Chris Hemsworth says he’s at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in the future; find out the causes, signs

For the unversed, Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder that causes the brain to shrink (atrophy) and the brain cells to die. The disease is a form of dementia, which is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth)

The 39-year-old actor, who is a father of three, told Vanity Fair that while it is not really a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, it is still a cause for concern since it puts him at a higher risk of developing the disease in the future. “My concern was I just didn’t want to manipulate it and over dramatise it, and make it into some sort of hokey grab at empathy, or whatever, for entertainment. It’s not like I’ve been handed my resignation,” Hemsworth was quoted as saying.

He added that the crew took his “bloodwork and did a bunch of tests”.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by National Geographic TV (@natgeotv)

“The plan was to on-camera tell me all the results and then talk about how you can improve this and that. And Peter Attia, who is the longevity doctor in that episode and overseeing a lot of the show, called [show creator] Darren [Aronofsky] and said, ‘I don’t want to tell him this on camera. We need to have an off-side conversation and see if he even wants this to be in the show.’ It was pretty shocking, because he called me up and he told me,” the actor told the publication.

He later added that “to all of a sudden be told some big indicators are actually pointing to this as the route which is going to happen, the reality of it sinks in”.

What is the APOE4 gene?

The gene has three varieties — APOE4, APOE3 and APOE2. According to Dr Praveen Gupta, director-neurology, Fortis Hospital Gurugram, if a person has one APOE4 gene, the risk of Alzheimer’s increases by 2-3 times; if they have two, the risk can increase by 8-12 times.

“APOE4 does not cause Alzheimer’s disease, but it increases its risk, which is then modified by environmental and other factors. Unfortunately, we cannot modify the gene at this point and decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s,” the doctor said.

Dr Annu Agarwal, consultant-neurology, specialist cognitive and behavioural neurology, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai concurred and explained that while we all have an apolipoprotein E gene in our bodies, with Alzheimer’s disease, people with a particular type of APOE gene are more at risk of developing it.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth)

Common symptoms of Alzheimer’s

Dr Vinay Goyal, director-neurology, Institute of Neurosciences, Medanta Hospital, Gurugram listed them as follows:

*Increased memory loss and confusion — for example, people frequently forget what they had for breakfast, who they met in the morning, and so on.
*Loss of recent memory over time; people tend to remember only things from their childhood.
*Lack of ability to learn new things.
*Language difficulties, as well as difficulties reading, writing, and working with numbers.
*Difficulty organising thoughts and reasoning.
*Short attention span
*Inability to identify and locate places; for example, some people are unable to locate their rooms and bathrooms in the house.
*Lack of time orientation
*Disturbed sleep

📣 For more lifestyle news, follow us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook and don’t miss out on the latest updates!