Worried you’ll get Alzheimer’s? Then follow these seven steps

[steven johnson]

Staying active in old age is the most important factor to preventing dementia.

Playing chess in old age and going jogging or swimming could be the best preventative measures against the development of the degenerative Alzheimer's disease that affects one in 14 people aged 65 or over.

Along with five other factors – controlling weight, blood pressure and diabetes, avoiding depression and quitting smoking – keeping mentally and physically fit could dramatically cut the incidence of dementia, which is becoming a major human and financial burden around the globe. Mental and physical exercise are most important because they influence the others, by keeping weight and blood pressure down, reducing the risk of diabetes and depression.

People who can do all this and avoid smoking substantially reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's. Worldwide, an estimated 33.9 million people have the condition and that number is expected to triple in the next 40 years.

Post-mortem examinations have shown that people who were mentally active throughout their lives, with no sign of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, nevertheless had the same degeneration of the brain seen in those who suffered serious dementia while alive. The implication is that the despite this neuro-degeneration, mentally active people manage to stave off the symptoms of Alzheimer's

Worried you’ll get Alzheimer’s? Then follow these seven steps}
[br />

[Drale]

1. When you stop using it you lose it and

sitting around doing nothing all day, maybe going to the grocery store once a week is not being active.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. 8. Don't watch Fox News.

[steven johnson]

3. I couldn't agree more

Stay in touch with reality.

[DURHAM D]

4. Total BS

[steven johnson]

6. The data is so overwhelming ...

you might want to reconsider whether you wish to choose to be demented. Choose to cruise, choose to snooze and choose to lose -- your choice. Use it or lose it.

ScienceDaily (July 19, 2011) — Engaging in regular physical activity is associated with less decline in cognitive function in older adults, according to two studies published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The articles are being released on July 19 to coincide with the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Paris and will be included in the July 25 print edition.

According to background information provided in the articles, previous research has suggested that physical activity is associated with reduced rates of cognitive impairment in older adults. However, much of this research has apparently been conducted among individuals who are generally in good health. Further, many of these studies rely on self-reports of physical activity, which are not always accurate; and focus on moderate or vigorous exercise, instead of low-intensity physical activity. The two articles being presented July 19 seek to fill in these gaps in the research.

In one article, Marie-Noël Vercambre, Ph.D., from the Foundation of Public Health, Mutuelle Generale de l'Education Nationale, Paris, and colleagues examined data from the Women's Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study, which included women who had either prevalent vascular disease or three or more coronary risk factors. The researchers determined patients' physical activity levels at baseline (1995 to 1996) and every two years thereafter. Between 1998 and 2000, they conducted telephone interviews with 2,809 women; the calls included tests of cognition, memory and category fluency, and followed up the tests three more times over the succeeding 5.4 years.

The researchers analyzed data to correlate cognitive score changes with total physical activity and energy expenditure from walking. As participants' energy expenditure increased, the rate of cognitive decline decreased. The amount of exercise equivalent to a brisk, 30-minute walk every day was associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment.




Physical Activity Linked to Lower Rates of Cognitive Impairment

[DURHAM D]

8. I am an expert on this subject by force and observation.

My parents both died of dementia - my mother of Alzheimer's and my dad of Lewy Body. All of my mother's siblings died of Alzheimer's as did her mother and grandmother.

My parents (and the other relatives) were the poster children for active lives - intellectually, emotionally, and physically.

Like I said - BS.

[Duer 157099]

18. AD is an incredibly complicated disease

There are several known genetic factors and likely a whole bunch more that are as yet unknown. I would guess that your mother's side of the family carried one of these genes, possibly the ApoE E4 allele. In such cases, the risk is significantly higher and preventative measures are less effective.

But those preventative measures are still valid for those with a different genetic composition.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

21. Some interesting items to check out.... curry, pycnogenol, DHA, ginger, tumeric, lipoic

acid, acetyl-l-carnitine... some of these may help slow it down.

[laconicsax]

22. Do you ever stop peddling supplements? n/t

[robinlynne]

10. Exercsie will not prevent dementia. It will help to slow it down.

[robinlynne]

9. Actually it is not. My Mom has dementia. The most important things to do

are physical exercise, an hour a day, and mental execrcises for the first 5 or 6 years. Medication was introduced after about 4 years. She has a really good neurologist, so it isn't "web info" or something like that. It is actually prescribed treatment for beginning and midstage alzheimers/dementia. The mental exercises are DR prescribed, at least 30 minutes a day. and Dr insists on one hour of physical exercise or walking per day.

