Healthy lifestyle to ward off Alzheimer’s Dementia
Four months ago, I went to one of my friend's house and met her 65-years old grandfather. He made the introduction remarkable by asking my name more than 15 times. That time his memory impairment was in the early stage. It progressed much when I visited him again in the following months. I noticed that he began forgetting the names of even near relatives. He had trouble with his words and recognising his own room. Forgetting things is not surprising at his age. The most common cause behind memory impairment in elderly is Alzheimer's Dementia. Dementia is a progressive brain dysfunction which results in impairment of memory and restriction of daily activities. Many diseases can result in dementia. The most common one is Alzheimer's disease. Dementia predominantly occurs in the second half of our life, often after the age of 65. The frequency of dementia increases with rising age from less than 2 percent for the 65-69-year-olds, to 5 percent for the 75-79 year-olds and to more than 20 percent for the 85-89 year-olds. Every third person over 90 years of age suffers from moderate to severe dementia. About half of those affected by dementia also suffer from Alzheimer's disease. The affected individuals may present with symptoms like inability to retrieve information, remembering the recent or remote past, even forget their children's name. They may lose the ability to eat or groomed by her/himself and may get confused to find appropriate word while speaking. Their sleep-wake cycle can be disturbed, waking at night believing that it is daytime. But it is common for the individual not to admit the wrong. There is no downright cure for Alzheimer's dementia but ongoing research is shedding more light on leading healthy lifestyle to prevent the disease. Here are some tips: 1. Exercise is important for your overall health. Researchers from Sweden found those who, in their middle year of age exercised at least twice a week, were 60 percent less likely to develop the disease. 2. Challenge your brain with puzzles or learning something new. 3. Find a new habit do some yard work or go for a walk in the sun. 4. Be choosy about your food. Avoid high calorie- and junk foods. 5. Drink plenty of water and let out the toxic products out of your body. 6. Blueberries, grapes, green tea, fish oil, eggs, the common spice turmeric; these are some foods that contain ingredients that is thought to be helpful in preventing the disease. 7. Some nutrients that reduce the risk are vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B1, B6, B12, folic acid, garlic, choline, cobalt, zinc etc. However, a relative or friend of an individual suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's disease should be consulted with a doctor. The patient is usually not able to visit doctors alone. Convincing the patient to visit a doctor can be very difficult as the patient may not want to recognise there is something wrong. You may need your doctor's help to convince the patient s/he needs medical care. The writer is a student of final year of Dhaka Medical College.
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