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Don't Forget About World Alzheimer's Day


I remember when my great-grandmother was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. At first she started to forget the names of me, my sister, and all of the other great-grandchildren. Now, having 9 children, 34 grandchildren, and 63 great-grandchildren had to be hard enough to remember, much less someone with her condition. She did however, for a while, remember that we were my father's children. Then she slowly started to lose the names of grandchildren, small day to day tasks, and so forth. For three years, my grandfather went to see her daily. He still jokes about the way she would talk about my grandmother in those last few months. "Tell that lady you're married with to feed you well." He would respond, "She's been feeding me well for years Mama, can't you tell?" 

It was a very sad thing to see my great-grandmother slip away mentally as she did, but it was probably the hardest on my great grandfather. Even though we would giggle together over her repeated questions, you could see the sadness in his eyes, watching his beautiful grey-haired companion drift away slowly into a mental regression.  When he spoke at her funeral, at 92 years of age, he talked about the one thing he was thankful that God had allowed him to keep in his lifetime, and that was his memories. Memories give us purpose and they are what make us who we are because of what we've seen, what we've experienced, what we've cherished, and most importantly, because of who we've loved. Memories should never be taken away from anyone. That is why it is so important to raise awareness and support research for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

September 21, 2011 is World Alzheimer's Day. This day is an international event promoted by The Alzheimer's Association as an opportunity to raise awareness about the disorder and highlight the need for more education, research, and support to help fight the disease. Alzheimer's and dementia affect millions of people globally, and according to a recent study, every 6 seconds someone in the world is professionally diagnosed with it. Take a look at the Alzheimer's Association website to learn more about World Alzheimer's Day, discover heroes who are pushing the envelope for awareness, fundraising and research, and share your story. 
  
From library.rehabmart.com

One way to try to hold back this catastrophe, brought on by the large group of aging baby boomers, is spending more on research. The National Institutes of Health now estimates that there is $527 million a year given to study Alzheimer's, compared to $6.1 billion for cancer, $3 billion for HIV/AIDS, and $1.9 billion for heart disease. According to experts at Harvard Law, "the National Institutes of Health should increase this amount to $2 billion a year" in order to adequately support proper research. In the meantime, don't expect a cure anytime soon. The last big test of a miracle drug, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, actually made Alzheimer's worse.

Right now, your best bet for escaping Alzheimer's is to save yourself and use preventative measures to promote a healthy lifestyle for yourself.  Many Alzheimer's researchers have already figured out countless ways to do it. Based on an amazing book by author Jean Cooper, titled  "100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's and Age-Related Memory Loss", here are 10 things that you should do on World Alzheimer's Day, and do every day, to keep Alzheimer's out of your future.

1. Take a hike: Nothing beats walking for boosting memory and flooding your brain with chemicals that serve as "Miracle-Gro" to create bigger neurons. Take a brisk 30-minute walk, or three 10-minute sessions on a treadmill. A "nature" walk through a park also improves memory because of all the sensory stimuli.

2. Eat an apple or two: Apples stimulate production of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is what the Alzheimer's drug Aricept also does, say University of Massachusetts researchers. You get the same benefits from two eight-ounce glasses of apple juice.

3. Drink a few cups of coffee: "I try to drink five cups of coffee a day," says Gary Arendash at the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. He says the caffeine blocks build up of Alzheimer's brain toxins. In one study, drinking three to five cups of coffee a day cut Alzheimer's risk 65 percent.

4. Treat yourself to a little dark chocolate: It can boost blood circulation in your brain, lower blood pressure and inhibit stroke damage, all important in preventing Alzheimer's and other dementias. Be sure cocoa content is at least 70 percent. Even a half ounce of rich dark chocolate a day may be enough.

5. Surf the internet for an hour: Yes, a good Google search can stimulate an older brain and possibly improve thinking and memory. So can playing video games, and doing certain online brain games.

6. Do something new: Your brain cells are stimulated when you think of or do anything new. People who do novel mental activities reduce their risk of cognitive decline. Important: you must make a mental effort; breezing through crossword puzzles doesn't count.

7. Eat a cup of berries: If you want to make forgetful old lab animals "younger and smarter," just feed them blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or cranberries, say Tufts University researchers. How much? At least a cup a day.

8. Take a multivitamin: It can slow brain aging, especially if it includes high antioxidants, such as C, E and alpha lipoic acid. Be sure to get 500 mcg B12, 800 mcg folic acid, 20 mg B6 a day--doses found to reduce brain shrinkage up to 50 percent in people with mild memory problems.

9. Have a Curry Meal: A constituent of curry spices known as curcumin blocks Alzheimer's-like brain damage and boosts memory in animal and lab tests. India, where curry is a staple, has a very low rate of Alzheimer's.

10. Get together with friends and family: Make it a point to yak it up today, the larger your circle of friends and family, the better. Extroverts with high "social engagement" have less cognitive failure as they age. Being married or having a significant other dramatically cuts your odds of developing Alzheimer's.

Remember, there is a long road ahead of us to finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease and dementia. If we all do everything we can to save our own brains from Alzheimer's, we may one day actually be celebrating World Alzheimer's Day as a victory over this human tragedy. Until that day comes, we must break out the purple on September 21, 2011 and let the world know why they should not forget about Alzheimer's, and let them know why it is so important to you and your loved ones.
 
Rehabmart has hundreds of products that can assist and help you, your loved ones, or patients of a health care facility.  To view these items, please go to the Alzheimers Dementia Products page.

Keith Higginbotham,
Medical Consumer Writer
and
Hulet Smith, OT
Rehabmart Team Leader & CEO
From library.rehabmart.com