How To Fight Alzheimer’s Disease

What Is Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimers disease, the most common form of dementia is a progressive, terminal brain disorder that has no known cause or cure. Alzheimers steals the minds of its victims, leading to:

• Memory loss
• Cognitive problems
• Inability to communicate or care for oneself

The disease is also hard on families, who provide the majority of caregiving. About 7 out of 10 people with Alzheimers or other dementias are cared for at home. Caregiving can be difficultfamily and other unpaid caregivers may experience high levels of emotional stress and depression.

Ways To Prevent Alzheimers Disease Naturally

While the research is promising, with the National Institute on Aging backing multiple clinical trials, studies so far have not conclusively shown that lifestyle changes or dietary supplements can prevent or slow Alzheimers.5 However, while further studies and trials are on, there are some things you can do to improve your health both mental and physical. This, in turn, could possibly improve your chances of warding off Alzheimers

Tips For Cutting Down On Alcohol

• Set yourself a limit and keep track of how much youre drinking.
• Try low-alcohol or alcohol-free drinks.
• Try to alternate between alcoholic and soft drinks.
• Take advantage of particular dates and events to motivate you. For example, you could make a new years resolution to drink less.

Risk factors you can’t change

Discover how age, genetics, gender and ethnicity can affect your risk of developing dementia.

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Give Your Brain A Strong Heart

Your heart and brain are strongly connected. A healthy heart gives you a better chance for a healthy brain. 80% of people with Alzheimers disease also have heart disease. It is possible that the decline in the brain is not noticed unless it is paired with poor heart health. Evidence suggests that controlling high blood pressure could be key to better brain health.

Action Strategy: Have your blood pressure checked by a health professional regularly. If you have high blood pressure, discuss steps to improve your heart health. For example, take 5 deep breaths every hour to reduce stress. Make sure to exercise regularly and eat a heart-healthy diet.

Change Where You Put Things

Your brain becomes used to having certain objects in certain places. It knows, for example, that your underwear is in the top of your dresser, or that you keep milk in the fridge. By doing this, we become a little lazy and do everything from memory.

Challenge yourself to put things in new places. What if you put your underwear in a new drawer? You can change the furniture layout in your house. You could even change where your desk is in your office.

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Consider A Senior Living Community

Senior living communities make keeping up with your cognitive health and overall wellness much easier than if you lived at home alone. Exceptional communities offer more than just socialization opportunities, fitness classes and healthy nutrition at every turn. They are hubs of activity for other adults who want to make wellness the focal point of their retirement.

Learn more about Life Plan Communities, including their benefits and features, by downloading our free resource, The Complete Guide to Life Plan Communities.

Other Exercises To Prevent Alzheimers Disease

Besides the previous exercises, there are many other activities you can put into practice. These exercise your brain and can prevent the onset of Alzheimers:

• Walk backward without turning your head.
• Do word searches, sudoku, and riddles.
• Wear your watch on your other wrist.
• Get dressed with youreyes closed.
• Read magazines upside down.
• Be curious, look up interesting information about anything.
• Be positive.

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Eat A Mediterranean Diet

A recent study showed that full or even partial adherence to the Mediterranean diet can help promote brain health. The Mediterranean diet includes fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, legumes and fish. You can also eat moderate amounts of poultry, eggs, and dairy, and drink moderate amounts of red wine. Red meat should be eaten only sparingly.

Scientists Say They’ve ‘turned A Corner’ On Alzheimer’s Research

As many as 5.8 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s a leading cause of death among US adults. Nearly 122,000 Americans died of the disease in 2019, according to the latest available data.

Alzheimer’s deaths are also becoming more frequent as more Americans reach old age. From 1999 to 2019, the US mortality rate for Alzheimer’s rose 88% from 16 deaths per 100,000 people to 30 deaths per 100,000 people. That death rate may be an underestimate, since people with cognitive decline sometimes have difficulty seeking an Alzheimer’s diagnosis or suffer from other health conditions.

But in the past five years or so, Cummings said, new technologies such as brain scans and blood tests have made it easier to confirm Alzheimer’s diagnoses and measure how well treatments are working.

“It just feels like we have turned a corner,” Cummings said.

In addition to Aduhelm, he said, a few other antibody drugs have shown promise. The pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly plans to submit data for its Alzheimer’s drug, donanemab, to the FDA by the end of the year, which puts it on track for approval in 2022. Two more companies, Biogen and Eisai, are jointly completing an FDA application for their antibody drug, lecanemab.

