Fighting to Remember

What to do to help prevent Alzheimer's, dementia and memory loss

One of the things most prevalent in our society is an increased amount of those suffering with memory loss. It is also one of the scariest for those it is affecting as they start to realize they are losing their minds quite literally. The caretakers, often family members and spouses, are under great stress and sometimes even come to physical or verbally abusive harm. The big question is what can one do to go about preventing these debilitating diseases from ever starting?

Nutrition is extremely important and one thing everyone can try and make a concerted effort of cutting out or decreasing from their diet is sugar. Sugar is detrimental to the body and if not correctly absorbed the excess sugar will circulate in the bloodstream. When this happens it may damage the eyes, kidneys, heart, blood vessels and nerves all of which can lead to cognitive decline and dementia^[1].

When the nerves get damaged you won’t have proper function to the rest of the body. As we all know the brain is the control center or computer of the body. Whatever you want your body to do your brain tells that area to work properly and sends out messages to those areas via your nerves. If the nerves aren’t able to fire properly those messages will get delayed or not get there at all. Areas not functioning properly begin to deteriorate and die even the brain.
Getting adjusted by your chiropractor who works specifically on your spine and nervous system will give your body the best chance it has to stay healthy and functioning properly keeping the nerves working and firing correctly.

Exercise helps as well and doing something appropriate to your age and body type is important such as swimming or walking as they are typically easier on the joints. Exercise improves function and blood flow to the brain decreasing rates and incidences of dementia and Alzheimer's^[2].

An exciting study about sauna usages and Alzheimer's has also recently been published in, “Researchers found a dose-response between the frequency of weekly sauna habits and dementia risk. The more frequently someone used a sauna each week, the lower the risk of dementia. Those who used a sauna 4-7 times a week lowered any form of dementia by 66 percent and the risk of Alzheimer's disease was 65 percent lower than those taking a sauna just once a week. This sauna-use research was conducted over two decades and included 2,315 healthy men aged 42–60 years at baseline between 1984-1989,”^[3,4]. As with exercise, if introducing sauna usage into their life one should do so gradually and under supervision of a doctor.

References:

1. http://www.alz.org/we_can_help_blood_sugar.asp Opens in new window
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3258000/ Opens in new window
3. Tanjaniina Laukkanen, Setor Kunutsor, Jussi Kauhanen, Jari Antero Laukkanen. Sauna bathing is inversely associated with dementia and Alzheimer's disease in middle-aged Finnish men. Age and Ageing, December 2016 DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afw212
4. Tanjaniina Laukkanen, Hassan Khan, Francesco Zaccardi, Jari A. Laukkanen. Association Between Sauna Bathing and Fatal Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality Events. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8187