Alzheimer’s – enemy of the elderly (Chapter 1 How to Grow older without growing old.)
There are some shocking statistics that are already painful realities for some of us. The author of The Brain Training Revolution claims that two-thirds of Americans older than 50 complain of memory problems and that aging Americans fear memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease more than they fear cancer, heart disease, and even death. One in nine Americans aged 65 and over have Alzheimer’s disease, according to a 2015 special edition of Scientific American, and ultimately Alzheimer’s disease kills about 40% of those aged 85 and over. A person’s lifespan in Canada is about 80 for men and 84 for women. In 2016, for the first time in census history, there were more seniors over 65 than there were children under 14.
According to the 2024 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures Report, an estimated 6.9 million Americans aged 65 and older have Alzheimer’s dementia. It is estimated that approximately 200,000 Americans under the age of 65 have younger-onset Alzheimer’s. Worldwide, at least 44 million people are living with dementia – more than the total population of Canada.
Dementia is a general term used for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life, usually involving memory loss and a decline in thinking skills. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia (about 60 to 80% of all cases). Vascular dementia (following a stroke) is the second most common type. Dementia is not the same as senility since it is not a normal part of aging, and many memory problems can be treated – sometimes simply by exercising the brain through memory training and mental and physical exercises.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association website, people with dementia may have problems with short-term memory, keeping track of a purse or wallet, paying bills, planning and preparing meals, remembering appointments, or traveling out of the neighborhood. Also, many dementias are progressive, meaning symptoms start slowly and gradually get worse. So don’t ignore the symptoms. See a doctor to determine the cause.
Although medication can slow down the progression of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, your goal should be to avoid or delay its onset through relatively simple strategies such as exercise. By caring for your body and brain – from the food you consume and the sleep that you get to the way you respond to stress – you can influence the vitality of your brain, and greatly reduce the chances of ever being affected by the disease. Health span is even more important than lifespan because nobody wants to live forever in a hospital bed or palliative care hospice. Here are a few suggestions for a healthy brain and body that should help guard against dementia and improve longevity.
Stimulate the brain.
Good old-fashioned reading, writing and arithmetic stimulate the brain and make it grow in every conceivable way. Don’t outsource all your mental chores to computers. Use it or lose it. Keep mentally active, whether it is by doing crossword puzzles, discussing the weather, writing poetry, reading, or working on your income tax. I find that memory training – using gimmicks, acronyms, visualization, etc., to memorize things – really helps keep my mind active. And if you really want to exercise your brain, try learning to play a musical instrument or learn a second language.
Maintain lifelong learning.
Wisdom usually comes with age; but sometimes just age comes with age. So keep on learning. Our chance of developing Alzheimer’s drops 17% for every year of education beyond high school, according to John Ratey, co-author of the book, Go wild: free yourself from the afflictions of civilization. It’s not the education, it’s the forced thinking – so commit yourself to lifelong learning. Lifelong learning could delay the onset of cognitive impairment by 3 to 8 years. You don’t have to go back to school or take courses in order to keep learning. You can do it by reading newspapers, listening to CDs, keeping up to date with world events, discussing current events with friends at McDonald’s, and so on.
.Build and maintain relationships.
Data collected from Brigham Young University showed that people with active social lives were 50% less likely to die of any cause than their non-social counterparts. Low levels of social interaction evidently has the same effects as smoking 15 cigarettes a day – and even worse effects than being obese or not exercising. Staying socially engaged affects your cognitive functioning as well. Research by Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University indicates that the more social connections you have, the greater your ability to fight infection. And an article in the January, 2018 issue of Prevention Guide claims that socializing, even online, keeps your cells from aging too fast.
Reduce stress.
Do everything you can to reduce excessive stress in your life since stress serves to exacerbate dementia. Stress can induce the release of cortisol and excess cortisol impairs function in the prefrontal cortex. The overproduction of cortisol was found in seniors who were experiencing memory loss. Relieve stress through such things as socializing, volunteering, walking, meditation, listening to music and laughter. Many things such as music, exercise, napping, nature walks and mindfulness, all mentioned later, help to relieve stress.
Exercise regularly.
