World Brain Day – A Focus on Brain Health and Prevention

July 22nd is World Brain Day, and it’s probably one of those health days that we don’t need to be reminded about. It seems as you grow older, your brain (or simply your cognitive health) is always on your mind. I hate it when I can’t remember a word that’s been part of my vocabulary for years and fits precisely in the conversation. I know it’s there; I know how great it fits into the sentence and the thought I want to convey, yet it’s hidden behind this opaque window that I can’t see through. I can sometimes even recall what letter the word starts with, but I can’t remember the word. The only saving grace is I know I’m not the only one that has this problem. Virtually all of my older friends have experienced the same thing. Having said that, we all still worry if we are just experiencing the normal cognitive problems of growing older or if these are the early signs of Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia.

I have personally seen many clickbait internet alerts that focus on identifying the onset of dementia. The authors of these alerts, who thrive on how many people they can get to click on their alert, realize that this is something that is on every older person’s mind. Many of us have seen our parents, and now some of our friends, struck down with Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia. We’ve seen them lose their personality and even their life to these diseases. We’ve seen the impact it had on their life and the lives of their loved ones, and we don’t want that to happen to us. It can be a constant worry; we see its impact everywhere.

Yesterday, President Biden announced that he was withdrawing his candidacy for reelection. The appearance of cognitive problems during his debate with Donald Trump seemed to the major factor in his party’s withdrawal of support. I won’t interject any judgement on whether it was the right thing to do or not, but I will say that, as you grow older, you find that the people around you and the people that you deal with every day make judgments about your cognitive health, some of it accurate and some of it not. We are confronted daily with the realization of the frailties of growing old. We don’t really need a World Brain Day to sharpen our focus. It is something that we deal with every day. It was the basis of the breaking news yesterday. So, the question is, what can we do? Is it like the oft quoted saying that “everyone talks about the weather, but nobody seems to do anything about it”? Is there anything we can do about our brain health? The answer is yes.

As I’ve been prone to advise, your doctor is a good start. Part of your yearly wellness check (that I recommend everyone is taking advantage of) is a short cognitive check. They ask you questions and give you tasks to help determine if there is anything that indicates that a further evaluation is warranted. This initial screening does not give a definitive answer about your cognitive health but is a first step to determine if more tests should be conducted.

But you don’t need to wait for your wellness test. If you feel something isn’t right, or you’ve had a sudden change in your abilities, you can make an appointment with specialists who can delve deeper into your cognitive abilities. The Alzheimer’s Association has published 10 early signs of dementia. The 10 signs are:

1.     Memory loss that disrupts daily life. 

2.     Challenges in planning or solving problems. 

3.     Difficulty completing familiar tasks. 

4.     Confusion with time or place. 

5.     Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships. 

6.     New problems with words in speaking or writing. 

7.     Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps. 

8.     Decreased or poor judgment.

9.     Withdrawal from work or social activities. 

10.  Changes in mood or personality. 

This link will get you to the signs with a more detailed explanation of each. I found the explanation of normal age-related aspects of each sign to be helpful and interesting. For instance, for memory loss, the normal age-related aspect of memory loss was – sometimes forgetting names or appointments but remembering them later.

There are some things you can do to ward off many forms of dementia. Getting a good night’s sleep is one often overlooked way to keep our brains healthy. Trying new things, starting a new hobby, exercising, and eating healthy can also help you stay sharp. Research shows that exercise helps increase the blood flow to your brain which helps your brain get rid of damaging toxins. There are even little games and puzzles that can help keep your brain active. There is continuing research into what causes Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.  Additionally, some medicines have shown some promise in delaying the progression of the disease, especially in early diagnosis. There is hope that real progress is on the horizon.

We don’t need a World Brain Health Day to remind us about our brain health. What we can’t do is let it consume our lives worrying about if the disease is affecting us. We need to stay healthy and take whatever action is needed to monitor our own brain health.

Best,

Thair