Living Alzheimer's From the Front Row

Imagine a person you know all or most of your life and their behavior changes--suddenly--and for the worse.

By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room

I often use the term "living Alzheimer's from the front row".

This term describes caregivers and others that watch Alzheimer's develop 24/7.

Once the disease strikes they get to witness the craziness of it all. On one hand, you have the person suffering from Alzheimer's; on the other hand, you have the person responsible for caring for that person. Unless you are an Alzheimer's caregiver it is almost impossible to either understand or comprehend what it is like living in the front row.

Six Ways to Keep Alzheimer's Away

A CNN article, Five Ways to Keep Alzheimer's Away, mentions five ways to keep your memory sharp: antioxidants, fish oil supplements, phosphatidylserine supplements, curry, and Cross-training your brain.

I believe that supplements are a good part of any regimen to improve health. Scientific evidence supports the value of taking supplements and indicates that supplements can help stave off a long list of diseases including heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's.

However, I am starting to get the feeling that people believe there is magic in those pills; and that, they can start taking these supplements in lieu of healthy life practices and get a positive result by pills alone.

It is my belief that supplements are worthwhile and a great way to stay healthy. However, it is also necessary to take good care of you body and address medical issues if you want to stay healthy and disease free in older age.

For example, I recently wrote about how high cholesterol in your 40s increases the odds of contracting Alzheimer's--by 50 percent.

I believe most people know if you suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure) the odds of suffering from any number of diseases rises dramatically as you age. 

Less well known is the fact that if you have a big belly in middle age the chances that you could suffer from dementia are tripled.

Previously I wrote an article about Alzheimer's and the likely devastating effect it could have on baby boomers. I suggested a list of things that are proactive and have measured scientific benefits.

In addition to the issues with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a big belly I suggested a few additional ideas that I believe can help.

A study showed that regular exercise is one of the best ways to reduce your risk of dementia and can help slow progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Another study at Harvard found that those who regularly drank a cocoa flavanol rich beverage had an eight percent increase in brain blood flow after one week, and 10 percent increase after two weeks.

Studies also show that people with higher levels of vitamin B12 were six times less likely to experience brain volume loss.

These are the kinds of things I believe raise the odds of fighting off Alzheimer's and dementia in older age. Please keep this in mind, the longer you live the greater the chance you will suffer from dementia. Once Alzheimer's or dementia present it is to late. So the time to get started is now.

My mother suffers from Alzheimer's and is 92 years old. Prior to the age of 85 she never suffered a major illness, never had an operation, and was still functioning on her own.

Bob DeMarco—My Profile

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Does Walking Help Ward Off Alzheimer's

Here is a little known fact that might get your attention.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers asked 2,257 men (ages 71–93 and with no signs of dementia) how far they walked each day.

Cognitive assessments performed four to eight years later showed that the men who walked less than a quarter mile a day were nearly twice as likely to have developed dementia as those who walked two miles or more each day.

Source: John Hopkins, Guarding Your Memory

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Bob DeMarco is an Alzheimer's caregiver and editor of the Alzheimer's Reading Room. The Alzheimer's Reading Room is the number one website on the Internet for insight into Alzheimer's disease. Bob taught at the University of Georgia, was an executive at Bear Stearns, the CEO of IP Group, and is a mentor. He has written more than 600 articles with more than 11,000 links on the Internet. Bob resides in Delray Beach, FL.

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