Alzheimer’s Dementia Contributing Factors

One thing stands out that we can easily fix

I’ve been away for the last few days taking a short break from my regular visits to the Alzheimer’s world. I normally visit my wife daily and watch the decline of the other rest home residents with sorrow and regret.

Sorrow and regret? It’s heartbreaking, I know most of those with Alzheimer’s would be experiencing a different journey had they been attended by competent practitioners. Dr Bredesen’s teams are arresting and reversing Alzheimer’s symptoms in nearly all of their early-stage Alzheimer’s patients.

It doesn’t necessarily stop at early-stage, Ann was moderate and quickly advancing to late-stage Alzheimer’s when we had the causes of her condition analysed. It seemed hopeless when we started treating her for a chronic mould-triggered brain-damaging inflammatory response. Ann was given six months to live in September 2017, a prognosis given by a neurologist for a life insurance payout. We started treatment within days of this prognosis and four weeks later Ann was communicating and seemingly on the road to a miraculous recovery. What’s happened since is a story of triumph and tragedy covered in my latest book . Ann’s demonstrated that proper intervention may also work for later stage Alzheimer’s although she’s an outlier at present.

I’ve been gathering snippets of helpful Alzheimer’s treatment and prevention tips over the past few weeks and intended to show you a few here. I rail against people looking for quick fixes as it distracts from the proper course of action which is to find out what you’re up against then find the people to help you design and implement a proper treatment plan. When I say simple, I mean simple in principle, sending a rocket to the moon is also simple in principle.

I’m going to drop one idea in front of you which makes sense for all of us to follow regardless of where we are on the Alzheimer’s journey, be it prevention or treatment.

Get a good night’s sleep (6-8 hours) every night. Sounds simple and in principle it is.

Dr David Perlmutter quotes a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications. The study analysed 25 years of data from people of specific ages: 50, 60 and 70 years. The study concluded that less than 6 hours sleep a night increased the chances of developing dementia symptoms by 30% for all the age groups. Even in your 50’s, bad sleep patterns hugely increase your chances of developing dementia. The study didn’t have data for people sleeping longer periods (over 8 hours) but Dr Perlmutter refers to an earlier study telling us sleeping too long can also have detrimental effects.

You can vastly lower your chances of developing a dementia such as Alzheimer’s by getting 6-8 hours of sleep every night.

Treating Alzheimer’s requires optimising all aspects of a sufferer’s health so it follows that good sleeping patterns are essential. Ann has this issue now, I’m finding it difficult training her caregivers to wake her early so that she is awake when she should be. Ann’s sleep patterns are diametrically opposed to optimum with her being wakeful at night and sleeping during the day.

Let me climb on my hobbyhorse for a moment. Sleeping medications are habit forming according to Ann’s doctor although we briefly used them recently to adjust her sleeping cycle. If you’re relying on them for a good night’s sleep you’re probably ignoring a number of issues that need addressing.

If the answer to a long term problem lies in a pill bottle, there’s likely some lifestyle changes needing attention. I was chatting with a friend recently about eating habits and asked whether reflux was an issue. The reply was, “I don’t get reflux, I take… (reflux medication)”, so yes he does get reflux but its symptoms are controlled with medication. I experienced severe reflux in my forties which I corrected with dietary change (the “Zone Diet” at that time) and still use occasional recurrences as a signal that I’m not eating correctly. Lifestyle change is a powerful thing, at 69 years I take no regular medication and never have.

Get on the web to find out how to address your sleeping habits, check out Dr Michael Moseley’s excellent website: Fast Asleep or any of the many sites addressing sleep habits.

As always, check out my website www.beatingalzheimers.org if you’re up against an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. My “Knowing Alzheimer’s” course is designed to help you understand what you’re up against and my guarantee is that you’ll come out of it knowing more about Alzheimer’s than almost anyone, including the Alzheimer’s medical profession.

Kia Kaha! Stay Strong

Peter