The Basics of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease is the most common kind of dementia. Sadly, it worsens as it progresses and there is no known cure. It is estimated that 5.1 million Americans may currently be living with the disease.

The first symptoms often appear when the person is about sixty years old. The symptoms initially are: inability to remember recent events, confusion, irritability, aggression, mood swings and difficulties with their reasoning abilities. The first warning signs are cognitive loss, however, not everyone with memory problems, or any of the other symptoms, will necessarily have Alzheimer's Disease. Long-term memory loss will also be affected as well as difficulties with word finding, vision/spatial issues. These will indicate the early stages of the disease.

When Alzheimer's is in the moderate stage, memory loss and confusion will become worse and sufferers may even have difficulty recognizing their family and friends. They may have problems getting themselves dressed or have hallucinations and behave impulsively.

In the final stage, brain tissue will have shrunk considerably and eventually their bodily functions will be lost as well. Those with the disease will lose their ability to carry on a conversation or to be able to respond to their environment. They will be completely dependent upon others for their care, likely spending most of their time in bed and their body will eventually shut down.

Alzheimer's Disease can progress without being diagnosed for years. There are no known treatments that will stop or reverse the progression of this terrible disease. Alzheimer's is a degenerative disease and one of the most costly for society. It accounts for fifty to eighty percent of all dementia cases.

It is not considered to be a normal part of aging although the risk does increase with age. Although there is as yet no cure, research is ongoing. It is thought that the disease progresses over two to twenty-five years with most patients experiencing the eight to fifteen year range of the illness.

Most sufferers of Alzheimer's don't usually die from it but rather from their inability to be able to swallow or from pneumonia symptoms. Each sufferer's ability to cope with the disease will depend upon the severity of it and on their own personalities. Such symptoms as depression, paranoia or delusions, as well as some of the other symptoms, can be treated and alleviated in some way, at least until the final stage.

Alzheimer's Disease is dreaded by everyone. Some believe, but don't know for sure, that keeping your brain active, maintaining a physical lifestyle, eating a healthy diet and by keeping involved in activities, may ward off the onset of this disease. At any rate, it certainly can't hurt.

Alzheimers and the Boomer Generation

Beginning this year, 10,000 baby boomers a day will turn sixty-five. Alzheimer's Disease is a progressive, degenerative disease and generally develops in people over sixty-five years of age but can start earlier. The biggest factor is age which puts the aging baby boomer population at risk.

Other risk factors are a history of Alzheimer's in your family, environmental issues, high blood pressure, poor diet and lack of exercise. It is estimated that one out of every eight boomers will suffer from Alzheimer's in their lifetime. The average life expectancy of the disease is eight years but many can live as long as twenty years.

There are presently five million people living in the United States with Alzheimer's Disease and over 400,000 Canadians over sixty-five years of age diagnosed with the disease. Alzheimer's is devastating not only to the sufferer but to their families as well. As the condition escalates, people can forget where they live, the names of family members and friends and can become lost on their own street. They become isolated by how they think and by what they can't remember.

There is currently no proven way to cure Alzheimer's but there are ways to delay the onset of this vicious disease. Physical exercise can slow down the degeneration of the nervous system. Other things that depend on the healthy well-being of our brains are: adequate fluid intake, a balanced diet, sufficient sleep, a minimum of stress, maintaining a healthy weight and looking after your health.

The plasticity of the brain gives hope. We can all start building better brains by keeping them active. We can do this by continuous learning which stimulates our brain. Once we stop learning, our mental capacity declines, we lose brain power and our brain cells begin to shrink.

We're never too old to learn new things and our brain's capacity for learning is limitless. The more variety of learning we undertake, the less likely we will experience cognitive decline as we age.

The varieties of learning that are beneficial to our brain are many. Music is one excellent learning experience whether we sing, dance or learn to play a musical instrument. Music increases blood flow to the brain, stimulates creativity, improves memory as well as concentration. Reading, writing and math are also great for the brain. Reading improves not only our memory but our brain. Writing in a journal is excellent for improving the brain and the memory. And when solving math calculations, areas on both sides of the brain are activated. Art is also excellent for firing up the brain and allows us to build links between both sides of the brain.

It is important to begin increasing our brain power when we are young, but it is also never too late to start no matter our age. It is possible to grow new brain cells even as we age.

Generation Alheimers: The Defining Disease of the Baby Boomers http://www.alz-news.org
Alzheimers Society of Canada www.alzheimer.ca
Alzheimers Society of B.C. www.alzheimer.bc.org