Home Tags Posts tagged with "people with alzheimer’s"

people with alzheimer’s

1

A report of Alzheimer’s disease International (ADI) published in 2009, said there were 35.6 million people were with dementia and Alzheimer’s and it was expected that the number would increase to 65.7 million by 2030.

 

Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia that is a collective name for progressive degenerative brain syndromes. They affect memory, thinking, behavior, intellect, personality and emotion. Symptoms may include loss of memory, difficulty in finding the right words or understanding what people are saying, difficulty in performing previously routine tasks, personality and mood change. In the last stage of Alzheimer’s a person is totally dependent of care-givers and might have swallowing difficulties, is very thin and dies of infections or other diseases.

Although age, family history, and genes play a major role in determining Alzheimer’s risk, there are several ways to prevent Alzheimer’s or slower its progression.

 

Sleep. Getting enough sleep helps to consolidate memory, and an afternoon nap might lock-in long-term memoires faster. Sleep deprivation could stimulate the production of amyloid plaques and cause the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Lack of sleep also affects hormones’ balance and metabolism, leading to diabetes, weight gain, and making a person to look older. Sleeping less than eight hours a night also increases risk of heart attack, stroke, and depression and weakens immune system, so one gets cold much easier.

 

Getting enough sleep is a way to lower Alzheimer's risk.

Getting enough sleep is a way to lower Alzheimer’s risk.

 

Music. The capacity for music tends to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease differently than other brain functions. “It appears that words to a song get encoded in a different place in the brain than the words we use in speech, and it appears that people with Alzheimer’s actually preserve the music, and the words that go to music, long after much of the rest of the brain is not functioning well,” said Elaine Bearer, professor of neuroscience at the University of New Mexico. Also listening to relaxing melodies, singing or playing an instrument keep the brain in a good shape.

Intellectual activities. People who keep their brains active may be at less risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Reading, engaging in a hobby such as playing bridge or chess, or doing crosswords and word puzzles may help to reduce risk.

Wine. A glass of wine a day appears to reduce the risk of cognitive decline that occurs with normal aging as well as Alzheimer’s. A study found that those who had a drink a day through the years had about a 25% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s in old age compared with those who didn’t drink at all. Heavier drinking increased the risk of cognitive decline more than non-drinking. A glass of wine could also prevent heart and vascular illness and help you to relax and sleep better. However, if you have Alzheimer’s,  a liver condition, or other diseases that get worsen by alcohol, you should avoid it.

Stop smoking. Smokers have a 72% greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s found the researchers from the University of California, San Francisco after excluding studies sponsored by the tobacco industry. Industry-funded studies found that smokers had a lower risk. Besides lowering lung cancer’s risk, quitting smoking also can help you to sleep better, thinking more clear, being relaxed. Stopping smoking improves your complexion, reduces your wrinkles, and lowers heart attack and stroke’s risks.

Control blood sugar. A Japanese study showed that diabetes could raise Alzheimer’s risk up to three times. Those with higher than normal blood sugar levels, or prediabetes, also have a higher risk. High blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia) could be reverse through eight hours a night sleep, weight loss, daily walks, and a reduction in sweets and other processed foods.

Control cholesterol levels. High cholesterol levels are associated with changes in the brain that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. A study that examined the brains on autopsy found that participants who had high total cholesterol levels (over 224 mg/dL) in mid- to late life were seven times more likely than those with low cholesterol (under 173 mg/dL) to have the beta-amyloid plaques in their brain when they died a decade or two later. Eating low-fat or fat-free dairy products and limiting your intake of red meat can help lower cholesterol levels. The onion and garlic consumed daily are great helpers in prevention of atherosclerosis, by reducing cholesterol level. Also the goal can be reached through weight loss and daily exercise.

Weight loss. Losing weight can also prevent the Alzheimer’s since a study showed that obesity duration increased type 2 diabetes risk, and other study said the diabetes could raise the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Exercise. A daily walk is good for the brain, and getting yourself sweaty several times a week is even better. Studies have shown that aerobic exercise (brisk walking, biking, swimming, or dancing) can reduce the risk of dementia and slow the progression of Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia in old age. After the age of 65, at every five years, the number of people with Alzheimer’s doubles.

