Alzheimer’s is a disease of the 21st century. Many people are suffering from this disease because it affects memory and thinking.
This disease is defined by the Alzheimer’s Association – as a type of dementia that affects memory, thinking, and behavior. Symptoms eventually grow severe enough to interfere with daily tasks. The Association tells us that there is no current cure for Alzheimer’s, but they say that there are treatments for symptoms are available while the research continues.
Since such a disease is so common, despite all the serious intentions of companies and associations around the world specialized in this subject, we do not see any serious campaign to prevent this disease.
And it is understandable why! From the moment patients suffering from this disease disappear, the Associations should disappear too because they would no longer have any work to do. So, these companies do not work and fight to help humanity but rather to ensure their own existence as an institution – because in the end, this is the interest of each institution.
What is the good news?
Clinical trials have made a difference between the size of the brain and people with Alzheimer’s disease. They tell us that the size of the brain is very small in people with Alzheimer’s and the disease is getting worse as the size of the brain decreases (see the image below).
Image 1: Healthy vs. Alzheimer’s brain
Source: Samuel Cohen, TED Talks
Alzheimer’s is something that starts in our brain decades before the disease exists (Max Lugavere, 2018). This conclusion is shared also by other scientists like Borenstein, Copenhaver and Mortimer.
Because this disease affected 2.1 million people in 2020, it is estimated that by 2050 7 million people will have dementia and 51% of people over the age of 65 in the world will have Alzheimer’s. This number is very high and as the lifespan especially of the millennial generations is expected to increase over 90 years, this should be a high concern for us all. Because, what is the point of a long life if we are insane from the middle of it?
Many may think that a cure will be invented against this disease, but these people forget that the disease is caused in the first place by the decrease in nerve connections in the brain and the decrease in brain volume. So no cure in the world will be able to build your brain overnight like magic.
However, attempts are being made to find cures, but most treatments have a failure rate of 99.6%, which is almost 100%. And all this taking into account that Alzheimer’s was first diagnosed in 1906. Since then all medicine has evolved, we treat cancer and other diseases, but not Alzheimer’s.
So, what to do?
Because most people with this disease have high levels of insulin we should:
- take care of our diet and have a balanced diet with less sugar.
Moreover, because the volume of the brain is determined by brain activity, we should continue to be mentally active and give up routines. Usually, people after employment no longer focus on doing new things, on learning new skills, but routinize their lives and get into that comfortable life. This gradually leads to a decrease in neural connections in our brain because it does not create new connections in the brain, but also destroys the old ones.
Therefore, an important aspect of prevention but also a step towards treatment in the initial face of the disease would be:
- to learn new things, new skills (table tennis, scooter, puzzle, a new online platform, a new cooking recipe, thinking exercises, etc.).
Then, the physical activity is related to the formation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is a protein that protects the existence of our neurons and promotes the growth of new ones. For this reason
- we should have an active physical life (exercising, running, dancing, yoga, etc.)
Unfortunately, many of us will notice in our grandparents a fairly sedentary life, which potentiates the development of Alzheimer’s.
All of this was demonstrated in a long-term study by a Stockholm researcher, Miia Kivipelto, who showed that dementia and Alzheimer’s can be prevented by pursuing a healthy lifestyle from an early age.
Why is the Alzheimer’s rate low in Japan?
You will see another proof in the population of Japan that has the lowest rate of patients with both dementia and Alzheimer’s. What do the people there do differently from the rest of the world?
Studies show that people there have a diet with less salt, rich in fish and seafood, less sugar. At the same time, they are involved in various social activities and are not marginalized as they are in other places. All these things make the number of elderly people who have problems with blood pressure very small, arterial and chronic inflammation very rare, and then the number of cases of dementia and Alzheimer’s very small.
Recommendations:
So, I recommend a healthy lifestyle from all points of view: continuous learning, mental and physical exercise, a healthy diet and enough sleep.
For more information you can check the sources below.
Sources:
ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION REPORT. (2020). 2020 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures. Alzheimer’s Disease for Primary Care Physicians, vol. 16, no.3, 391-460.
Being Patient. (2017). Inside the FINGER Study: Hard Evidence Shows How Diet, Exercise and Mind Games Might Make or Break a Dementia Diagnosis. Being Patient, beingpatient.com/finger-study/.
Borenstein A., Copenhaver C., Mortimer J. (2006). Early-Life Risk Factors for Alzheimer Disease. Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, vol.20, no.1, 63-72.
Cohen S. (2015, 10 06). Alzheimer’s Is Not Normal Aging — And We Can Cure It. Retrieved 03 17, 2021, from Youtube TED Talks: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkIg-SxPzTA
Hippius H., Neundörfer G. (2003). The discovery of Alzheimer’s disease. Dialogues Clin Neurosci, vol.5, no.1, 101-108.Kivipelto M., Mangialasche F., Ngandu T. (2018). Lifestyle interventions to prevent cognitive impairment, dementia and Alzheimer disease. Nat Rev Neurol., vol.14, no.11, 653 – 666, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30291317/.
Lugavere M. (2018, 11 02). Dementia is preventable through lifestyle. Start now. Retrieved 03 17, 2021, from Youtube TEDx VeniceBeach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0WCb23KPEw
Rizzi L., Rosset I., Roriz-Cruz M. (2014). Global Epidemiology of Dementia: Alzheimer’s and Vascular Types. Biomed Res Int., ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4095986/.