposes only and do not represent advice, an endorsement or a recommendation, with respect to any product, service or enterprise, and/or the claims and properties thereof, by the Alzheimer Society of Canada. The information contained in this report was current at the time of printing, November 2006.]

The October 2005 version of this article also stated: