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Brushing your teeth regularly could slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease after scientists found that speeds up mental decline by six times.Periodontitis, or gum disease, is common in older people and can get worse in old age as people struggle to maintain their oral hygiene.
It is thought that periodontal bacteria increase levels of inflammation in the body, which has been linked to greater mental decline in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Plans for prom, thoughts of what college is going to be like, one senior in Salisbury has more than that on his mind.
Michael Li, a senior at Bennett High School in Salisbury plans on continuing his research on the rear part of the brain in the hopes ofleading to the development of treatment of neurodegenerative diseases likeAlzheimer's or Parkinson's.
"I thought it was really cool that you could use these as tools you know math and computer science as tools to basically develop a bigger understanding on how the brain works and unravel the mysteries of the brain," says Michael Li.
I danced around my mother all weekend, but finally we sat together on two stools over a last cup of tea. I was about to leave. The caregiver was coming — a kindly, white-haired man named Martin who brought her gourmet coffee and knew how to help without condescension when she tried to heat it up in the microwave.
But for now, we were alone in a quiet house. My daughters were off somewhere on the iPad — I’d given up enforcing the screen-time limit today. Instead I studied my mother’s creased face and saw the flicker of a shadow cross it.
By the time Nancy Reagan sat down with Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes” in 2002, her eyes had lost their familiar gleam.
More than a decade out of the world spotlight, hers was now a life consumed by a torturous, private struggle. Her husband’s generous spirit — once among the most commanding on Earth — had been reduced by Alzheimer’s to a passing flicker of semi-cognizance.
In the White House, she’d developed a reputation as a fierce protector of the president, even while surrounded by allies. Now the former first lady, who had decades earlier said that her life didn’t begin until she met Ronald Reagan, was still protecting the love of her life.
Marty and Matt Reiswig, two brothers in Denver, knew that Alzheimer’s disease ran in their family, but neither of them understood why. Then a cousin, Gary Reiswig, whom they barely knew, wrote a book about their family, “The Thousand Mile Stare.”
When the brothers read it, they realized what they were facing.
In the extended Reiswig family, Alzheimer’s disease is not just a random occurrence. It results from a mutated gene that is passed down from parent to child.
Trial and error as an Alzheimer’s caregiver taught me that it’s better to be patient than to be right. That golden rule and the two magic words “OK Mom” rescued my sanity on many a day as advancing Alzheimer’s tightened its grip on my mother Peg. This simple phrase frequently diffused the toxic mix of Alzheimer’s anger, confusion and frustration that Peg could neither understand nor control. Saying “OK Mom,” absent any judgment, lightened both of our moods and lifted some of the sadness I experienced in watching my mother battle a disease that has no cure.
A window display at Rockefeller Plaza, donated by EHE International, features The John A. Hartford Foundation during the month of March and will reach almost 250,000 people per day, celebrating the millions of family caregivers of older adults who are Modern Day Heroes.
"Family caregivers are a crucial, yet often under-appreciated, part of the care we provide for older adults," said Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, President of The John A. Hartford Foundation. "We are pleased to collaborate with EHE International and create a very visible vehicle to hail the more than 30 million caregivers who take care of older family members and friends each day."
Keeping an active mind with intellectual pursuits in midlife may delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms, but it does not appear to prevent the physical changes in the brain for most people, a new study finds.
"Studies have shown that it reduces the onset of symptoms," said lead author Prashanthi Vemuri of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
But buildups of amyloid plaque in the brain - a basic symptom of Alzheimer's - do not change based on activity for most people, she told Reuters Health.
As modern science continues its search for an Alzheimer’s cure, researchers have noticed that the brain disease hits women harder than it does men. And that’s not only because women have a longer life-expectancy, thereby giving them a greater chance of developing Alzheimer’s during their lifetimes. Scientists conducting a long-term study found that women who develop the disease also decline faster. “Our findings suggest that men and women at risk for Alzheimer’s may be having two very different experiences,” Katherine Lin, a senior at Duke University and lead researcher of a study that followed 400 men and women, said.
The Alzheimer’s Association also believes the disease might impact the genders in different ways, too. Last year, the nonprofit launched the Women’s Alzheimer’s Research Initiative, aimed at getting to the bottom of just that.
During the time it takes for you to read this piece, try to put your denial impulse aside and take a hard look at the truth about Alzheimer’s. Because the fear that causes you to deny things — like our risk of getting this mind-blowing disease — can actually be the motivator you need to stop ignoring the facts and join me in doing something about it.
“The thing about sleep that is maddening is we don’t know what it’s for,” Paul Shaw says with a hint of frustration. Rather than truly grasping the role sleep plays in our complicated biology, the neuroscientist has been stuck merely describing it. He’s not alone.
But Shaw doesn’t just want to understand sleep for sleep’s sake. He wants to uncover the mysteries of sleep because he thinks it not only has the potential to keep us healthy, but to fix what’s broken.
At first blush, you might not think air quality is related to brain health. But what if the two are connected? Air pollution continues to worsen in the developing world, especially in rapidly developing countries like China and India; at the same time, our global population is aging, and dementia rates are expected to rise accordingly. Increasingly, research suggests a link between air pollution exposure and the risk of diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. How might this relationship be possible, and what might it mean for what the world is — or isn’t — prepared to handle in the coming decades?