This is another book that I read without "L." I read faster, also, I enjoy a good nonfiction read now & then, but "L" prefers fiction.
This book was on the "Just Out" shelf of my library, and since I liked the movie, Still Alice, with Julianne Moore, I checked it out. The fact that it has a lot to say, without being a doorstopper (300-350+ pages), appealed to me.
The takeaways:
- Alzheimer's is an insidious disease, but just because we forget more as we age is not a reason to freak. Forgetting is not only natural, it's also desirable in many cases. For example, if we're on vacation, and we stay in 3 different hotels, it is good to "forget" our room number of Hotel 1 when we're in the elevator of Hotel 2 or 3.
- Memories are made by the hippocampus -- no, that's not a zoo only for hippos, it's part of your brain! Google "Patient H.M" + "hippocampus" and you'll learn of the man whose hippocampus was surgically removed as a way to remedy his epilepsy, only to render him unable to form new memories. Living life in this moment only, unable to recall a conversation 5 minutes ago, that's the life H.M. lived after the surgery. He was famously studied the rest of his life as you can imagine.
- What Alzheimer's is: The protein - amyloid - builds plaque in our brains, starting with the hippocampus. Scientists believe it takes 15 to 20 years for the plaque to build up until a tipping point, at which time tangles emerge, as well as cell death and pathological forgetting. Alzheimer's spreads from the hippocampus to the parietal lobes, which are responsible for spatial thinking, and this is why someone with this disease gets lost in their hometown. Alzheimer's also impacts the frontal and prefrontal cortices (yes, that's the plural of 'cortex'), which will impair a person's decision-making, logical thinking, problem solving.
- HOW STRESS FIGURES INTO THE PICTURE - this is where it gets dicey y'all. If you live with constant stress, without finding ways to relieve it, your hippocampus loses neurons, it shrinks. And a smaller hippocampus is more vulnerable to attacks in the form of strokes or Alzheimer's.
How do you relieve stress, thereby helping your brain? The author reminds us of things we already know. Yoga, exercise, healthy diet, meditation, mindfulness, gratitude (keep a gratitude journal!), and compassion. By training ourselves to be less reactive to stress, we protect our brains. Remember: You cannot change someone's actions, only your reactions. Sound familiar?
And now for those worryworts out there (yes, I've been guilty of this, and I'm trying to fix that about myself). It turns out that worrying, endless rumination of things out of our control, literally bathes your brain in cortisol - a stress hormone that can set you up for Alzheimer's. There's a famous prayer, something about learning to deal only with that which is within our power, letting go of that which is outside our realm of influence, and having the wisdom to know the difference. If you spend your life worrying, your brain lives in a bath of cortisol, and the impact on your brain is the same as if you'd been living in a war zone. Don't let worry wage a war on your brain!
- SLEEP - yes, this is in caps for a reason. Because as it turns out, sleep is a major defense against Alzheimer's. To be clear, humans need 7 to 9 hours per night. Every night. That's 7 to 9 hours every single night. Long-term sleep deprivation, that is, over a lifetime, can make you vulnerable.
- Now for the Nun Study (pg 223 of the book). 678 nuns, all 75+ yrs old, were followed for more than 20 years. They were regularly given physical check-ups and cognitive tests, and when they died, their brains were donated for autopsy. In some of the nuns' brains, scientists found the presence of plaques and tangles and brain shrinkage, and they appeared, unquestionably, to be Alzheimer's. Except that the nuns whose brains showed plaques/tangles/shrinkage - the "unquestionable Alzheimer's" - had shown NO behavioral signs of having had Alzheimer's while they were alive. Scientists believe the answer is: these nuns had a high degree of cognitive reserve. People with more years of formal education, who have greater literacy, and who engage regularly in social and mentally stimulating activities will have more "cognitive reserve."
The caveat to the above - that is, building "cognitive reserve" - is that it's not about doing crossword puzzles. Nope. Building this type of reserve comes from learning. Building an Alzheimer's resistant brain, the author tells us, "means learning to play piano, meeting new friends, travel to a new city, or reading this book." (the author quips, "You're welcome." LOL)
- As for diet, a couple of things the author mentions is getting enough vitamin D, a challenge in northern climates for sure. Author says, "People with low vitamin D are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's." So google food high in vitamin D! There are lots of options, no matter your diet. Also, vitamin B12 deficiency can actually look like Alzheimer's. Fix the deficiency and voila, the person suffering gets better. The body is an ecosystem. It's the only true temple you'll ever truly own.
- Just the stats, please. The author gives some pretty alarming stats on who actually suffers from Alzheimer's. Are we "safe" just because no one in our family has had it? Not so, say the stats (pages 217-218 in the book). Only 2% of people with this disease have the purely inherited kind. The other 98% is caused by a combo of our genes and HOW WE LIVE (and eat, and worry, and whether we learn to relieve our stress, and...all of the above).
More stats: on pages 204-205, the author discusses the increased cases of Alzheimer's among worryworts. Those who worry for the sake of worrying, and don't find a way to "let go" and/or relieve that stress response. A study of stress levels in 1100 women, ages 38-60, over a period of 30+ years, among those who reported chronic stress had a 65% increased risk of Alzheimer's. In another study, chronically-stressed people were TEN TIMES more likely to develop cognitive impairment over five years (that's five years of unrelieved stress, when you don't do anything to destress or stop the worrywort cycle).
IN THE END: The author gives those with Alzheimer's hope in the form of what CAN be done if you or a loved one develops this disease. I'll leave that for you to read yourself.
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