Dementia – Part 2 on how to handle it

How to keep an active healthy brain and prevent dementia

Dementia is hard to deal with, whether you are the one who is suffering with it or whether you are watching someone you love go through it. There are however many things you can do that can help reduce your risk of developing dementia.

Look after your heart

It’s not only your brain you need to look after but also the rest of your body. Your heart and your head are connected. There are certain conditions that can increase your risk of developing dementia. If you have reached ‘mid-life’ then these conditions could increase your risk more. The conditions are high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Having these and not getting them treated can lead to damaged blood vessels in your brain. This then starts to affect your brain function and thinking skills. If you get these things treated and look after yourself you will decrease your risk of developing dementia.

If you’re a smoker, you are increasing your risk for developing heart disease, cancer, stroke, and other diseases, causing your risk for dementia to increase. However, if you stop smoking, these risks rapidly reduce.

 

Challenge your brain

Providing challenges for your brain to solve is great for your brain health. This could mean doing daily crosswords of Sukodo. You need to challenge your brain with new activities to build new brain cells. This is important because you will have extra cells in reserve for when some get damaged. If you don’t find puzzles appealing, then maybe you can try challenging your brain in different ways. Such as learning a new language. Whatever you enjoy doing it will keep your brain active. The goal is to stop your brain from being on ‘automatic pilot’.

 

Physical activity

Physical activity increases blood flow to your brain, which then stimulates the growth of brain cells. It is also associated with larger brain volume, which helps your brain function and reduces the risk of dementia. Exercise also reduces your risk of high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol. If you are someone who does very little physical activity, you may be increasing your risk of dementia.

 

Healthy diet

A high intake of saturated fats that are found in fried foods and takeaway food along with trans fats found in pies and cakes may increase your risk of dementia. Good fats such as monounsaturated fats maintain brain functionality and reduce the risk of dementia. These are the fats found in fish and olive oil. Also good for your bran are foods high in antioxidants. The Omega 3 fatty acids that are in oily fish help reduce inflammation in the brain, which then helps the growth of new brain cells.

 

Socialise

Socialising can be stimulating. It also helps to alleviate depression and improves vascular conditions. There is research that shows when you combine social activity with mental and physical activity you are not only having fun but improving your brain health as well.

 

If you have concerns that you or someone you love is developing dementia see your naturopath or nutritionist to find out how you can start living a healthier lifestyle. This clinic specialises in all matters concerning physical, spiritual, energetic, mental and emotional health. Give us a call today to find out how we can help.

Dementia and tips on how to handle it

Dementia is a harsh and heartbreaking diseases. Dementia is the umbrella term used when describing symptoms of a number of illnesses.  These illnesses cause a slow progressive decline in your functioning. Symptoms that are looked for include memory loss, loss of intellect, rationality, social skills, and physical functioning. Although before these symptoms are diagnosed as dementia, they must be affecting two or more brain functions. Brain functions doctors look for include memory, thinking, language, judgment, and behaviour.

Types of Dementia

There are two main types of dementia, these are Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. However, there are more types such as frontotemporal dementia, Lewy body disease, and dementia from Parkinson’s disease.

Causes of Dementia

Dementia develops as a result of the degeneration of neurons or disturbances in the body that affect how neurons function. Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, with dementia, and vascular dementia are included in neurodegenerative diseases. There are factors that can cause neurodegenerative diseases such as side effects of medication, chronic alcoholism and also some tumours or infections of the brain. Other causes of dementia include frontotemporal lobar degeneration. This is when there is damage to the frontal and temporal lobes in the brain. Also, metabolic disorders and toxins like lead can cause dementia. People with Alzheimer’s disease have high levels of brain inflammation.

Genetics

Some people may be worried if they have seen loved ones suffer from dementia, that they too are at risk. That is not always the case. There is a particular gene, the apoliprotein E, including ApoE2, ApoE3, and Apo4 associated with some cases of dementia. This though, is only one risk factor among many. Regarding Alzheimer’s specifically, only 40 – 50% of what causes the disease is attributable to genetics. In rare cases the attributable cause is gene mutations. This is thought to be at only 5% of cases. This means that for some, dementia may be preventable.

Symptoms

Some symptoms can include, having a hard time when it comes to accepting changes in schedules. There can also be small changes in short-term memory. This can cause remembering things such as childhood or events that happened 30-years-ago feel as though they happened yesterday but at the same it can be a struggle to remember things that happened that day, such as what was eaten at breakfast. There can be difficulty with word recollection or association. Some words can be repetitive and sometimes there is a confused sense of direction, even though the person may have driven the same way for years. Also, when watching television, the person may struggle to follow story lines or descriptions. There may also be changes in mood, resulting in people feeling depressed, frustrated or angry more often. There can also be a loss of interest in the hobbies or activities they used to enjoy. Confusion can cause them to feel as though people, places, and events are no longer familiar and they may have difficulty completing everyday tasks that used to cause them no issues before.

What to do

All of the above make Dementia a difficult illness for the person having it and for their loved ones. By all means take assistance from doctors and other organisations that offer it but don’t discount a visit to the naturopath/nutritionist as to what would be an ideal diet to lower inflammation. Also get some testing as to what is causing the inflammation in the first place. Inflammation in the body causes illness. Find out what pollution is upsetting them, what Wi-Fi they are exposed to and if there is a balance of sleep, exercise, social interaction and nurturing. This clinic looks at all those issues and can help you discover new information about yourself or a loved one which will improve the quality of lifestyle. Feel free to give us a call to discuss your needs.