What do you do for yourself to prevent dementia?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister, BIL and I made a suicide pact this holiday. Dark, I know, but spending time with older family members with Alzheimers underscored for all of us that we don’t want to live with this disease.

Your kids, if you have any, will have something to say about that when the time comes.

We’ve told them too (they’re early 20s) and they agree that living with Alzheimers is no way to live.

You think they’re going to hog tie their parents to keep them alive?

20s are a lovely time. Such black and white thinking

If they are in their 40s or 50s when the time comes...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The human brain is made of cholesterol. I believe a diet rich in red meat and good fats is key. And never take a statin drug.

You are so misinformed, it's scary. No, eating red meat, trans fats, etc., will not provide cholesterol to your brain that it needs. Your brain already makes it's own cholesterol. ( And YOUR brain already has plaques, I think. Or a lot of reduced volume. Or both.)
Stains prevent heart disease, stroke, and dementia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It seems that most people I know with dementia are alcoholics, abused drugs, eat a poor diet or have brain injuries. Once the damage is done, it’s done.

My mother developed alzheimers (mixed type) in her early 80s. She rarely drank and if so, a half glass of wine, never took drugs, ate exceedinly well and was on the 'no processed foods' bandwagon from the 1970s onward, regularly did crosswords and read in multiple languages, and never had a brain injury. She did take PPIs for years as well as a plethora of (probably unnecessary) allergy meds and she had lifelong poor sleep schedule.

My MIL lived until 94 cognitively sound,never exercisesd in her life, had wine or prosecco and dessert every night and smoked for 40 years. My dad has pretty terrible eating habits, no exercise, drinks nightly and while he is in poor physical health, at 86 he is cognitively sound.

Again...this is no different than the ultra-marathoner who dies of a heart attack at 40 because of a genetic problem vs. the 40 year old morbidly obese smoker who dies of a heart attack because of lifestyle vs. the old timer who smokes 3 packs a day and somehow lives to 90 and never has a heart attack or gets lung cancer.

If you are genetically marked for dementia, there is nothing you can do. If you won the genetic lottery such that you will never get dementia...then count yourself lucky. Since I am pretty sure nobody knows if they fall into either of the previous categories, all you can do is live your life in a way that hopefully guarantees you won't contract dementia. Exercise, sleep well, avoid activities that cause concussions / head injuries, etc.

[Anonymous]

Cognifit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister, BIL and I made a suicide pact this holiday. Dark, I know, but spending time with older family members with Alzheimers underscored for all of us that we don’t want to live with this disease.

Your kids, if you have any, will have something to say about that when the time comes.

We’ve told them too (they’re early 20s) and they agree that living with Alzheimers is no way to live.

20s are a lovely time. Such black and white thinking

If they are in their 40s or 50s when the time comes...

People under 40: "oh yeah, I plan to commit suicide if I get Alzheimers or need to go into assisted living."

People over 65: "NOOOOOOOO, I will give you all my money for one more hour of playing Rummikub with the other facility residents!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doing my best to stay off of PPI's.

$1500 hearing aids from Cosco at first sign of hearing decline

Plenty of sleep
Low sugar, lower carbs
Eat unprocessed

When I don't get enough sleep or eat too much sugar or processed foods I find myself hunting for words.

Ballroom dance
Latin dances
Swing dance
Texas two step (which is really beautiful)

Those 3 are KEY! Same, when I don't get enough sleep or eat crap I feel like crap. When I sleep 8+ hours (quality sleep) and keep carbs lower and walk (that's all you need, just move daily), then I feel totally different person (and brain fog is at a minimum---soemthing those of us women deal with a lot, add in Hashimotos to the menopause and it's a recipe for disaster)