Why Is Maria Shriver Passionate About Protecting Your Brain Health
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Did you know that two-thirds of the 6 million people living with Alzheimers in this country are women? Me neither. Like me, Maria Shriver lost her father to Alzheimers. In the aftermath, the founder of The Women’s Alzheimers Movement was shocked to learn that the devastating brain disease affects women disproportionately, and not just directly. Two-thirds of the caregivers in our country today are women, says Shriver, shortly after headlining a panel at South by Southwest in Austin, TX, to draw attention to the overwhelming impact Alzheimers has on women. And these are primarily women who are also working, caring for young children, and adjusting their work lives in order to care for parents with Alzheimers, adds Shriver, who stresses the severe economic as well as social implications.
Its impacting every part of our society and our economy, says Shriver. Its impacting every home. Its impacting every business. Its impacting our politics. There are 40 million unpaid caregivers in our country today 17 million when it comes to Alzheimers and other forms of dementia alone. That doesnt even include people who are caring for special need kids, vets, people with Parkinsons, ALS.
Shriver’s father, Sargent Shriver, with his family Bobby, 10 Timothy, 4 Mrs. Eunice… Shriver holding 4-month-old Mark Maria, 8. Photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS.
Shriver testifies before Senate Special Committee on Aging in 2017.
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Boost Your Memory With These Neuroscience
Shriver pointed out that around this age, in addition to hormonal fluctuations, women are at the epicenter of their lives. They might be caring for young kids, theyre at the height of their careers and they may be caring for aging parents. All of this adds to psychological stress and chronic stress is a proven catalyst for Alzheimers.
So how do you boost brain health? Healthy eating, exercising, and keeping the mind busy with cognitive exercise is important throughout a womans life. Diabetes, for example, is linked to Alzheimers, while people on the Mediterranean diet have superior cognitive function. Poor sleep has also been linked to Alzheimers onset, she noted.
In your 20s, you should be thinking about how to keep your brain healthy. We didnt know this when I was in my 20s, Shriver said. There are things you can do in your 20s, 30s, 40s you can continue to learn, keep your brain engaged and focus on your sleep because thats when your brain clears itself.
Corporations should also do their part to reduce stress on women, according to Shriver.
We did a Shriver Report and asked women what was the one thing they wanted and they said time, Shriver said. Time to take parent to a doctor. Time to take myself to a doctor. Time to attend to a child…Corporate America is going to have to step into that place.
Brzezinski noted that women also face a new psychological contender: technology.
Tips For Keeping Alzheimers At Bay:
- Move more, move often. Walk, run, bike, swim, hike, dance, exercise.
- Sleep more.
- Eat the Mediterranean way. More veggies, more plants, and eat meat sparingly.
- Keep learning and keep your brain engaged.
In Ive Been Thinking . . . Shriver serves up golden nuggets of wisdom, honesty, and inspiration that take us out of our individual worlds and connects us to whats important, true, and meaningful in the journey of being human.Mark Hyman, MD, Medical Director of Cleveland Clinics Center for Functional Medicine
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Whats the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? For many
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Live With Maria Shriver On Alzheimers And A Meaningful Life
Maria Shriver has just released her newest book titled Ive Been ThinkingReflections, Prayers, and Meditations for a Meaningful Life. Full of inspiration, wisdom, and moving meditations, Shriver is certainly qualified to talk about living a life with purpose: she is a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist, an NBC News Special Anchor, a New York Times best-selling author, the founder of The Womens Alzheimers Movement, and a mother of four.
I recently interviewed Shriver on Facebook Live , and we took time to talk about Alzheimers, our time exploring Costa Rica for NBC, and living a life of both purpose and happiness. Although she spent most of her career as a journalist and producer, Shriver has spent the past decade focused on spreading awareness and searching for a cure for Alzheimers. Its both professional and personal her father, Sargent Shriver, died from the disease in 2011.
Shes on a mission to find a cure, but also to make women aware of the diseases gender gap. Women receive two-thirds of all diagnoses, and Shriver wants women everywhere to know that at 60 years old, they are twice as likely to develop Alzheimers disease than breast cancer. Weve included a short summary below the video.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Reveals How Maria Shriver Confronted Him Over Secret Son
Arnold Schwarzenegger lays out exactly how he was blindsided by his ex-wife.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Wants Maria Shriver Back
In the book called “Total Recall,” due out next week, Schwarzenegger says that it was on Jan. 4, 2011, when he and Shriver entered a therapist’s office for a meeting initiated by her the day after his term as governor of California came to an end.
“The minute we sat down, the therapist turned to me and said, ‘Maria wanted to come here today and to ask about a child — whether you fathered a child with your housekeeper Mildred,'” the actor and former pol wrote in the book. “I told the therapist, ‘It’s true.'”
