Researchers based out of Munich, along with colleagues from the University of Minho in Portugal, have shown that stress may lead to the development or even acceleration of Alzheimer’s disease.

The scientists have found that stress hormones, which are released when a person is feeling stressed, may damage or even kill nerve cells in the hippocampus, which plays an important role in learning and memory, as well as in the prefrontal cortex, which regulates higher cognitive functions.

According to Osborne Almeida, from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Germany, "Our findings show that stress hormones and stress can cause changes in the tau protein like those that arise in Alzheimer's disease”.

The research showed that the release of stress hormones may lead to an excess of tau protein in the brain. This overabundance of tau protein then causes protein deposits to develop on nerve cells in the brain, which can damage and kill the cells.

This ultimately leads to memory loss and reduced cognitive functioning like that experienced by people suffering from Alzheimer’s.

These results support the findings of previous studies that have shown that stress leads to the formation of beta-amyloid, another protein implicated in Alzheimer's disease.

Since less than ten percent of Alzheimer cases are believed to have a genetic basis, these studies demonstrate the need for further research into the factors that contribute to Alzheimer’s.