What causes dementia?

Dementia needs no introduction. It’s a brain disease caused by brain injury. This brain injury can be inflicted externally as well as internally. By saying so we mean, you can meet with an accident and therefore, your brain cells can be affected. On the other hand, you can suffer from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease. In either case, you become a victim of dementia.

To know the cause of dementia you have to essentially know the type of dementia. Vascular dementia for instance is caused by less of blood supply to the brain cells that leads to the death of the brain cells over a period of time. Again, some of the dementia such as frontotemporal dementia (a diverse group of disorders that affect frontal and temporal lobes of the brain) can run into families.

Causes of dementia therefore can be manifold. We however outline here the most common ones for your general awareness and treatment. 

1. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia: It is the most common type of dementia that accounts for nearly 80 to 90 percent of the patients suffering from dementia. The grey matter of the brain process thoughts and does a lot of work as per the demand of the situation; namely - remembering and calculating. Alzheimer’s disease causes protein deposits (known as plaques and tangles) in the brain cells and makes the brain shrink.     
2. Frontotemporal dementia: Dementia is the family name of all those small disorders put together that result in progressive cell degeneration. When dementia is caused by the damage to the frontal lobe (areas behind your forehead) and temporal lobe (areas behind your ears) of the brain it is then called frontotemporal dementia. Frontotemporal dementia affects your behavior and personality as a whole.
3. Vascular dementia: Vascular dementia is caused by the break in blood supply to the brain cells. When fat is continually deposited inside the walls of the blood vessels the path carrying the blood into the blood vessels then squeezes. A situation like this leads to break in blood supply to the brain cells causing their deaths.
4. Lewy bodies dementia: This is caused by another type of protein formation inside the brain cells that look like roundish lumps and small in size. The exact reason for such protein deposits and how they cause brain damage leading to dementia are not yet known. But, Lewy bodies dementia is close to Parkinson’s disease.
5. Brain tumor dementia: Brain tumor too can cause dementia. Tumor inside the brain causes blood vessels to narrow and stiffen. Brain tumors usually grow exponentially and some of them become malignant causing huge damage to the brain cells and dementia. The initial symptoms of brain tumor are severe and persistent headaches and seizures. 
6. High stress dementia: People in IT sector or in sales are usually subjected to high stress. Stress is followed by high blood pressure and depression. Over a period of time they affect the brain cells and dementia in the end.

From a commoner’s perspective dementia is a kind of memory loss. Things like alcohol abuse too can cause dementia.