Category Archives: Brain Decline

Alzheimer’s Disease 2010 Facts & Figures

This week the Alzheimer’s Association issued its 2010 Fact and Figures and the numbers show no surprises. That is, we were all expecting the numbers to be on a continual increase year over year and that was pretty evident in the reading. Let’s review the basic numbers:

As the 7th leading cause of death in the [...]

Can you Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time?

Ever heard the expression “bet you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time?” I am not sure I really appreciated the full extent of its meaning until just last week.
At the 3rd International Congress on Gait and Mental Function in Washington DC in February, a series of new research studies [...]

Alzheimer’s disease strikes Noble Prize Winner

Nobel Prize winner for physics Charles Kao Kuen said he finds communication hard because of Alzheimer’s disease. In an interview with KTSF 26, a Chinese-language TV station serving Northern California, Kao, 75, said he sometimes finds it difficult to talk…… more

Alzheimer’s Rate Higher in NFL Players

Yesterday the New York Times reported on a study commissioned by the National Football League. The findings were a big concern for NFL players.  It seems Alzheimer’s disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league’s former players vastly more often than in the national population — including a rate of [...]

Brain Stimulation Reduces Alzheimer’s Risk

In addition to good nutrition and regular exercise, researchers recommend that seniors also keep their minds active. According to a National Institute on Aging four year study, keeping the brain actively stimulated across a variety of areas reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Read more here….

A Warning Sign of Something Worse?

Scientific American posted an interesting article that proposed to put a predictive time line on the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Read about it here.
Whether it’s decision making, judgment, basic math, memory loss  or other brain function, it is increasingly important to stimulate all these cognitive capabilities on a regular basis. One is rarely used in [...]

The Elephant in the Room

Alzheimer’s disease is the elephant in the room that is not effectively being planned for or dealt with by the Government or the Health Care industry. Consider just a few stats – By 2050, 115M people will be afflicted with the disease primarily due to the simple fact of living longer than earlier generations.  The [...]

Get Social For Your Brain Health

So you understand that maintaining a social network of friends is important to your cognitive health. Do you feel like your social life could use a boost? Try these tips for enhancing your social interactions and relationships:

Call a friend or relative you haven’t talked to in a while
Schedule a regular lunch or dinner date with [...]

Staying Sharp by Getting Social

brain decline has a profound impact on the life and relationships of people who develop it. “Being socially active, being an intellectually engaged individual, having recreational time, enjoying a good diet, lacking stress – these are all things that tend to help in avoiding dementia,” says Dr. Lawrence Whalley, author of The Aging Brain and [...]

Driving with Your Brain

Some time back I wrote about the cognitive skills necessary for safe driving.  It’s ever more clear that abilities such as vision, reaction times, attention, judgment and ability to multitask, that is, to focus on more than one task at a time are all essential to our ability to be safe on the road. As [...]