Taking Steps to Maintain a Lucid Mind, a New Year Message

I met my mother in law Betsy more than twenty years ago.  She was in her sixties, well read, well rounded, quite brilliant.  She graduated from Sarah Lawrence, Barbara Walters’ alma mater, and later had a Master degree in Psychology and was in the same class with Golda Meir’s sister.  She lived a privileged life growing up in Boston before getting married to my father in law, who was then a Harvard medical faculty.

Last week, on Christmas Day, we visited Betsy at an assisted living home near Greenwich, CT.  She still recognized her son David and me.  She still remembers we have a son named Sandy.  She was confused where she was and why we were there.  She kept asking the same questions about all the mundane things happening around her, whether she had had dinner or what fruit (some pear) I had brought for her.  She had a hard time identifying objects.  She remembers with good details about her childhood but forgets almost immediately anything that just happened a minute or two ago.  She knows she had a problem with her short term memory and it makes her frustrated on and off.  I looked with sadness at how much change time has brought to Betsy, the once brilliant woman I knew.

Betsy has dementia for several years now, and it’s deteriorating.  She’s among the numerous Americans with dementia. The statistics for Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia are astounding.  Scientists are trying to find ways to cut down the risks of these medical conditions.

In a landmark report to be presented at the World Innovation Summit for health in Doha this coming year, the researchers report that we can reduce our risk for dementia by changing our living conditions.  The brain, many studies have shown, starts deteriorating in the forties, not at a much later age as believed before.  We have to act early to prevent or delay this deterioration.

All of us should try to sleep at least 7-8 hours a day, and children up to college age should be sleeping at least 9 hours and 15 minutes nightly.  Sleep deprivation has been found to increase Alzheimer’s Disease risk.  A recent study by Dr. Ruth Benca, MD, PhD  and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin medical school, reported a possible link between sleep problems and Alzheimer’s disease.  They reported a higher level of beta amyloid plaques in the brains of those with sleep problems.  Amyloid plaques are found in Alzheimer’s patients. 

A healthy diet and more active lifestyle have also been found to decrease the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.  High blood pressure, high cholesterol and Diabetes are considered among the highest risks for Alzheimer’s disease.  As the experts in Alzheimer’s disease advise us, eat vegetables in a variety of colors, like a rainbow, and exercise 150 minutes a week.  A 30 minute brisk walk five days weekly might help us not become one of the sad statistics of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.  To exercise thirty minutes, five times weekly, as I often tell my patients, can also prolong and increase the healthy years of our life.  Our brain and body are not asking too much from us!

What happened to Betsy should also remind us not to waste time, but to enjoy our present moments while our memory is still lucid.  Normal, healthy aging might include mild forgetfulness, but not dementia.  While still young, we should savor our life by being active and enjoying different activities to stimulate our brain.  Do not sit in front of a computer or TV set watching one sport game after another.  Don’t spend hours on a bench watching your kids playing sports while you have no time to exercise yourself.  There will be time when we have no choice but to sit in front of a TV set or computer, as we witnessed in Betsy’s assisted living home, where the residents gathered after dinner staring at a TV.  

We at LadyDocsCornerCafe wish you all a very happy, healthy, and peaceful new year.  May you live your moments to the fullest in 2015!

In good health and peace, 

Thu and the Lady Docs Corner Cafe friends

Below are some photos from our activities last year.  We most recently had a vegetarian holiday party at Dr. Chitra Rajagopal, an oncologist.  The dishes were delicious and of different cuisines around the world, as represented by the different ethnicities in our group.  Do not think you can’t have a delicious and festive vegetarian holiday party. The colors of the dishes themselves, were a big art display.

For more information about Alzheimer’s Disease, here’s the link to my earlier blog in 2013.