Physical exercise not only increases circulation of nutrient-carrying blood to the brain, it also reduces the risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, diabetes – and improves mood, muscles, bones and lung capacity. One study indicated that six months of aerobic exercise improved cognitive functioning. John Ratey expressed it simply in his book when he said “sedentary behaviour causes brain impairment.” Art Kramer of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that a year of exercise can give a seventy-year-old the connectivity of a thirty-year old. Physical exercise stimulates the creation of new neurons not confined to the region of the hippocampus that stores new memories.
Get enough sleep.
Although many people sleep less as they get older, your need for sleep does not decrease. In fact, one sleep scientist claims that sleep is one of the most important predictors of how long you will live — as important as whether you smoke, exercise, or have high blood pressure. Matthew Walker, in his 2017 book Why We Sleep, agrees that “lack of sleep appears to be a key factor linked to your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.” Terry Small, who writes the Brain Bulletin, and speaks on that topic, says that sleep deprivation is one of the risk factors in Alzheimer’s. The June 2014 issue of Scientific American Mind quotes neuroscientist Dwayne Godwin as saying that sleep helps clear the brain, flushing away waste products such as Alzheimer ‘s-related proteins.
Insufficient sleep slows reasoning ability, logical thinking, and reaction time, as well as motor skills, and people who brag that they get by on 5 hours a night and that it doesn’t affect their productivity or energy level at all, don’t realize that it’s their sleep-deprived brain that’s telling them that. My eBook, Sleep: A Time Management Strategy, published by Bookboon.com, explores this topic in detail.
Move around.
Although 150 minutes of brisk walking each week may be the minimum recommended exercise, researchers are now finding that even getting up from your chair is much better than sitting down most of the day. All movement stimulates creative thinking. One Chinese study, referred to in the January/February 2018 issue of Psychology Today, showed college students fared better on creative-thinking tasks while standing than sitting – and better still when walking. One study indicated that sitters had a 50% greater likelihood of dying from any cause during the eight-and-a-half-year study. So, stand up at regular intervals while watching TV, reading, or working on your computer. Walk up the stairs. Park farther from the stores. Simply move around more. Any movement, even squirming, can positively affect your health.
Watch what you eat.
A cup or two of coffee a day has been shown to improve memory; but everything in moderation. This particularly applies to sweets. Having too much sugar in your diet reduces the production of a brain chemical that helps us learn, store memories, and process insulin. Consuming too much sugar also dulls the brain’s mechanism for telling you to stop eating. Both chronically high blood sugar and diabetes increase the risk of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Any food that reduces high blood pressure or helps the cardiovascular system in any way is good for the brain since the brain’s blood supply is critical. This includes such foods as oatmeal, brown rice and grain bread. EPA omega-3 fish oil is also recommended since it keeps the cell membranes in the brain flexible. There is evidence that omega-3 fatty acids – the ones found in many types of fish such as salmon and rainbow trout – slow up cognitive decline and reduce the risk of Alzheimer`s disease.
Spend more time outdoors.
It is a fact that trees, grass, plants, and vegetation affect us both physically and mentally. And sunlight causes the body to release serotonin – one of the reasons you feel in a good mood on sunny days. It also releases endorphins, which lower pain, and acetylcholine, which is essential for learning. It stands to reason that your productivity, as well as your personal energy, will improve if you are bathed in natural sunlight rather than the unnatural florescent and incandescent lighting of most offices and working areas. Hospitals and senior homes are introducing more greenery into their facilities because of the impact of vegetation on healing, mood, and pain control.
Maintain a view of nature.
If you are unable to spend much time outdoors have a view of nature if at all possible. An issue of Scientific American Mind (May June 2016) linked exposure to natural settings with many health benefits, from reduced rates of depression to increased immune functioning. For example, patients in hospital rooms with a window view require less pain medication and spend less time in the hospital. Buildings are being designed with greenways, landscaping and potted plants. Exposure to natural settings has many health benefits, including reduced depression and increased immune functioning. Recent studies found that urban green spaces, such as plants and gardens, also improve cognitive development.
Grow indoor plants.
Plants not only give off oxygen, but they are also able to absorb environmental chemicals and transport them to the soil. They act as vacuum cleaners removing pollution from the air. Studies have shown that the presence of potted plants, for example, improves productivity, creativity, performance, and learning ability. In the case of schools, the presence of plants improved scores in mathematics, spelling, and science between 10% and 14%. It’s no coincidence that blue and green – the colors most frequently found in nature – have also been found to be the most effective in maintaining calm and general well-being, as well as stimulating personal productivity.
