Biden made a stunning decision to pull out of the 2024 race. Voters have long told pollsters they were concerned about his age, which seems disingenuous given that Trump is only three years younger). Biden sometimes struggled to complete sentences or marshal his thoughts. Social media platforms have speculated that both candidates are unfit for office due to cognitive decline. Some postulate that Biden has Alzheimer\u2019s disease or some other form of dementia, and some are baffled by Trump\u2019s rambling word salads.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
There are lots of reasons why a person may appear momentarily confused or forgetful, show poor judgment, or behave strangely. Dementia is a specific form of cognitive impairment\u2014just one of many reasons why someone might not be able to think or remember things clearly. These symptoms do not necessarily indicate an inability to function well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Most people in the medical field believe Alzheimer\u2019s is not curable. Some drug treatments can help manage symptoms and slow the disease’s progression. Alzheimer’s is a chronic,\u00a0 degenerative brain disorder that damages nerve cells, causing memory loss, confusion,\u00a0 behavioral changes, and language deterioration. While a person’s condition will eventually decline and lead to death, certain medications can help temporarily improve symptoms.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Alzheimer\u2019s disease strikes fear in most of us. Nearly 7 million Americans have Alzheimer’s.\u00a0 An estimated 6.9 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s in 2024.\u00a0 As the size of the U.S. population aged 65 and older continues to grow, so too will the number and proportion of Americans with Alzheimer’s or other dementias. Dementia is one of the costliest medical conditions to society. It is not just memory loss. People die from it.\u00a0 Biomedical researchers have been working to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease for at least 30 years.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
There were several times in my life that I feared I was headed toward dementia. I once put the cereal box in the refrigerator. Another time, I found that I had completed the same task multiple times. Recently, I inadvertently slid a knife into the oven, alongside the casserole dish, only to find it melted beyond use. Haven\u2019t we all done these things? Yes, but I was\u00a0concerned enough that I saw my physician, who performed a quick and easy cognitive test.\u00a0 I performed poorly enough that I was informed about some medications that could slow the process of memory loss. But to my knowledge, I don\u2019t have dementia. Instead, I was under intense stress during those periods, which caused brain fog.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
But what if there is no magic pill? Dale Bredesen, M.D., is an expert in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. He does not believe cognitive decline is irreversible and unstoppable, and he has numerous case examples to prove it. Instead of finding a single drug solution, he developed a protocol of lifestyle and nutritional interventions. He\u00a0advocates skills, not pills. Instead of one causal explanation for the development of\u00a0 Alzheimer\u2019s, he identified 36 different contributors that can trigger \u201cdownsizing\u201d in the brain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
His book, \u201cThe End of Alzheimer’s Program: The First Protocol to Enhance Cognition and\u00a0 Reverse Decline at Any Age,\u201d is a New York Times best seller. He lays out the program he uses with his patients. Bredesen\u2019s research and findings are also documented in a movie, \u201cMemories for Life: Reversing Alzheimer\u2019s.\u201d It is currently available on Prime Video for\u00a0 $3.99. I found it fascinating.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Recent research by Dr. Shannon Macauley, associate professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the study\u2019s principal investigator, found that high blood sugar levels are associated with an increased risk of\u00a0 Alzheimer’s disease.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
We all want science to produce a cure, but like many things, the cure is not out there. It is within us. Our sugar consumption and lifestyle choices are not \u201cdruggable,\u201d but education and behavioral tools can shift us toward a healthier lifestyle. It is up to us to change.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
As of the time of this writing, neither Biden nor Trump have been given diagnoses of dementia. As said earlier, the number and proportion of Americans with Alzheimer’s or other dementias are increasing. They may or may not ever warrant a diagnosis. We can take measures to prevent ourselves from receiving such a diagnosis. Now that we know better, we can do better.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Biden made a stunning decision to pull out of the 2024 race. Voters have long told pollsters they were concerned about his age, which seems disingenuous given that Trump is only three years younger). Biden sometimes struggled to complete sentences or marshal his thoughts. Social media platforms have speculated that both candidates are unfit for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1362"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1785,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362\/revisions\/1785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interactionstherapycenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}