How's your memory? If you know it's bad, then it's time to consider in the long term that isn't a good thing because it's a potential early sign of Alzheimers and Dementia.
We all know someone who regularly can't find their keys, hasn't a clue what they just went upstairs for, can't remember what they were just saying, who isn't good at remembering dates, names, your anniversary for instance! We tend to just laugh it off, or get annoyed if it's the anniversary again, accepting that it's meant to be the case. When in reality our memory should be sharp or at least could be sharper than most of us currently have, and it should be like that into old age.
Despite what some of us might think we all have a brain and only the most primitive of beings don't have one, this organ weighs approximately 3lbs and takes 20% of the circulation and oxygenation of the body. It's phenomenal in many respects and we still know really very little about how it truly functions. With its several thousand miles of interconnected nerve cells, the brain's functioning is an interplay of all of these connections. It's a structure of amazing complexity, having thousands of biochemical reactions continually. It's been shown in the last few years that the brain has the ability to regenerate and rewire itself. This is good news, no longer is it as previously thought that when your brain cells died they would never be replaced. Like a lot of the body, it is continually working on regeneration.
The brain is meant to be 60% fat, it's fat rich, and therefore it needs essential fats to keep it functioning effectively. Brain health isn't something most of us think about on a daily basis.
The mainstream press has everyone focused on losing weight quickly. Whether you have moobs, having a great looking body and getting a fantastic six pack. Whilst there is a heavy cosmetic view about health in our media, which even gloats when the cosmetic surgery goes wrong.
Our diets over the past few years have been focused on removing the fats to aid heart disease reduction and weight loss aims. Everywhere we turn, low fat has been touted as the way forward. I would suggest that this organ hasn't faired that well with the low-fat revolution. In fact, I would suggest that the increase in Alzheimers and Dementia is a sign that low fat has damaged one of the most sensitive areas in our body's. It's unlikely to be the only reason and I believe there are more factors to consider here, but with a mass dietary focus mostly on weight loss and what the body looks like, it really hasn't taken into account the needs of one of our major organs and how our body works.
This ongoing focus on the way we look outwardly is missing what are true chronic health issues that people are suffering from an earlier and earlier age in their lives, for instance, 40,000 young people currently have an Alzheimer's diagnosis in the UK.
At that age, the statistics are frightening enough and something that we should all be aware of because the signs you are having issues can be showing for years before you finally get a diagnosis. That's if you get a diagnosis because only 44% of people in the UK actually get one!
Adult statistics are that 850,000 currently have dementia, and it's not a number that's decreasing because in a decade the forecast is that there will be 1 million people with it in the UK.
As a woman, you should be aware that it affects more women than men due to the longer life expectancy and they tend to become the main caregivers so they are affected in more than one way.
A study conducted by Alzheimer’s Research UK has shown that Dementia is the public’s number one fear ahead of cancer, possibly that's not only linked to the loss of memory but also knowing that with an Alzheimers diagnosis comes a reduction in life expectancy to on average only 5 years.
Whilst researching my presentation I found out that Alzheimers Is the leading cause of death in the UK but it's widely under-reported because even the national researchers collating the data found that only 44% of people were being diagnosed. So there is a very wide gap in effective reporting that needs to be addressed as well.
Often the early symptoms of this disease are ignored or not even realised. I regularly see that people are ignoring the lights flashing on the dashboard of their body and just living with a slow degradation of health and degeneration of the mind.
If the lights flashed on your car's dashboard you would be taking that car to a garage for repair immediately. But when we get the signs of; memory loss, forgetfulness, periodontal disease, microbial issues and digestive issues, Helicobacter Pylori, spirochetes, Type 2 diabetes, Herpes Simplex Virus, cognitive decline, atherosclerosis, and biotoxicity, we are not connecting the fact that in research all of these have been linked to Alzheimers Disease and Dementia and therefore could be a good indicator that the diet and lifestyle needs a complete overhaul.
So the signs of cognitive decline can be showing across the whole of the body in a variety of ways. Whilst we may be led to believe that some of these issues are just part of the ageing process, or what is meant to happen, in reality if we were aware of what these whole body signs could mean for the long-term health, we potentially would be doing something about them much earlier and act in a more preventative manner to support our health. I believe that dietary changes that are focused on the health of the whole body and mind could change those statistics.
Research shows that the degeneration in the brain of someone with Alzheimers can be seen and it looks different to those brains that are naturally ageing. Rather than the degeneration of the whole brain, it's only in parts of the brain. Not only are there significant degenerative changes but the mitochondrial energy is affected, so people will notice their energy levels change and their body's ability to deal with things become less over time. Does this sound like you? I meet so many people who are tired all the time, do you ever stop to consider the long-term consequences of this or are you just working through it.
If we just stopped to consider these small signs, rather than just attribute it to the ageing process, we could be acting in a preventative way much earlier, because research of those working in the functional medicine field is showing that if caught early enough it can be halted or reversed with what are simple dietary and lifestyle changes in many respects.