Sex and the brain

While most people associate herpes with skin sores, a new study suggests it could have much deeper effects – potentially influencing brain health decades later.

To explore this, researchers at Uppsala University conducted a 15-year-long study tracking 1,000 seniors to see how their cognitive function changed over time. Their results support previous hints that herpes could be linked to dementia.

While the exact reason for this connection isn’t fully understood, scientists suspect that repeated viral reactivations might contribute to chronic brain inflammation, a known factor in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

This discovery is raising new concerns about how infections we acquire earlier in life might shape our cognitive health as we age.