Prevention is far better than cure. You have most probably heard this saying many times before, but I believe that when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease/Dementia, prevention is what really needs to be looked into seriously and implemented. What is really depressing is the fact that not only are the statistics climbing higher every year, they have predicted just how much higher the numbers will be in 2025 and 2050.
I am astounded to find that Dementia is now the 2nd leading cause of death in Australia. The latest statistics estimate that 25,938 people are now diagnosed with Younger Onset Dementia and what is worse, there are around 244 people being diagnosed with dementia every day. And there is no cure!
There have been multitudes of books written over the many years about the subject Dementia by many experts. But what is important and wonderful to see is that many books are now being written by those who actually have dementia themselves. Christine Bryden and Kate Swaffer have both been diagnosed with Younger Onset dementia and are speaking out for the many who have been diagnosed with Younger Onset Dementia. These women are the ones who truly know what dementia is all about and they are leaders in Australia who are finally being recognised for the amazing work they do.
But what is happening now is almost like an epidemic of people under the age of 65 years being diagnosed with Younger Onset dementia. The statistics say it all, so many being diagnosed younger .. but then what .. what happens next? There is no Cure!
Prevention is all about doing something beforehand – before things get worse. We all know that Dementia does not happen overnight. When you start to notice that you are getting a little forgetful, that is when you should seriously think about doing something about it. Ask yourself, “what is causing you to become forgetful, especially when you have always had a good memory”? This is not the time to ignore it and hope things get better in another 6 months time. By ignoring the problem, it will only get worse. And time is of the utmost importance.
As I have found, one of the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease/dementia is Memory Problems. And in my research, I have found that there are many Causes of memory problems. If some of these “causes” of memory problems were looked at more closely, and in many cases “treated”, then I believe this may prevent the person’s memory problems from getting worse.
I will give you just one example for you to think about, to explain what I mean.
Take for example, the food that we eat daily. How many of us when doing our supermarket shopping, purchase a few packaged food items? Some of these packaged foods may be our favourites and we may consume these more regularly, possibly daily or weekly. But were you aware that many of the packaged foods contain ingredients that have been shown in studies to affect our brain health? When these ingredients are consumed regularly over time, they may build up and cause further damage to our brain cells, thereby affecting our memory.
But what makes is even more worrying, is that we are not talking about one single ingredient here. There are so many more ingredients that are contained in packaged food products that are harmful for our brain health.
At the present moment this entire area is not being looked at and this is where a lot of good work can be done. Finding the cause of your memory problems when it first starts to happen is the first positive step you can take yourself.
I believe that there is so much that can be done to improve memory problems, and this is what I call Prevention.
Prevention is far better than Cure – because at this present moment – there is No Cure!
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