Dr. Betty Murray explains how the APOE4 gene, which emerged during the ice age to help humans survive injuries and cold, may increase dementia risk in modern life through chronic inflammation and arterial buildup. Sleep is a modifiable factor that could influence these pathways.
Let's talk a little bit about sleep. So sleep is one of those major areas. And again, I talk to a lot of women because I'm online doing webinars every day, or not every day, it feels like every day, which I love doing. But I talk to a lot of women who are very worried about dementia and Alzheimer's. That is my absolute biggest fear. I don't— let me lose my mind and have my physical body. I do not want that. And You know, we have a lot of things that can contribute to that. One of them is the APOE4 gene. So the 4 gene came about in human evolution when we needed to be able to create a significant inflammatory response to injury and infection. And this is actually during one of the ice ages when humans went— when apes went to something that looked a little more human and we went from being an herbivore to an omnivore. We got on the ground, we started hunting for food, and we were more subject to injury and infection. And so the ApoE4 gene was born. Now that 4 gene helped us because we got an infection, we could get a really quick inflammatory response. It also elevates cholesterol, increases lipid peroxidation and lipid accumulation potentially in the arteries as we get older. So that short-term support for inflammation that allowed us to thrive in a potentially violent and illness-producing environment also potentially put us at greater risk for inflammatory response later on. So if you are a carrier of an APOE4 gene, so you can have a 4,3, a 4,2, or a 4,4.
