21–30 of 51 posts
*Alcohol abuse is largest risk factor > Most reviews point to a possible beneficial effect of light-to-moderate drinking on cognitive health... By contrast, heavy drinking seems detrimentally related to dementia risk, whatever the dementia type.
Citation needed
Heavy drinking. Given this is France, what is heavy drinking?
It's defined in the article. Around 4-5 standard drinks a day for Men or 3 for Women. Which is quite a bit of drinking.
Alcohol interfers with sleep, specifically the ability to remember information and to form new memories by harming and reducing REM sleep. This effect lasts for stuff you learned days earlier (read a book on Monday, get drunk on Wednesday night and you'll remember less than you would have otherwise). Alcohol and sleep don't mix. He recommends you drink earlier in the day (the closer to bed time the worse) and to not consume too much.
Based on this book, I largely no longer drink during the week after work (he also recommends not drinking caffeine much past noon). I've changed my habits, and am sleeping better.
Better sleep will make your mind sharper. It's not just the amount of sleep you are getting, however. Quality is really important. Alcohol interferes with our ability to sleep, specifically, REM sleep, and if you allow decades of daily interference with such a critical life system, I could see it leading to cognitive decline. Even if you don't get dementia, drinking alcohol too late in the day will cause cognitive issues.
*Alcohol abuse is largest risk factor > Most reviews point to a possible beneficial effect of light-to-moderate drinking on cognitive health... By contrast, heavy drinking seems detrimentally related to dementia risk, whatever the dementia type.
> Most reviews point to a possible beneficial effect of light-to-moderate drinking on cognitive health. Citation needed
Heavy drinking. Given this is France, what is heavy drinking?
It's defined in the article. Around 4-5 standard drinks a day for Men or 3 for Women. Which is quite a bit of drinking.
The scientific article states alcohol use disorder, not alcohol use. The scientific article is about early onset dementia, not all dementia. The scientific article uses a large sample size, but the entire population is French. I would rewrite the title "Alcohol use disorder is the largest risk factor for early onset dementia in French population."
I'm not French and I am not close to anyone who is, so there is nothing in here of any possible relevance to me? While there are a lot of posters here eager to point out the limits to what this study formally investigates, the inclusion of the French dimension underscores my suspicion that finding a reason to regard this study as irrelevant to one's specific circumstances is not the best way of looking at it.
It's not that those things make this completely irrelevant to you, it's that the blanket statement "Alcohol use largest risk factor for dementia" is not proven by this study, due to the earlier commentor's points.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Most reviews point to a possible beneficial effect of light-to-moderate drinking on cognitive health. Citation needed
You can actually find citations. The real question is much the funding from alcohol companies influenced the direction of their research.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Most reviews point to a possible beneficial effect of light-to-moderate drinking on cognitive health. Citation needed
You can actually find citations. The real question is much the funding from alcohol companies influenced the direction of their research.
The scientific article states alcohol use disorder, not alcohol use. The scientific article is about early onset dementia, not all dementia. The scientific article uses a large sample size, but the entire population is French. I would rewrite the title "Alcohol use disorder is the largest risk factor for early onset dementia in French population."
I'm not French and I am not close to anyone who is, so there is nothing in here of any possible relevance to me? While there are a lot of posters here eager to point out the limits to what this study formally investigates, the inclusion of the French dimension underscores my suspicion that finding a reason to regard this study as irrelevant to one's specific circumstances is not the best way of looking at it.
> finding a reason to regard this study as irrelevant to one's specific circumstances
It's more about being precise about what exactly the study found. There's a real problem with legitimate studies being reported as something sensational, and then when the headline is proven to be false the public loses respect for the scientific process.
The scientific article states alcohol use disorder, not alcohol use. The scientific article is about early onset dementia, not all dementia. The scientific article uses a large sample size, but the entire population is French. I would rewrite the title "Alcohol use disorder is the largest risk factor for early onset dementia in French population."
I'm not French and I am not close to anyone who is, so there is nothing in here of any possible relevance to me? While there are a lot of posters here eager to point out the limits to what this study formally investigates, the inclusion of the French dimension underscores my suspicion that finding a reason to regard this study as irrelevant to one's specific circumstances is not the best way of looking at it.