From Baby Boomer to Generation Alzheimer, I have a choice
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The difference
I have already experienced what we baby boomers are told will be our death sentence. Statistics say one in eight will come down with the disease with death the outcome. The disease will be so prevalent among baby boomers, they are now calling us Generation Alzheimers.
How is it that I have experienced Alzheimers? The disease traditionally affects people over 65. Some as young as 30 may develop the disease. How old was I? I was in my 40's when I discovered my mind was not responding to daily stimulus. My ability to memorize was greatly impacted, What happened? Was it Alzheimers? No! What I discovered in my self analysis, was my brain became lazy. I was in a job for 5 years with no challenge. My mind didn't have to work hard to get things done. Now, when I left the job, I discovered my difficulty with learning new things, a new job. I was blessed with my new bosses patience who believed in me. Discovering a lazy brain meant I had to find out what I could do to change the brain mode I had developed from not having alot to do. I now had to challenge myself, my mind. It took two years to feel comfortable again with what I felt my mind could do. It took work, mental puzzles, reading, memory games to activate my lazy brain.
this realization made me understand the importance of maintaining brain health. I now challenge my mind with daily memory games, thinking through things often. How will this help?
Alzheimers is a brain disorder. It can kill. Our brains need us to do more than sitting. more than watching TV, more than eating junk food or destroying our minds with drugs and alcohol.
Food is as important in the brains preservation as maintaining brain activity. My folks are 89 and 87. Both my mom and dad have spent years maintaining their minds with activity. My mom does daily word puzzles, every day challenging herself to learn new words, remembering vocabulary she does know and discovering answers using her mind. My dad spent hours studying the stock market, working his mind to determine successful ways to increase his worth. They ate well, exercised with walks daily to keep oxygen flowing through their bodies to their brains.
I believe I have a say in whether or not my mind stays healthy, keeping Alzheimers at bay, what I do daily is to live life to the fullest, eat right, make my mind work daily with challenges, all to stay healthy mentally and physically. Will it be achieved? Yes!!!!!!!!
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Thank you K Burns for your outstanding contribution. Your note is an outstanding testimonial we all must read.
My father, An electrical engineer by trade, and a life long student, who has accquired three advanced degrees in subjects that interested him, a health concious man who was cautious about what he put into his body, with a family history of dementia, (which I did not find out about until after his diagnosis) was diagnosed in 2006 at the age of 72 with "Alzheimer's related dementia. He began taking Aricept in 2009, and although we have had some rough days that sometimes have turned out to be rough weeks, we have also been blessed with a much slower decline than was the original prognosis. As a matter of fact, having just received the results of his annual scans, tests, and evaluations, I am happy to report that there has been little to no change or decline since last year. In speaking with his doctor this past week, when discussing his results and current prognosis, we talked about dad's earlier dedication to eating right, staying fit, and keeping his mind active, were definitley didn't hurt. People sometimes fail to remember that a family history or an inherited gene, while they may raise the odds of the disease or affliction, it is NOT an absolute death sentence, and preventitive health maintenance not only won't hurt....It might even help! Great hub, I look forward to reading more by you.
An encouraging hub for us babyboomers. I agree that we must work at keeping ourselves mentally active! Thanks for the good write!
Excellent advice for anyone looking to get a head start, too!
dahoglund Level 7 Commenter 15 months ago
My oldest brother died from the complications of the disease. My other brother seems to be getting it although he had a brain tumor removed 20 years ago that probably cause some damage to nerve cells controlling memory. I am thinking about preventive measures.