[DURHAM D]

11. The article is about prevention - not treatment.

[robinlynne]

13. Either way, it slows down dementia. It will not PREVENT or treat 100%. It absolutley

slows down the process. It also slows down the entire aging process, as we all know. mental exercises help to build new brian cells. you can not get back the ells you lose. but by building up new cells in other areas of the brain, you somewhat offset the loss caused by dementia/alzheimers. That would go for before or during.

[steven johnson]

20. Active mice had 50-80% less amyloid plaque than sedentary mice

What Has Been Happening On Alzheimers Research

[applegrove]

5. They have a new pill that works temporarily to stop dementia in Alzheimer's' patients.

It only works on 40% of people though. fortunately it has worked for my dad and he has his mind back... at least for a while.

[elocs]

7. Evidently my ex-senator, Bill Proxmire, was an exception to these steps:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Proxmire

He (Proxmire) was also known for his personal fitness, which included jogging and push-ups, so earning him the moniker "Push Up". In 1973, he published a book about staying in shape, entitled You Can Do It: Senator Proxmire's Exercise, Diet and Relaxation Plan. After leaving Congress, Proxmire had an office in the Library of Congress.

After a battle with Alzheimer's disease, Proxmire died in a nursing home, where he had lived for more than four years, in Sykesville, Maryland, on December 15, 2005, aged 90.

How sad it was to see such a vibrant, active, and intelligent man as Bill Proxmire was die from Alzheimer's after spending 4 years in a nursing home. I never would have believed it.

My own mother has been in a nursing home for some 13 years now, suffering from Alzheimer's, although I'm not sure how much she is suffering because it really is the family and friend who suffer. The one with the dementia may be in their own little world.

My mother will be 82 next month. She has not spent a night in the hospital since she had my brother some 53 years ago. The scary thing is that she had an uncle who lived to be 102.

[checks-n-balances]

15. I know how it is to go through that. It is hell for the family.

My mother died at age 80 after having it for 10+ years (we don't know when it actually started). It was a relief. Your description of how it affects families is very accurate. I really feel for you having to deal with this. All the best to you as you are bearing with it.

[elocs]

16. Thanks. It's only in hindsight do we see the dementia started years before being diagnosed.

The behavior and what turned out to be delusions that seemed odd at the time, but were reasonably possible.

My mother has not known me for years now. She is now only a shell and shadow of what made her, her. Or perhaps there is some vestige of her trapped inside of that shell. Either way, there have been times I have visited her only to find her sleeping and I don't awake her because it seems like maybe she is in a better place and world inside the mind of her dreams.

Senator Proxmire did everything right that he could: he ate well, was physically fit, and had a sharp mind. So it was particularly sad to see such a man wasted away by the dementia of Alzheimer's.

[checks-n-balances]

17. Your additional description is further parallel to my experience

Definitely was a shell of her former self. Ironically, her mother also had Alzheimer's and my mother read every piece of literature about it and so torn up about it. It was cruel fate that she had it herself, and she was very aware at first that she got it. Mercifully, she lost awareness of what was happening to her.

I'll never forget, though, before the disease struck her, when talking about her mother's condition, she used to remark, "You know, there are some things worse than death."

Peace be with you as you continue on this difficult journey.
:grouphug:

[canoeist52]

12. Just more junk from the "blame the victim" crowd.

[Shanti Mama]

14. Maybe generally true, but...

My dear friend's father is dying of Alzheimer's. He was a professor at Harvard until just a few years ago and wrote many, many books. So check off the mental activity part.
He was also very active -- a walker, squash and tennis player, etc.

Perhaps your odds of brain dementia shrink with an active brain and body, but they are certainly not eliminated.

[HuckleB]

19. Improving the odds is all anyone can do.

[socialindependocrat]

23. MAKES SENSE

iF YOU START TO LOOSE CELLS over a period of time and then try to catch up it may be a loosing battle. this study seems to say that if you are active and continue to continuously create new neural pathways thru learning and activity you can stay mentally alert. I see older people giving up on computers and newly developed technology. this may be a warning sign to us all that we are slowing down. get out there and learn folks and if it seems difficult - try harder and get help from a friend.