Schwarzenegger says he then started groveling, telling his wife that he had “screwed up” and that she was the “perfect wife,” and that he was still “turned on” by her. It didn’t work, and Shriver separated from him, and later filed for divorce.
In the book, Schwarzenegger says he had sex with housekeeper Mildred Baena in 1996 in the family guest house while Shriver and their kids were away on vacation and he was in town filming “Batman and Robin.”
Schwarzenegger, 65, says that for years he tried to convince himself that Baena’s husband was the father of their son, Joseph. But when the boy grew up and the resemblance to Schwarzenegger was so strong, he writes, “I realized there was little doubt that he was my son.”
“I am my own woman,” Shiver said in a 2003 appearance on “Oprah.” “I have not been, quote, “bred,” to look the other way.”
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First Lady Of California
After Arnold took office, Shriver took on several key initiatives as First Lady, which included raising awareness of the contributions of women to the state, working on practical solutions to end cycles of poverty, and encouraging all Californians to engage in acts of service to their communities. Once Schwarzenegger was elected, Shriver had to cut back on her news reporting to avoid conflicts of interest.
Shriver began leading the California Governor & First Lady’s Conference on Women when Schwarzenegger took office in 2003. Under her leadership, The Women’s Conference event grew into the nation’s premier forum for women and, in 2010, attracted more than 30,000 attendees and 150 world opinion leaders over three full days. Each year, the event is held at the Long Beach Convention Center in October. Luminaries have spoken at the conference including Oprah Winfrey, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Sandra Day O’Connor, U.S. Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright, Barbara Walters, Warren Buffett, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Richard Branson, Bono, Billie Jean King, Gloria Steinem, and the Dalai Lama.
In 2004, Shriver was in attendance at both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention, attending the first to watch her uncle Ted Kennedy speak, and the latter to watch her husband speak.
What Really Happened To Maria Shriver
There are few people who have lived quite the life like Maria Shriver has. While you might just know her as a famous someone’s mother, or another famous someone’s wife, she is truly so much more than that. Shriver has had a very public life, having to endure many transitions in the public eye. Sure, she might be more privileged than most people, but she’s still pretty relatable and also somewhat down to earth, it seems.
That said, Shriver used to have a much more prominent presence, so where did she go? Well, she’s still out there, living her life, but a lot has changed over the years some of it good, some bad, and some downright dramatic. But when you look at what really happened to Maria Shriver, you might just become a fan of hers yourself. Seriously, Shriver has been through so much and come so far in her life that it’s pretty impressive.
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After Her Father’s Diagnosis Maria Shriver Started Talking About Alzheimer’s Disease Ten Years Later She’s Still Talking And People Are Beginning To Pay Attention
In 2003, Maria Shriver’s father, Sargent, was diagnosed with . Over the next decade, Shriver watched her once articulate, witty, whip-smart fatherfounding director of the Peace Corps, part of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, director of various War on Poverty programs, head of the Special Olympics, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedomdescend into . In the later stages of the disease, she had to introduce herself to him when she came to visita recollection, she says, that still makes her cry.
As a news journalist, Shriver was used to asking questions, getting answers, and sharing that information with others. Within a year of her father’s diagnosis, she was bringing those skills to bear on Alzheimer’s disease. “I didn’t know that much about Alzheimer’s,” she admits, “and no one could answer my questions, like ‘Why is this happening?’ and ‘What can be done to address the changes Alzheimer’s brings?'” To find the answers, she sought out doctors, researchers, and other families dealing with the disease. She wanted to know where the research was headed, how doctors treated the disease, and how families coped. She was personally familiar with the shame and embarrassment associated with the disease, and her experience was corroborated by others. She also knew that Alzheimer’s disease affects entire families, from spouses and partners to children and grandchildren.
COURTESY MARIA SHRIVER HACHETTE
Public Discourse
Raising Awareness and Funds
Detecting a Pattern
I Imagine A World Without Alzheimers
I challenge the belief that there is nothing we can do to prevent, reverse or cure it.
I challenge the belief that it affects men and women the same. Two-thirds of the brains affected by Alzheimers belong to women. Im determined to find out why thats why Im raising money and awareness about women-based research and thats why I founded the Womens Alzheimers Movement.
I will do everything I can to fight this disease, and I will never stop fighting until its defeated.
Join me in this fight at the Womens Alzheimers Movement.
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How Maria Shriver And Patrick Schwarzenegger Built A New Business Around Brain Health
After experiencing firsthand what Alzheimers does to patients and their families, Maria Shriver and Patrick Schwarzenegger have launched MOSH, a nutrition company focusing on brain food. The mother and son duo combined her passion for advocacy with his experience in company building to create and a product and brand that will have people thinking about their brain health. They talk to Darrell and Jordan about how having a co-founder who is also your mother can have some additional stress, how they view health food brands and the lofty promises of so many brands, and why we should all be thinking about our brain health no matter how old you are.