 

Alzheimer's is common in people over 65, but can affects younger people too.

Alzheimer’s is common in people over 65, but can affects younger people too.

 

US Against Alzheimer’s said one in eight 65-year-old already has the disease, which has no effective treatment, and is ultimately fatal.

Although Alzheimer’s appears in people over 65, like legendary crooner Glenn Campbell (75), early-onset dementia can be found in younger persons, like basketball coach Pat Summitt (59).

 

 

2

Early-onset dementia: symptoms and the importance of early diagnosis.

 

A new study has found that inhaling a concentrated cloud of insulin through the nose two times per day appears to slow — and in some cases reverse — symptoms of memory loss in people with early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

The study was run by researchers from the Veterans Administration’s Puget Sound Health Care System in Washington on 104 subjects and is considered very preliminary. However, the study findings suggests that a safe, simple and cheap measure that boosts flagging metabolism in key areas of the brain could hold off or possibly derail the progression of the devastating neurological disorder in its early stages.

The preliminary results were published online this week by the Archives of Neurology.

Inhaling a cloud of insulin two times per day appears to slow symptoms of memory loss in people with early signs of Alzheimer's disease

Inhaling a cloud of insulin two times per day appears to slow symptoms of memory loss in people with early signs of Alzheimer's disease

As a metabolic hormone, insulin is best known for its role in treating diabetes, a condition in which the hormone is either insufficiently produced or poorly used by the body’s organs.

But in recent years, several studies have found that people with diabetes and pre-diabetes are at high risk of developing Alzheimer‘s. The autopsies have shown that diabetics whose condition was tightly managed had fewer of the brain tangles and plaques that are the hallmark of disease.

Studies involving animals have suggested that insulin deficiency in the brain may be a key factor in the progression of Alzheimer‘s.

Researchers decided to test insulin on people without diabetes who had been diagnosed with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s or amnestic mild cognitive impairment, a disorder characterized by increased forgetfulness that often progresses to dementia.

Subjects were divided into three groups: 36 of them inhaled 20 mg of insulin twice a day for four months, 38 got 40 mg twice a day, and 30 were given a saline solution.

After two months of treatment, 20 mg of insulin group had improved performance on a memory test. The gains persisted after four months of treatment and were still evident two months after the insulin treatment stopped.

Participants who got 40 mg of insulin had no change in their memory abilities, while those who got the placebo saw a decline. The differences between those on insulin and those on the placebo were “small in absolute terms,” the authors wrote. But they were robust enough that by generally accepted research standards, they are unlikely to have been the result of chance.

Patients taking either dose of insulin were rated by their caregivers as holding steady in their overall social, mental and everyday functioning, while those on the sham medication were rated as having declined. And on physician-administered tests of cognitive function, patients taking insulin showed less decline than those on the placebo.

In a subset of subjects who underwent additional measurements, researchers found that there were fewer amyloid plaque deposits, protein tangles and other physiological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s in those whose memory improved most on the insulin treatment compared with those who had weak responses or were on the placebo.

But the persistence of insulin’s effect was a mixed picture. Two months after the insulin treatments stopped, caregivers of people in all three groups noted similar declines in their overall daily function.

About 5.4 million Americans are believed to have Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Scientists acknowledge that while they can diagnose the disease earlier and offer medications to temporarily slow the progression of symptoms, they have been stymied in their search for ways to prevent, halt or reverse it.

“It will take a larger study involving more patients over a longer time to figure out whether nasally administered insulin merely slows the march of Alzheimer’s or thwarts it,” said Laurie Ryan, a neuropsychologist who directs clinical trials involving dementia at the National Institute on Aging, which funded the pilot study.

“In the meantime, intranasal insulin has two things going for it: Insulin is already in wide use at relatively low cost, and the nasal inhaler allows it to be delivered directly and safely to the brain. That minimizes the risk of the hormone affecting blood sugar levels elsewhere in the body, which could be dangerous to kidneys, eyes and blood vessels.

“A safe, easy delivery system — those are things we’d love to see for any kind of treatment for Alzheimer’s disease,” Laurie Ryan said.

© © 2011 - 2023 BelleNews.com