What Everyone Ought To Know About Preventing Dementia
“My waiting room is filled with 70-year-olds with the bodies of 40-year-olds and no minds” a neurologist was quoted by Maria Shriver (yes the former first Lady of California) who is championing mind health as part of her Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement.
It got me thinking, if their bodies are in great nick why are these people ending up in a neurologist’s waiting room? It’s clear that they have bought into the magic bullet theory.
You know how it goes;
One medication
One amazing plant product
The vitamin to end all vitamins
The key ingredient to prevent “ insert latest issue”
The one exercise above all exercise
The medication to cure……
Yep, you’ve read this all before, and you get it.
We all want it simple, easy, straight forward, but rarely in life is it simple. Buying into the “one magic bullet ” is going to harm you much like the ladies in the neurologist’s waiting room.
Why?
Because when it comes to Brain Health, your Memory Health, there are so many facets which can impact on your performance. Not just one!
7 Principles of Brain and Memory Health
The 7 Principles of Brain and Memory Health points you in the right direction
Exercise Well
Eat Well: right nutrition and supplementation ( when needed)
Sleep Well
Challenge Your Brain: Cognitive Training and Brain Stimulation
Love Deeply – Better: Healthy Robust Social Connections
Find Calmness and Attentive Clarity: Stress Management
Cut Out Drugs ( some medications) and Smoking and drink Alcohol in moderation ( not a sailor’s pouring)
However, the key to the above principles is to filter them to your situation. What’s one person’s positive maybe another person’s negative and so goes with your memory threats.
If we go back to the holes and the leaky roof in that I spoke about in the MindCize course, your holes are going to be much different to the next person’s holes.
This is what I do with my clients in the memory health clinic, I map out their memory health threats (the holes causing the leaky roof) and design a solution to close those holes.
When we look at conditions like Alzheimer’s Dementia, neuroscientists have identified the presence of amyloid plaques and tangles as an indicator for Alzheimer’s type dementia.
The established hypothesis goes like this: The more plaques and tangles you have in your brain (detected in serum or brain tissue), the more it impacts your brain’s performance. Hence you experience symptoms of dementia because the brain can’t communicate and run efficiently.
It’s been found that amyloid plaques can build up 15 to 20 years before the dementia symptoms are seen.
But,
Not all plaques mean dementia.
In Snowden’s classical Nun Study, after following a group of nuns for 20years when they died he had a unique opportunity to examine their brains. His team observed one third of the nuns had through-the-roof high levels of amyloid plaques but no visible signs of dementia. Simply, they had dementia brains but no dementia! Similar observations were made in a later and more comprehensive research: Religious Orders Study in 2011.
How can that be?
Well, the theory of cognitive reserve has gained traction as being the answer to this.
Simply, the more you learn, the more you apply healthy lifestyle behaviours into your life, the more connections you cultivate in your brain. So, even if the brain “demolishers” turn up and ramp up their activity you’ve enough connections to spare as you’ve built a rich and robust brain.
To be fair, this is a very-very simplified version of the theory and misses a lot of the finer details. If you want to achieve the robust brain, at the heart of it all is the application of the 7 principles.
Not one.
I guess if you’ve read this far, you’d appreciate I’m extremely passionate about this.
My vision is to ensure No Australian Over 50 suffers from unnecessary memory loss. I feel so strongly about this I am compelled to let you know what you can do to take control of your memory health.
An OT Brisbane Special Invitation
If you’re worried about your memory or want to be proactive about protecting your memory health, call me today to schedule a FREE 10 MINUTE Phone Consultation with a senior therapist to see if we can help. To book please call the office on 1300 783 200 orsimply fill out the form below.
What is included in the free consultation?
In our free phone consultation, you will chat directly with a therapist over the phone. The conversation will be confidential and the therapist will discuss your situation and advise you of what their perspective is.
What areas can be discussed during the phone consultation?
We cover memory health and neurological condition questions.
What happens after my free phone consultation?
If you’re satisfied we can help you we may schedule a Memory Health Check Up in order to best suit your needs and goals.
