Dementia: The Coming Storm (for Many of You) | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E12
We were headed to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday. And because we are a little gullible, we paid too much attention to the local news and got to the airport almost 3 hours early. I took a picture of the almost empty Muhammad Ali International airport. Our flight had 37 empty seats. I hate the holiday hype.
The weather reports are almost as bad. I’ve canceled many backpacking trips because forecasters have exaggerated coming storms. I know it’s hype when they give the storm a name. But then again, sometimes they hit the bullseye
I was in the Grand Canyon in 2019 and needed to hike out with my 20-year-old nephew. There is nothing easy about hiking out of the Grand Canyon. The weather report predicted blizzard conditions and that’s what we got. We were halfway out and the 50-mile-an-hour winds hit. I’m guessing the wind chill was close to 0 degrees. I stopped and changed into a dry shirt, but my nephew refused. Stubborn like his mother. He almost froze to death, at least that’s what I thought when we hit Cedar Ridge and he was howling with pain every time the wind gusted to 60-miles-an hour. So maybe, it’s helpful listening to the weather report, sometimes.
This season is entitled “It’s all About the Engine,” by which I mean the brain. I want to tell you about a storm that is coming for many of us, and mark my words, I’m not bullshitting you. This storm has a name and it’s Dementia. Don’t change the channel. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad news. I read a book at the airport and on the flight to Tampa. It’s the “2023 Dementia Overview 19 Dementia Types, and Symptoms,” by Jerry Beller Health Research Institute.
It’s the most current research on dementia in one book. I’m going to hit the highlights of the book. I’ll give you the bad news and the good news. And yes, there are some things you can do. By the way, I watched a new movie directed by Michael Keaton called “Knox Goes Away”, in which he performs as a man who is diagnosed with a very rare type of dementia called, Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease. He’s a hitman and three weeks to live. It’s good!
Nineteen Types of Dementia
There are several types of dementia, 19 in fact. The big dog is Alzheimer’s Disorder. I’ll be sharing the lives of several people who developed Alzheimer’s Disorder: B. Smith, Glenn Campbell, and Ronald Reagan to name a few. You probably haven’t heard about Lewy Body Dementia. I’m sure you’ve heard about Parkinson’s Disorder. Both involve Lewy Bodies, which are clumps of protein that kills brain cells. People with Parkinson’s Disease, 50 to 80%, often develop dementia. Then there’s Frontal-Temporal Dementia. I know you’ve heard of Bruce Willis. He has Frontal-Temporal Dementia. With this type of dementia, you lose your ability to communicate.
There is Vascular Dementia. This type of dementia often follows a stroke and involves a loss of blood flow to brain cells and consequently they die.
There are several additional types of dementia, but these are the top four. I do want to talk about one that has the headlines, especially in the sports world and it’s CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. I’ll write more about it later, but this type of dementia is caused by chronic injuries to the brain. Symptoms usually follow years or decades down the road. I worked with a father who described playing youth football and doing drills where two teammates practice by colliding helmet to helmet. As a man in his 40s, he struggled to do basic household chores, and parenting, all early signs of dementia.
Vascular Dementia is caused by strokes and other conditions that restrict the flow of blood to the brain. The main arterial-restrictive condition is most often Arterial Sclerosis or Coronary Artery Disease.
There are three risk factors for Vascular Dementia:
High blood pressure, inflammation, and smoking.
Stroke is Preventable
Generally speaking, artery disease is preventable with diet and exercise. Vascular Dementia accounts for 20% of dementia cases and is mostly preventable.
When I wrote about brain health earlier in this season, I asserted, “What’s good for the heart, is good for the brain.” I will do an episode later in this season on stroke prevention to supplement what I’ve already written. I’ll do a deeper dive into vascular dementia because it’s one of the most preventable of brain disorders. Almost eight-hundred-thousand people experience a stroke each year, which often results in Vascular Dementia. The CDC has asserted that 80% of strokes are preventable, let me say that again, 80% of strokes are preventable!
Symptoms of Alzheimer’s Might Be Preventable
It’s also worth noting that there was some positive news from a study entitled the Nun Study. In this study, Sister Mary, who lived to be 101 years old, was evaluated at the time of her death and had very high cognitive scores, and at the same time showed neurological signs of Alzheimer’s Disorder.
Here’s What You Can do to Prevent Dementia: Move and Eat Right
I hope you see the positive message in this episode. Yes, there are types of dementia that we don’t understand the causality but, there are things that we can do, things that can decrease our risk of developing dementia. Most of these things include moving and eating right. Imagine that, no meds, no treatment, or supplements, just eating fruits and vegetables, and moving at least 150 minutes per week.
Let me close out by bringing some very sobering news about dementia.
How bad is dementia? It’s devastating!
You lose the people you love. The people that love you, lose you. Think about an hour glass. The sands at the top are you. The bottom section reflects the not you. Eventually, all the sand is gone. Memories. Relationships. Experiences. All that makes you a person, is gone. That’s what dementia does. You die, but your body is still alive. You are gone. The people that you fell in love with are gone. The quirks and personality that lit up the room are gone. The strong shoulder to lean on is gone. The fountain of learning is gone. Your brain dies slowly and the you that makes you a person is gone. The sand in the hourglass disappears and you were gone. It doesn’t matter what type of dementia. It is a sad and tragic end to a full and adventuresome life.
That my friends is what you have to look forward to with Dementia. It isn’t forgetting where you left your keys. It’s forgetting your children, your spouse, your love. It’s forgetting your grandchildren, your trips, your addresses, your profession, your religion, your political affiliation, and all that you now cherish about your life.
Dementia more than sucks. It is the most horrific thing that you can imagine for yourself or a family member.
If this scares you, I want it to scare you. This season is about the aging brain, “It’s all about the engine.”
Keep reading because there is good news. There is something you can do. It has to do with eating and moving. You know where I’m going. Let’s look deeper.
