WATCH: This Is Exactly What Alzheimer's Does to The Brain

Alzheimer’s disease is often misunderstood. Many think of it as simple forgetfulness—a condition that just comes with age.

But in reality, Alzheimer’s is a relentless neurological disease that systematically shuts down the brain, piece by piece.

For a disease that affects one in ten people over the age of 65, few truly understand what happens inside the brain when Alzheimer’s takes hold.

Unlike a visible illness such as cancer or an aggressive virus like Ebola, Alzheimer’s operates in the shadows—slowly rewiring and dismantling the brain over the course of years.

Recent research has uncovered the step-by-step process of how Alzheimer’s spreads like wildfire, leaving behind a devastating trail of destruction.

And with no known cure, understanding this disease is more crucial than ever.

Groundbreaking animations by AboutAlz.org help break down the complex science behind Alzheimer’s, showing how two rogue proteins—plaques and tangles—spread through the brain, systematically shutting down cognitive function.

The result?

A frighteningly precise and irreversible decline, starting with memory loss and ending with the body’s most basic functions shutting down.

But here’s the shocking part—Alzheimer’s doesn’t just attack the brain in random places. It follows a very specific path, destroying the mind in a predictable sequence.

How Alzheimer’s Spreads in the Brain

At the heart of Alzheimer’s disease are two abnormal protein fragments:

Plaques – Clumps of beta-amyloid proteins that accumulate between neurons, disrupting communication.
Tangles – Twisted strands of tau protein that choke neurons from within, leading to cell death.

These rogue proteins don’t appear all at once.

Instead, they attack the brain in stages, each one shutting down a different aspect of thinking, feeling, and movement.

Step 1: The Hippocampus – The Death of New Memories

The first victim of Alzheimer’s is the hippocampus, the brain’s memory formation center.

This is why short-term memory loss is often the earliest symptom. A person may:

Forget recent conversations
Misplace objects frequently
Struggle to recall new information

However, older memories remain intact—at least for now.

Step 2: Language Processing – Words Start to Slip Away

As the disease spreads, it attacks the temporal lobe, where language is processed.

At this stage, communication becomes difficult. A person may:

Struggle to find the right words
Repeat themselves often
Lose track of conversations

Even though they still understand speech, forming coherent sentences becomes a challenge.

Step 3: Logical Thinking – Decision-Making Collapses

Next, the frontal lobe comes under attack—the part of the brain responsible for reasoning and problem-solving.

This leads to:

Poor judgment (falling for scams, reckless spending)
Struggles with planning (difficulty following recipes or managing finances)
Impulsivity and irrational behavior

Step 4: Emotional Control – Mood Swings and Irrational Outbursts

Alzheimer’s then targets the amygdala and limbic system, which regulate emotions.

At this stage, a person may:

Become unusually aggressive or irritable
Cry or laugh unexpectedly
Show signs of paranoia or extreme anxiety

This is when Alzheimer’s starts to feel like a personality-altering disease, making it especially distressing for loved ones.

What If Everything We Thought About Alzheimer’s Was Wrong?

For decades, researchers believed that plaques and tangles were the root cause of Alzheimer’s.

But new studies suggest that they may not be the primary driver of the disease at all.

Some scientists now argue that Alzheimer’s is actually a metabolic disorder, closely linked to insulin resistance and energy deficits in brain cells—earning it the nickname “Type 3 Diabetes.”

This theory suggests that:

Glucose metabolism in the brain is severely impaired in Alzheimer’s patients.
Brain cells literally starve to death due to energy shortages.
The accumulation of plaques and tangles is a symptom of this metabolic dysfunction, not the cause.

If this is true, it means we may have been treating Alzheimer’s the wrong way for decades.

Instead of focusing on removing plaques and tangles, future treatments may need to target brain metabolism, inflammation, and insulin resistance—potentially changing the way we fight this disease.

When the Brain Shuts Down

As Alzheimer’s progresses, it spreads to the areas responsible for perception, movement, and even involuntary functions like breathing.

Step 5: Sensory Perception – The World Stops Making Sense

When plaques and tangles invade the parietal lobes, the brain struggles to process sights, sounds, and smells.

This causes:

Confusion and disorientation (getting lost in familiar places)
Hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t there)
Difficulty recognizing faces, even of close family members

Step 6: Long-Term Memory – A Life Slowly Erased

At this stage, old memories begin to vanish, taking away a person’s sense of self.

A person may forget their own name
Loved ones become strangers
Entire life events disappear

Step 7: The Brainstem – The Final Shutdown

The last area to be affected is the brainstem, which controls breathing, heart rate, and movement.

At this stage, a person loses:

The ability to walk, talk, or swallow
The ability to breathe on their own
Any remaining awareness of the world around them

Death usually occurs due to pneumonia, infections, or complete organ failure.

From start to finish, Alzheimer’s typically takes 8 to 10 years to run its course—though in some cases, it can progress much faster.

The Urgent Need for a Cure

Despite decades of research, there is still no cure for Alzheimer’s.

Current treatments like Aricept and Namenda can temporarily ease symptoms, but they do not stop or slow the progression of the disease.

However, promising research is underway:

Immunotherapy drugs are being developed to remove plaques more effectively.
Lifestyle changes (exercise, diet, and sleep) are proving to be powerful prevention tools.
Gene-editing technologies like CRISPR may one day be used to modify risk genes like APOE4.

For now, the best defense is early detection and proactive brain health—because once Alzheimer’s starts, there’s no way to reverse it.

Why Awareness Matters

Alzheimer’s isn’t just a memory problem—it’s a progressive brain disease that systematically destroys a person’s ability to think, feel, and function.

The more people understand how Alzheimer’s works, the better equipped we are to: