“Exercise is not going to cure Alzheimer's or dementia, but it anatomically strengthens two of the key targets of both those diseases,” Suzuki says. Mentally, three of the biggest benefits are better mood, memory, and attention.
Playing music, having objects to touch and interact with, and hand massage can all help people with dementia in the later stages. Playlist for Life is a music and dementia charity. It promotes how music with personal meaning can help people with dementia.
Keeping an active social life, regular exercise, and continuing activities the person enjoys, or finding new ones, can help to reduce behaviours that are out of character. Read more about activities for dementia. Other things that can help include: providing reassurance.
Physical exercise is also essential for maintaining adequate blood flow to the brain and may stimulate brain cell growth and survival. Exercise is therefore one of the factors researchers are considering for its role in reducing the risk of developing dementia and for the benefits it offers to people with dementia.
Aerobic exercise, like running and swimming, appears to be best for brain health. That's because it increases a person's heart rate, “which means the body pumps more blood to the brain,” says Okonkwo. But strength training, like weight lifting, may also bring benefits to the brain by increasing heart rate.
Physical activity. Doing regular physical activity is one of the best ways to reduce your risk of dementia. It's good for your heart, circulation, weight and mental wellbeing. You might find it difficult to start being more physically active, or worry it means doing an activity you don't enjoy.
So, the 6Cs are care, compassion, competence, communication, courage and commitment.
For men and women with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia, it can be especially beneficial. Watching movies and TV shows can help keep their brain active, which can stimulate positive memories, improve mood, and even increase socialization.
Terminal lucidity is not an official medical term, but it refers to people with dementia unexpectedly returning to a clear mental state shortly before death. Experts do not know exactly why a person may experience this lucidity, and more research on the neurological mechanisms involved is necessary.
Walking 10,000 steps a day can cut the risk of dementia in half, and for those who can't walk so far, just 4,000 daily steps can reduce dementia risk by a quarter, a new study finds.
The research concluded that by modifying the risk factors we are able to change, our risk of dementia could be reduced by around a third. Experts agree that what's good for your heart is also good for your brain. This means you can help reduce your risk of dementia by: eating a healthy, balanced diet.
The first stage of actual dementia, or the diamond stage, occurs with the first signs of change or signals of a stressed brain. Diamonds are “clear and sharp,” successful with established habits and routines. Diamonds like to feel competent and valued, and it is important for them to feel comfortable and in control.
The 3 D's: Delirium, Depression & Dementia.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a tool that helps healthcare professionals detect mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease in people. A 2021 study found that it is a better measure of cognitive function than the MMSE. It consists of 30 questions that take 10–12 minutes to accomplish.
Rapidly progressive dementias or RPDs are extremely rare, but can cause dementia to worsen over weeks and months. RPDs can be caused by complex medical conditions such as Autoimmune conditions, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases – i.e diseases that damage the body's nervous systems.
Phytochemicals found in bananas help preserve nerve tissue against neurotoxins, which deteriorate nervous tissue when exposed to its substance. This may also help in preventing neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
Smoking and alcohol use.
People who smoke have a higher risk of atherosclerosis and other types of vascular disease, which may be the underlying causes for the increased dementia risk. Studies also have found that drinking large amounts of alcohol appears to increase the risk of dementia.
Ginkgo Biloba is perhaps the best known (and researched) botanical medicine used to treat conditions such as cerebral vascular insufficiency, memory loss, mood disturbances, cognitive disorders and depression, with many studies pointing to its efficiency in treating dementia.
Dementia may be reversed by treating hippocampal atrophy with antidepressant medication in early-onset depression to improve neuron health and prevent neuron damage progression. Patients receiving these medications should be assessed periodically for treatment adherence and symptom improvement.
In contrast, the brain has a limited capacity to regenerate and repair itself. Even when brain cells begin to die off in Alzheimer's or other types of dementia, there aren't nearly enough new cells dividing and surviving to repair the brain.