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I haven't added anything here for a while but just got this today and thought I'd add it. I've worked on my own sleep for years and have a good combo that I've posted in the Alt Med area and I can't believe it but last night I slept a whole 5.5 hrs before a wake up for bathroom. I usually sleep a good 3 hrs and then wake to to to bathroom a couple times nightly but last night was some miracle. I know sleep issues are a biggie for many and especially as we age.
Saw my neighbor for a few minutes today and it seems her husband who is 77 I believe is forgetting more and more. She's feeling the stress and she's a pretty patient person.
Every time I visit this forum I can't help but think about myself and the ones taking care of their loved ones now....I believe we can do so much to keep our minds healthy.
I've read that 70% of dementia (or was it Alzheimer's?) is hereditary and the other 30% is environmental. Probably there's no hard and fast rule--I mean it could be hereditary for you but you could still do a lot to prevent it.
Diet is important because we are what we eat. The diet is called the MIND diet.
Green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, nuts, berries, beans, whole grains, fish, poultry, olive oil, wine. LOTS of green leafy vegetables, only ONE glass of wine!
I've read that 70% of dementia (or was it Alzheimer's?) is hereditary and the other 30% is environmental. Probably there's no hard and fast rule--I mean it could be hereditary for you but you could still do a lot to prevent it.
Diet is important because we are what we eat. The diet is called the MIND diet.
Green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, nuts, berries, beans, whole grains, fish, poultry, olive oil, wine. LOTS of green leafy vegetables, only ONE glass of wine!
You lost me with that last sentence.
Just kidding - but I really do stick closely to this diet and I'm hoping it works! Time will tell.
Just kidding - but I really do stick closely to this diet and I'm hoping it works! Time will tell.
The last sentence was just a paraphrase of what the article said. It's more or less what I eat too. No junk food with strange chemicals that would have unknown effects and I try to get vegetables as much as possible. But that's the food I like anyway so it's not that hard.
We all know people who smoked and did other things that are bad for you and they lived to a ripe old age. They're the exception though.
For a while I thought my cousin's Alzheimer's could be due to the fact that she defiantly stopped cooking about 15 years ago. Threw away all her pots and pans and lived on yogurt and oatmeal, Diet Coke, and maybe a few muffins that a friend use to bring over. But she was bi-polar too and there's that article that says bi-polar people often get Alzheimer's.
She also paid to have chemicals sprayed all over her lawn for 30 years and that could have been a factor too. She used to walk barefoot right after the chemical treatment! But until or unless they can check and figure out what caused any particular person's illness, we'll never know. It's not like they do something one day and then you see the effect the next day.
BTW, if this helps anyone, she hates me and she hangs up the phone on me. At first it was all "Thank You, what would I do without you?" I talked on the phone with her brother yesterday and he said she hangs up on him too. So we shouldn't take it personally. They are in a rage and are taking it out on the nearest person.
After seeing the devastation that dementia/Alzheimer's causes, I definitely don't want it and am doing what I feasibly, reasonably can to avoid it, which is basically eating as naturally as possible, and including turmeric, Omega 3 oils, green leafy veggies, nuts, berries, lots of fish, etc in my diet. I also exercise regularly, and play word games and other games that keep my mind sharp, such as Scrabble and Rummy Cube, that sort of thing. I read a lot and also keep TV watching to a minimum, though I do unwind with TV in the evenings.
I volunteer which I think is very important in order to keep one focused on the needs of others OUTSIDE of oneself, if that makes sense. Without exception, every single person I've known personally who developed dementia in my family had a long history of being very self oriented, self absorbed, very few outside interests other than the immediate household.
I also am lucky enough not to have bipolar disorder or other mental illness issues which I do believe really do increase one's odds of developing dementia.
I think it has been shown that mental illness and dementia are strongly correlated. As are some types of mental retardation.
There are also clearly some forms of dementia which are genetically determined, but it is believed only a small number. I have a friend in this situation with early onset Alzheimers. Her mother, grandmother and great grandmother all had it and in their family, none of the men.
But what I have been told by the relevant specialists is that the current thinking is that the brain can start to decline thirty years before the damage becomes apparent. All the things that we do to try to prevent this give us a buffer but will not prevent it entirely if we live long enough.
If you think about it, when people get into their nineties it is rare to be good both physically and mentally. So people's lives necessarily become more limited. This often disguises more minor mental decline. For people who are currently in their nineties we tend not to expect them to be computer literate, though of course many are. We do not expect them to be learning new languages, taking themselves on complex trips overseas and so on. We applaud their ability to continue to do what they always have but generally there is some decline in mental abilities.
Anyway, we do what we can to keep ourselves well both physically and mentally. But, in our case we are in our sixties and juggling helping with childcare of grandchildren and looking out for the mothers in their nineties in nursing homes. Visiting nursing homes as much as we do becomes depressing when we start to think about what is ahead for us.
I was talking to a person on another health group and she consumes a tsp of coconut oil just about daily. I use it for cooking and mix it with olive oil...and often eat a spoon of CO.
Here is another article on Dr. Newport and her husband.
Trade off Alzheimer's (if you believe it will reduce beta amyloid protein) in exchange for vascular dementia due to higher heart disease risk from saturated fats.
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