Dr. Majid Fotuhi

on a test of cognitive functions.

People who have a sense of purpose in life perform much better in tests of cognition than people who have low sense of purpose, even though both groups have plaques and tangles in their brain.

There is something magical about having a sense of purpose in life.

It has biological differences.

And the study in Wisconsin showed that if you look at MRIs and look at the number of neurites, how many synapses they have,

People with a sense of purpose in life have actually more synapses.

than people who don't.

This is interesting because we can't have animal studies.

We can't have like mice who have a sense of purpose in life.

So it's hard to do hardcore scientific studies.

But for sure, we know that people who have a sense of purpose in life have better brains, better hearts, better quality of life.

So there are two proteins in a brain that accumulate over time that eventually becomes significant enough to shrink the brain and cause Alzheimer's disease.

You and I have some amyloid in your brain as we're sitting here.

Amyloid has a natural functions in the brain.

And tau is also part of the microtubules, the scaffolding inside neurons.

Neurons have these long axons and tau is a part of the structure of these neurons.

Amyloid levels increase when you get to your 60s and 10 years later or five years later, then tau goes up in parallel to that.

So if amyloid comes first, tau comes second, and these are toxic.

People have early onset Alzheimer's disease, people who develop Alzheimer's disease in their 50s have loads of plaque rectangles, and for them, that's the main source of brain shrinkage that causes Alzheimer's disease.

Older adults, people in their 70s and 80s,