We loved our time chatting with Maria and Patrick, and we hope you love yours listening to the episode. And of course, wed love if you can subscribe to Found in Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, on or in your podcast app of choice. Please leave us a review and let us know what you think, or send us direct feedback either on or via email at , or leave us a voicemail at 936-1618.
Also, we’d love to hear more about you and your thoughts about Found through our new listener survey at bit.ly/foundlistenersurvey.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Cheated On Maria Shriver Very Publicly
Perhaps the most shocking and infamous scandal associated with Maria Shriver and her marriage to Arnold Schwarzenegger was when Schwarzenegger’s affairs came to light and one such affair resulted in a child. It was this devastating blow that caused Shriver to leave Schwarzenegger, and when it became public in 2011, she was understandably humiliated and moved out.
As hard as it was for Shriver, Schwarzenegger also explained that he knew he made a huge mistake. In a 2015 interview on The Howard Stern Show with Howard Stern, Schwarzenegger discussed the affair that ended his marriage. “I had personal setbacks, but this was, without any doubt, the biggest setback and the biggest failure,” he said. However, it doesn’t seem as though the couple has any chance of getting back together. With an affair that public, it’s no wonder Shriver has desired more and more privacy as time went on.
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Alzheimer’s: A Baby Boomer Epidemic
I am a child of Alzheimer’s. For many years, my father, Sargent Shriver, would testify before Congress for increased funding for his beloved Peace Corps — and for all the War On Poverty programs he started. My father was an idealistic, intelligent, optimistic public servant, sharp and witty, his mind a beautifully-tuned instrument that left people in awe and inspired. That was then…today he doesn’t know my name or who I am. When my Dad was diagnosed in 2003, I felt confused, powerless and alone. There was little information — and even less hope. My mother, my four brothers and I felt we were entering a world that was terrifying and incomprehensible. Like cancer, people didn’t talk about Alzheimer’s back then — they whispered about it. It was a diagnosis shrouded in shame.
That was the wakeup call Baby Boomers needed. After all, we are the generation who believed our brain-span would match our life-span. But now we were confronted with an epidemic — an epidemic that wasn’t just happening to “them.” An epidemic that would happen to “us,” too. And that scared us to death. All of a sudden, it seemed to me that people really started paying attention, and Alzheimer’s became front-page news.
It is time for this attention. Because someone is diagnosed in this country with Alzheimer’s every 70 seconds. And fully one third of Americans have a direct experience with this disease. The epidemic is growing.
A Conversation With Maria Shriver
As a mother of four, a bestselling author, award-winning journalist and wife of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver leads a very busy life. Despite her hectic lifestyle, theres one issue for which Maria always sets aside time: being an advocate in the fight for Alzheimers education and research for a cure.
Getting the word out about this ravaging dease is a personal matter for Maria. Six years ago, her dad, Sargent Shriver, was diagnosed with Alzheimers. Sargent Shriver was the founding director of the Peace Corps and creator of VISTA , Job Corps, Head Start and many other socially conscious programs. While watching her fathers condition deteriorate and realizing there was little informationand even less hope, Maria took it upon herself to be a voice of compassion, education and hope for families struggling with Alzheimers.
In May 2009, HBO debuted The Alzheimers Project, a four-part documentary, for which Maria served as the executive producer. As a multi-format project, The Alzheimers Project also includes a companion book, DVD of 15 short supplemental films, a website, and a nationwide community-based information and outreach campaign.
Preserving Your Memory magazine talked to the First Lady of California about The Alzheimers Project and her hopes for an Alzheimers cure in the near future.
Preserving Your Memory: The Alzheimers Project is a series of films focusing on many different aspects of Alzheimers. How did the project come to be?
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Media Career And Advocacy
In her book Ten Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Went Out Into The Real World , Shriver says that she became passionate about broadcast journalism after being sent to the back of the campaign plane with the press corps while volunteering for her father’s 1972 U.S. vice presidential race, calling these orders “the best thing that ever happened to me”. After her journalism career began with KYW-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she co-anchored The CBS Morning News with Forrest Sawyer from August 1985 until August 1986, co-anchored NBC News‘s Sunday Today from 1987 until 1990. Shriver also served as Saturday anchor 1989 & Sunday 1990 of NBC Nightly News. She was a contributing anchor on Dateline NBC from 1992 until 2004. In August 2003, Shriver took an unpaid leave of absence from NBC News when her husband became a candidate in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election.
Following her husband’s November 17, 2003, inauguration as the 38th Governor of California, she became the First Lady of California. She then returned to reporting, making two more appearances for Dateline NBC.
On February 3, 2004, Shriver asked to be “relieved of duties at NBC News,” citing concerns the network had over the conflict of interest between her role as a journalist and her status as the First Lady of California and her increasing role as an advocate of her husband’s administration.
The Shriver Report