10 Facts About Alzheimer’s Disease

Dementia begins imperceptibly, but leads to sad consequences – the patient does not recognize the faces of his relatives, does not remember where he put this or that thing, does not know himself and does not remember his past.

People with Alzheimer’s should always be supervised to ensure they do not harm themselves.

The disease was discovered by the German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer, and few people know that when he discovered it (it happened in 1906), he himself had been ill for several years.

Early signs of the disease affect the behavior of patients, and are usually diagnosed as depression. People with Alzheimer’s take offense when they are treated like children.

In this article, you will learn about 10 facts of the disease that you may not have known before.

10 Women get Alzheimer’s more often

The disease affects women more often, and this is an indisputable fact.

Research by scientists at the British University of Hertfordshire has confirmed that the female brain copes worse with senile dementia, and their mental abilities are significantly reduced.

In some cases, Alzheimer’s disease even outstrips purely female diseases – a 60-year-old woman living in the United States is more susceptible to this disease than, for example, breast cancer.

9. A broad outlook reduces the risk of disease

In old age, people stop learning and learning new things. Keeping your brain active at all times is essential to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

In old age, it is especially important to maintain your physical fitness and intellectual skills – you need to solve crossword puzzles, tasks, and learn about the world around you.

Not everyone has the opportunity to travel, but you can always learn new things, do something – for example, play a musical instrument or learn a foreign language.

8. Loss of smell in Alzheimer’s

There are people who have a highly developed sense of smell, and there are those who do not distinguish smells well – this should alert. A person who cannot recognize and remember a smell is at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

The disease can be detected for 10 years by smell. But do not be confused – some viral diseases or drugs can cause difficulties in the olfactory system.

Having identified a problem with smell, you can begin to treat the disease in advance, and not wait until it starts to progress.

7. Heart and head are firmly connected

Heart disease – arrhythmia, increases the chances of getting Alzheimer’s. Other risk factors include diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, poor diet, and physical inactivity.

An arrhythmia can cause vascular dementia, resulting from the narrowing of blood vessels in the brain. This leads to the fact that oxygen in the brain tissue is reduced.

6. Nicotine is not able to prevent the onset of the disease

Nicotine is harmful to health, smoking adversely affects the internal organs: kidneys, liver, lungs. Immunity is reduced and mental illnesses develop.

Many sources say that nicotine prevents Alzheimer’s, but this is not true.

Smoking does not protect, but destroys. If you smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day, then in 10 years this terrible disease may occur.

Tobacco smoke inhibits the synthesis of new neurons in the hippocampus, resulting in degradation of the nervous system.

5. Young people also get Alzheimer’s

This disease is considered a disease of the elderly, but young people also get sick with it. The first symptoms can occur at 40 and sometimes at 20 years of age through transmission from parent to child – and this is in 50% of cases.

The first signs of the disease are manifested in memory impairment, visual blindness. Working capacity, analytical and speech abilities are disturbed, behavior changes – the patient cannot do what he calmly did before.

Of course, older people are most susceptible to the disease, but young people can also be affected by Alzheimer’s.

4. People with a disease can think rationally

People with Alzheimer’s lose their memory, but they don’t lose their ability to think. In addition, sometimes sick people remember some events from their past, recognize who is in the photograph, etc.

In this case, the main thing is not to confuse the patient – there is no need to interfere, press, he will remember himself when he is able. People with Alzheimer’s disease may look untidy because they don’t understand the impression they make on others, but if they see a program on TV that says they need to get rid of the microwave because it cooks “dead food” – they can do it, without hesitation.

3. The causes of Alzheimer’s are unknown.

Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease because doctors don’t know how to prevent it, stop it, and how to treat it. The thing is that the cause of the disease is still unknown.

It is known that brain functions are impaired, nerve cells die, but reliable causes have not been established.

But a study was conducted, and it turned out that Alzheimer’s more often affects those who have diabetes, who lead an unhealthy lifestyle and do not engage in intellectual activity.

2. Strong shocks worsen the situation

Anyone who suffers from Alzheimer’s should exclude all irritating factors from his life – a person needs peace, tranquility and a comfortable environment.

If an elderly person is exposed to stress, or, for example, he has to move to a new place of residence, then his condition may worsen.

In adulthood, especially with such a terrible disease, it is better to refrain from emotional turbulent experiences.

1. Patients are offended when they are nursed

Alzheimer’s patients are ordinary adults, but a disaster happened in their lives – a disease. When relatives make them weak, rush about with them and lisp, as with children, they are offended by this.

In addition, everyone in the family is used to calling each other not only by name, for example: “Darling”, “Darling” – this is not necessary, because a person needs help to remember the name, and different words will only confuse him.