What can you do regarding Alzheimer’s disease?

While Alzheimer’s can not be completely prevented, there are many things one can do to delay the onset or to slow the progression of the disease.

Here are 8 ways to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease:

1.  Have coffee–  Studies have shown that drinking three to five cups of coffee a day in midlife cut Alzheimer’s risk 65% in late life.

2.  Floss– The health of your teeth and gums can help predict dementia. University of Southern California research found that having periodontal disease or gum disease before age 35 quadrupled the odds of dementia years later. Older people with tooth and gum disease score  klower on memory.  Experts speculate that inflammation in diseased mouths migrates to the brain. Remember, more approximately 80% of the population in United states has gum disease and most don’t even know it!

3. Meditate– Brain scans show that people who meditate regularly have less cognitive decline and brain shrinkage – a classic sign of Alzheimer’s – as they age. Andrew Newberg of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine says yoga meditation of 12 minutes a day for two months improved blood flow and cognitive functioning in seniors with memory problems.

4. Take Vitamin D– Most Americans lack vitamin D.  A “severe deficiency” of vitamin D increases your risk of cognitive impairment by almost 400%.  Experts recommend a daily dose of 800 IU to 2,000 IU of vitamin D3.

5. Head trauma-   There’s a strong link between future risk of Alzheimer’s and serious head trauma, especially when injury involves loss of consciousness. You can help reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s by protecting your head.

• Wear a seat belt
• Use a helmet when participating in sports
• “Fall-proof” your home

6. Mental stimulation– Doing an online search can stimulate your aging brain activated key memory and learning centers in the brain after only a week of Web surfing for an hour a day.

7. Grow new brain cells. Impossible, scientists used to say. Now it’s believed that thousands of brain cells are born daily. The trick is to keep the newborns alive. What works: aerobic exercise (such as a brisk 30-minute walk every day), strenuous mental activity, eating salmon and other fatty fish, and avoiding obesity, chronic stress, sleep deprivation, heavy drinking and vitamin B deficiency.

8. Regular Exercise and Resistance Training Are Good for the Brain- It may be especially important to exercise and adopt other healthy lifestyle measures early in life, given mounting evidence that Alzheimer’s risk can be cut by exercise during midlife.  Exercise may directly benefit brain cells by increasing blood and oxygen flow. Even stronger evidence suggests exercise may protect brain health through its proven benefits to the cardiovascular system.

Here is a video on how to delay onset of Alzheimer’s

By: Ladan Zinati

alzheimer’s brain: “Alzheimers brain” by National Institutes of Health – http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/fall10/articles/fall10pg20-21.html. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alzheimers_brain.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Alzheimers_brain.jpg