“These other drugs that are very like” Aduhelm appear to produce a “clinical benefit,” Cummings said.

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Speak A Second Language

Learning a second language can help you out during your next international trip and help you feel empowered because you are learning something new. But learning a new language can also help improve your cognitive skills, helping to keep dementia at bay. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America reports that lifelong bilingualism can prevent cognitive decline and may help delay the onset of dementia.

If you havent been speaking a second language for your lifetime, dont despair. You can still reap significant benefits from learning a new language in your senior years. The Glasgow Memory Clinic states that people who learn a new language tend to have lower rates of dementia and memory issues later. While direct reasoning is not yet determined, it appears that learning a new language can cause resiliency in the brain, helping to reduce the chance of dementia or even delay its onset.

Dementia Symptoms Caused By Alzheimers

One of the tricky things about dementia is that it has many varied, co-occurring symptoms. Typically they dont all emerge at once, and you might not experience them all, but the symptom spectrum includes:

• Disorientation and confusion
• Feelings of being overwhelmed by routine tasks and obligations
• Forgetfulness, even around the familiar

This symptom list may frighten you at first, but its important to know that if youre armed with forethought, knowledge of your family history, and an openness to our counseling on prevention, you can become an empowered patient.

As to the specific cause of Alzheimers, it remains unknown. However, theres growing thought that lifestyle factors may contribute to the development of this disease.

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Top 16 Foods That Lower Your Risk Of Dementia

One of the easiest ways to reduce your risk of Alzheimers and dementia is to change your diet. Sometimes called an Alzheimers diet, eating brain-healthy food can prevent the disease. In the earliest stages, it may even reverse cognitive decline.

What is the best diet for Alzheimers? The best diet for Alzheimers is Dr. Bredesens KetoFLEX diet. This diet encourages a mild version of the keto diet combined with metabolic flexibility. It also promotes 12-hour fasting periods every day, including at least 3 hours fasting before bedtime.

Research has also shown the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay diet reduces the risk of Alzheimers and dementia. This diet is a hybrid between the Mediterranean diet and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension .

Can Alzheimers be reversed with diet? In the earliest stages of cognitive decline, adhering to an Alzheimers diet may reverse cognitive decline. Unfortunately, theres no surefire Alzheimers cure. However, we have personally observed patients whose cognitive decline was reversed after making lifestyle changes, including changing their diet.

Can dementia be reversed with diet? Advanced dementia cannot be reversed with diet. However, the KetoFLEX 12/3 diet shows promise in slowing cognitive decline and early stages of dementia. Avoid most carbohydrates and focus on healthy fats and non-starchy veggies.

• Watercress
• Bok choy

Limit Your Brains Exposure To Alcohol

The American Addiction Centers reports that drinking alcohol can increase dementia risk. A study found that people who drink 5 or more bottles of beer in one sitting were 3 times more likely to have dementia by age 65.

Action Strategy: Binge drinking is hard on your brain. Drinking large amounts of alcohol can stop your neurons from re-growing. If you choose to drink, limit yourself to one glass of wine or other favorite drink. If you are concerned about your own drinking or a loved ones, seek professional help.

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How To Prevent Dementia 10 Strategies To Reduce Your Risk

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are ways to decrease your risk of dementia. Studies are showing us that healthy lifestyle choices can prevent many forms of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. A healthy lifestyle can also improve your cognitive function. While there is no definitive way to prevent dementia, these 10 healthy lifestyle strategies may help you reduce your risk.

Foods That Can Fight Dementia And Alzheimers Disease

Dementia and Alzheimers disease are thought to be caused by a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors including diet and nutrition. Health conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity may also contribute to cognitive decline, and are often affected by the foods you eat. Practicing good nutrition and eating lots of healthy foods is shown to help reduce your risk of dementia and Alzheimers disease as you become older.

Here are 7 foods that can fight off cognitive decline and help you stay healthy as you age:

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First Human Clinical Trials For Nasal Vaccine To Prevent Alzheimers Disease Begin At Boston Hospital

• New Alzheimers Vaccine Enters Phase I Clinical Trials at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston
• The vaccine is a two-dose nasal spray that uses Protollin, a chemical that can boost the immune system and activate white blood cells
• Researchers hope this activation will remove neuron-choking plaques in the brain that cause the condition
• Alzheimers is believed to affect more than six million Americans and is responsible for 100,000 American deaths each year

A vaccine that could prevent the onset of Alzheimers disease begins its first human clinical trials.

Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, announced Tuesday it is starting a phase I trial of a nasal spray that could prevent the devastating condition.

The vaccine will use Protollin, a chemical that boosts a persons immune system, and will activate white blood cells that can clear plaques in the brain that cause Alzheimers disease.

The vaccine is the result of 20 years of research by Dr. Howard Weiner, the co-director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at the hospital.

It would be a breakthrough for the condition for which there are currently limited available treatments and no drugs believed to be able to reverse the cognitive decline it causes.

The first human clinical trials for a possible vaccine against Alzheimers disease are underway. The vaccine is a two-dose nasal spray that uses a chemical called Protollin to activate white blood cells that can clear plaques in the brain

How To Identify The Signs Of Early

The symptoms of early-onset Alzheimers disease are similar to many of the symptoms with late-onset Alzheimers. This ranges from personality changes to low energy, memory issues, mood swings, attention problems, and difficulty in finding the right words to say. One common distinction between the early and late-onset types is that early-onset Alzheimers patients tend to develop memory problems later in the progression of the disease. The memory loss may also be less severe. Here are eleven signs and symptoms that may occur in people with early-onset Alzheimers disease:

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What Can You Do

Although there is no effective treatment or proven prevention for Alzheimers and related dementias, in general, leading a healthy lifestyle may help address risk factors that have been associated with these diseases.

Researchers cannot say for certain whether making the above lifestyle changes will protect against dementia, but these changes are good for your health and are all part of making healthy choices as you age.

Learn Something New Today

Keep your mind stimulated by challenging yourself to learn something new every day. Studies find that people who keep their brains active whether by multitasking, organizing, interacting, or communicating run less risk of developing Alzheimer’s later in life.

Tips to stay sharp:

• Learn to play a musical instrument.
• Read more.

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What Are Risk Factors

A risk factor is something that may increase the chance of developing a disease. Some risk factors can be controlled while others cannot. For example, a person is not able to control their age, which is the greatest known risk factor for Alzheimers and related dementias. Another uncontrollable risk factor is a persons genes. Genes are structures in our bodys cells that are passed down from a persons birth parents. Changes in genes even small changes can cause diseases.

Race and gender are also factors that influence risk. Research shows that African Americans, American Indians, and Alaska Natives have the highest rates of dementia, and that risk factors may differ for women and men. Researchers are investigating whats behind these differences.

However, people do have control over their behavior and lifestyle, which can influence their risk for certain diseases. For example, high blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease. Lowering blood pressure with lifestyle changes or medication can help reduce a persons risk for heart disease and heart attack.

For Alzheimers and related dementias, no behavior or lifestyle factors have risen to the level of researchers being able to say: This will definitely prevent these diseases. But there are promising avenues.

Foods That Are Risk Factors For Alzheimers

Many foods in the Western diet have been identified as risk factors for dementia and Alzheimers, including red and processed meats, refined grains, sweets, and desserts. Excess alcohol intake, saturated fatty acids, and foods with a high number of calories are also risk factors for Alzheimers. If you think that you or a loved one may be at risk for Alzheimers, work with your doctor on developing a healthier diet and nutrition plan that greatly reduces the risk.

Healthcare Associates of Texas offer memory loss treatments that may help improve or reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimers disease. Request an appointment today to begin the treatment process and benefit from improved overall brain health.

References:

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Treatment For Moderate To Severe Alzheimers

A medication known as memantine, an N-methyl D-aspartate antagonist, is prescribed to treat moderate to severe Alzheimers disease. This drugs main effect is to decrease symptoms, which could enable some people to maintain certain daily functions a little longer than they would without the medication. For example, memantine may help a person in the later stages of the disease maintain his or her ability to use the bathroom independently for several more months, a benefit for both the person with Alzheimer’s and caregivers.

Memantine is believed to work by regulating glutamate, an important brain chemical. When produced in excessive amounts, glutamate may lead to brain cell death. Because NMDA antagonists work differently from cholinesterase inhibitors, the two types of drugs can be prescribed in combination.

The FDA has also approved donepezil, the rivastigmine patch, and a combination medication of memantine and donepezil for the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimers.

Increase Your Social Engagement

Compelling research suggests seniors who spend most of their time in their immediate home environment are almost twice as likely to develop AD compared to those who travel more. These findings, however, may also reflect the general health of the individuals.

The Mayo Clinic advises that being engaged with your surroundings is good for your mental, physical, and emotional health.

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