Volunteer.
There appears to be a definite link between giving and volunteering and happiness and another link between happiness and health and longevity. Dr. Lissa Rankin, in her 2013 book Mind over Medicine, says that unhappy people are less likely to eat well, exercise, and enjoy healthy sleep patterns but insists there is more to it than that. Scientists have tracked 2025 people aged 55 and older for five years and found that those who volunteered for two or more organizations were 63% less likely to die during the study than those who didn’t volunteer. That was reduced to 26% when they only volunteered for one organization.
Listen to music.
Music can enhance learning and higher brain function, and even improve memory performance. It increases creativity and learning skills. Background music has also been known to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and improve concentration. One study discovered that ambient music therapy had a positive effect on recovery after surgery. It improved pain management and decreased the negative effects of environmental noise. The same article reported that exercising in rhythm with music uses less energy. If you can learn to play a musical instrument, so much the better. In one study conducted at Baycrest Health Sciences, researchers recommended that music lessons form part of prevention programs to help keep conditions like Alzheimer’s at bay. Of course, the type of music makes a difference since some types might just serve to stress you out.
Grow spiritually.
One thing is certain; spiritual people tend to live longer, happier, healthier lives. Research from the University of Toronto showed that thinking about God or other spiritual beliefs keeps you calm under fire. People with depression who believe in a caring, higher being are 75% more likely to get relief from medication. 99% of the physicians in the 1999 meeting of the American Academy of Family Physicians said they believed that religious beliefs aid healing. Weekly attendance at church services and religious study at home may cut your risk of high blood pressure by 40%. People who go to services more than once a week have half the risk of major depression as those who attend less often. Doctors and scientists have found that praying for someone in their presence has remarkable results in healing some patients.
Maintain purpose and pursue goals.
Have a purpose in life – a reason to get up every morning and the motivation to face the day’s trials as well as its joys. Having goals and focusing on long-term challenges, regardless of your age, keeps you mentally alert and gives you that extra push that keeps life interesting and fulfilling. Goals challenge the brain, resulting in more brain cells and more connections. The brain is malleable and can grow brain cells at any change at any age, resulting in increased brainpower. The more you work your mind, the more your cognitive reserve and the greater your resistance to dementia.
Laugh often.
Laughter has healing power, and it has been known to reduce blood pressure, decrease heart rate, and increase respiration. When you laugh, the body releases endorphins and depression declines. When you relax again afterward, that good feeling lasts for a day or two. The late Norman Cousins, in his book, Anatomy of An Illness (Bantam, 1981), gave an amazing account of the therapeutic value of laughter as he related his own successful fight against a crippling disease. He also described other work that has been conducted on the beneficial aspects of laughter. Although the research is not plentiful, it indicates that laughter and attitude contribute to a healthy lifestyle and possibly “cure” illness. Sigmund Freud, for one, believed that mirth was a highly useful way of counteracting nervous tension, and that humor could be used as an effective therapy.
Get organized
An article in Rodale’s January/February 2018 issue of Prevention Guide states that “People who consider themselves self-disciplined, organized achievers live longer and have up to an 89% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s than the less conscientious, according to two studies.” Organizing the home helps reduce accidents, saves time and frustration looking for things, and provides a greater feeling of personal control – in addition to any aesthetic benefits. Disorganization, on the other hand, causes confusion, stress, frustration, and a feeling of discomfort.
Watch your attitude.
Your outlook on life is linked to your health and well-being. A survey of more than 500 people, 70 and over, thought it was important to keep a youthful mindset, and researcher Jacqui Smith, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, also linked it to a longer life. There is plenty of evidence that indicates a positive, optimistic attitude will help you live a happier, healthier life – as indicated in the next chapter. Like enthusiasm, optimism is a choice. At concerts and sporting events, we usually show enthusiasm by clapping – The more enthusiastic and positive we feel, the louder we clap. And the clapping itself feeds our enthusiasm. Clap more. Cheer yourself on.
The above is not an exhaustive list of actions you can take to increase both body and brain health. More are included in the various chapters of the book, How to Grow Older Without Growing Old. And some of the most important ones above will be discussed in greater detail.
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