AGEING, ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND RELATED DEMENTIA
story by mark200k!
courtesy of free images
Dementia to most of us is not an all-new term but still to a significant number of us, this is a new term. To those of us who know dementia, it is probably because we have had or still have our parents, grandparents or even our friends at their mid ages who have this disease.
Dementia is a loss of thinking, remembering and reasoning skills that interfere with a person’s daily life and activities. It is mostly associated with the old and ageing.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dementia is the seventh cause of death worldwide and affects 55 million people worldwide. While Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia responsible for 70% of all dementia cases.
In general, Dementia is a cognitive illness that affects the brain functioning of a person and their whole personality to some extent as well.
Memory problems are among the first and most initial signs of dementia. Other aspects may include finding it hard to say the right words, vision, spatial issues and impaired reasoning or judgement.
Many times in our lives maybe here in Kenya we have at times said words such as “I don’t want to grow old to the point of being aired out as clothes” Well we simply mean we do not want to grow old to a point we can not handle ourselves and others have to do that for us.
But, remember just because your family has a history of Alzheimer’s does not mean that you will have it as well. However, it may mean you are more likely to develop it.
A few ways have been put forward toward controlling, delaying or preventing Alzheimer’s. These have just been started no significant research that puts the matter to rest has come up yet.
Controlling high blood pressure
This is already known to reduce heart diseases and stroke according to the reaches and reports by the States (USA) National Instate on Aging (NIH) it may also be used and natured to the point of assisting in delaying or subsequently preventing Alzheimer’s
Increased physical activities
It is well known that physical activities do assist with brain health and cognitive performance, how well you think and remember. However, it has not yet been directly proven that physical activities do prevent Alzheimer’s but other research supports the fact that physical activities may help reduce the risk of age-related cognitive decline.
Cognitive training
These trainings involve structured activities designed to enhance memory, reasoning and speed of processing. This may highly assist in brain functions for long-term purposes.
2023 saw an international gathering in Amsterdam Netherlands (Alzheimer’s Association International Conference) the biggest gathering of Alzheimer’s scientists.
These gatherings saw pharmaceutical companies who said they had come up with a drug that delays the progression of the disease by more than 30%. But this has led to a controversial discussion. Still due to this other scientist suggests that this will not work. As prior similar proposals have come up, but none has been effective.
Regardless of all these, one thing is sure we all need to take care of our minds and brain functioning for our future.