The holidays are a time when we tend to focus more on our health; we talk about it, the media talks about it, and it’s a topic of conversation amongst friends and family. Yet one health subject we tend to talk about less is perhaps the scariest health issue of all, loss of memory. It will cut you off from life even though you may be physically healthy. So mental health is a serious private concern. In fact, it is paramount and loss of memory is a tell-tale indicator that our world is changing. Figuratively, we are leaving flesh and blood and headed toward a vegetable. Love and affection will be gone. All of us know someone like this.
Some memory issues are indeed age-related but expected. After all, your brain volume does shrink with age. It starts by very small steps in adulthood and continues at an average rate of 2 percent per decade. That doesn’t sound like a whole lot until you reach 80, when your brain will be 12 percent smaller than at 20.
In the U.S., doctors do one of two things. They do nothing, treating failing memory as a “symptom of aging,” or they give elders drugs that leech away nutrients your brain needs.
Feelings of being lost, unable to recall important facts… When memory falters it is equated with dementia or Alzheimer’s.
This is enough to terrify any soul.
The main brain molecules
Alzheimer’s is beta-amyloid accumulations in the brain tissue. Amyloid is a microscopic protein fragment of a larger protein called amyloid precursor, or protein normally found throughout the body.
In Alzheimer’s disease, this protein is processed improperly, creating a substance called beta-amyloid, which is toxic to brain cells. In a healthy brain, no problem — but in Alzheimer’s disease, these beta-amyloid protein fragments accumulate to form insoluble plaques.
The mechanical breakdown of cognitive function is caused by the malfunction of acetylcholine, the brain’s messenger molecule.
Acetylcholine is simply a brain neurotransmitter that is responsible for numerous functions including cognition and memory. An imbalance in acetylcholine affects negatively the nerve impulse that is transmitted between nerve cells.
Trouble is, the medical people don’t have a clue as far as therapy. Alzheimer’s is the curse of modern medicine.
However, we do know the signs people experience when they begin to suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s. And since you are going to be around family and friends this holiday season, here’s what to look out for in those who may be in the first stages:
- Memory loss that affects daily life. Memory loss — especially short-term memory — forgetting important dates/events/appointments, asking people to repeat themselves over and over, and not recalling things later.
- Challenges in planning or solving problems. Trouble planning ahead or working with numbers or fine details, like how to use a TV remote or cellphone, following a recipe, keeping up with monthly bills, difficulty concentrating or staying focused on a task or topic.
- Difficulty completing familiar tasks. Getting confused or lost while driving, unable to get to a familiar location, managing a budget, repeatedly forgetting the rules of a favorite game.
- Confusion with time or place. Losing track of dates, seasons, passage of time, forgetting track of where you are or how you got there, having trouble understanding something if it’s not happening here and now.
- Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships. Problems with reading, judging distances, identifying colors or contrast (not associated with cataracts).
- New problems with words in speaking or writing. Having trouble following a conversation, losing a train of thought in the middle of a sentence, inability to find the right word or misnaming things.
- Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps. Putting things in unusual places (like sticking shoes in the refrigerator), being unable to think back to where they should likely be, accusing others of stealing when losing track of something.
- Poor judgment. Degradation of judgment and decision-making, like using poor judgment in money matters and giving large amounts of money to telemarketers, paying less attention to grooming and keeping clean.
- Withdrawal from work or social activities. Drawing away from hobbies, social activities, work projects, sports, avoiding social interactions because of changes being felt, pulling into a shell and shutting people out.
- Changes in mood or personality. Becoming confused, suspicious, depressed, fearful, anxious, getting easily upset when out of your comfort zone.
Reverse the risk
Like all other parts of your body, the brain needs proper nourishment and regular workouts to keep it strong and supple. Here are some ideas on brain-training activities you might try:
- Start a new hobby; learn a new talent or skill.
- Travel (keeping your agenda full of learning about what you see that is new).
- Get a part-time job, volunteer or learn a new foreign language.
- Attend adult community seminars and events on interesting topics.
- Play mind activity games like crossword and puzzles.
- Listen to inspiring authors to focus on feeling good in your relationships and perspective.
An old friend of mine who is always active and on the go said to me once, “When I rest, I rust.” He’s not wrong. Oxidation is rust, and a steady stream of anti-oxidants and circulation to the brain helps to keep it from rusting.
There are a number of dietary supplements that have been shown anecdotally to help with getting better blood flow to the brain to slow the advance of Alzheimer’s, but getting a lot of attention today is curcumin, an anti-inflammatory molecule in the turmeric root, a relative of ginger.
Turmeric has been used in Asian cultures for thousands of years as a food flavoring and in medicinal preparations. It’s a common seasoning in the cuisine of India, which has a low incidence of Alzheimer’s.
Mary S. Easton of the UCLA Alzheimer Translation Center stated, “Our group has tested curcumin in several models and found that it not only reduces inflammation (as expected) but also reduces amyloid accumulation and synaptic marker loss while promoting both amyloid phagocytosis and clearance.”
One forgotten study found a combination of vitamin D3 and curcumin, a compound found in turmeric, may help shield the brain from the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.
A team of scientists from UCLA, UC Riverside and the Human BioMolecular Research Institute found the combination acts by stimulating the immune system to remove amyloid beta from the brain.
The researchers analyzed blood samples from Alzheimer’s patients and from healthy control subjects to isolate monocyte cells, which transform into macrophages that spearhead the immune system’s waste removal process.
Their results suggest curcuminoids boosted the surface binding of amyloid beta to macrophages, and vitamin D stimulated the absorption of amyloid beta in macrophages in a majority of patients.
Bob Livingston
