Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

July/August 2001

Alzheimer’s Disease —What You Should Know
by Craig E. Stenslie, Ph.D., New Hampshire DDS Psychological Consultant

RECENTLY, THERE HAS BEEN MUCH published research, some of which has gotten a great deal of attention in the national press and on talk shows, regarding risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease. What is new and exciting about this research is that for the first time there is a suggestion that people can actually do things in their lives to help prevent the disease from occurring later on. For many people, the most frightening aspect of Alzheimer’s Disease has been the seeming inevitability of it if you have the wrong genetic makeup. With other serious diseases, including heart disease, and in some cases, cancer, research has suggested that we have control over many of the risk factors through decisions we can make regarding lifestyle, diet, behavior and medication. With Alzheimer’s Disease, there simply did not seem to be anything we could do to prevent it—there was an element of doom about it.

Research on the actual expression of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease –memory loss, language impairment, confusion, personality changes, depression, and eventually total dependence on others—now indicates that the onset and progression of these symptoms varies greatly across individuals depending on many factors, some of which we can control. To many doctors and neuropsychologists, the idea that there are many factors regarding the actual expression of dementia symptoms makes sense. We have long known that on autopsy that some people have shown severe organic damage to the brain and have remained high functioning right up to the time of death. In other cases, some people have shown minimal organic disease and were severely demented for several years prior to their death.

The onset and degree of severity of Alzheimer’s symptoms have been shown to be related to head injury, stroke activity— even small strokes, and the level of mental activity and acuity a person has maintained over the course of his/her life. This finding is yet another compelling reason for parents to ensure that their children wear helmets for all activities putting them at risk for head injury, cycling, skateboarding, scootering, skiing, etc. With stroke activity, we now believe that many of the same recommendations for preventing cardiovascular disease will also help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. In essence, research is suggesting that the demarcation between multi-infarct, or vascular, dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease is not as clear as previously thought.

Perhaps the most interesting finding in this new research is that actually using your brain in an active and vital way can help stave off dementia in old age. The research has suggested that the benefit of this activity begins almost immediately in life. Retrospective examination of academic records and other aspects of children’s mental lives suggest that children who are more engaged and active mentally were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease. The same finding appears to hold true for adults; that is, the more mentally active and engaged people remain over the course of their adulthood, the less likely they are to develop dementia. Or at least they appear to put off the onset of the disease for a significant period of time.

As with any area of science and medicine in which new research is suggesting exciting new results, we should view these findings with some caution and keep in mind that more research is needed to confirm or further specify these findings. However, there is good reason to believe at this point that the onset and severity of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease can be positively changed and affected by the proper care and feeding of our brains. Protecting your brain from insult and injury and keeping your brain active through mental work and interest in intellectual pursuits throughout your lifetime can help keep you from showing the signs and symptoms of dementia as you age. As with heart disease and many forms of cancer, there is now hope with Alzheimer’s Disease. There are things that you can do for yourself and for your children starting right now that may well make the last years of your life and theirs happier and more productive.