The patients who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease are on the rise.
It is a degenerative disease of the brain that is the most common form of dementia from which you won’t get recovery.
It is one of the most challenging diseases of the modern age.
Once you are attacked with disease, it will spread to all parts of the brain and finally you will lose your memory and mental functioning.
Old age is considered as the main cause of the disease. Once you cross 65 years then the chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease are doubled for every five years. If you are suffering with the diseases like diabetes [Risks of diabetes], heart disease, hypertension, and have high cholesterol levels then you are more likely to get Alzheimer’s disease.
An estimated of 18 million people around the world are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Among them 50 percent of the people are from well developed countries only.
Role of cognitive activities in protecting Alzheimer’s disease:
According to new research, it is found that among all the life long activities, only a high level of cognitive or mental activity protects the patients against the distressing memory loss of Alzheimer’s disease. High levels of physical or social activities are not enough, along with these cognitive activities can only make a difference in person with Alzheimer’s disease.
Heart attack drug may reduce Alzheimer’s disease:
Up to 79 percent, the drugs taken to lower cholesterol may cut the chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease. According to the research, Alzheimer’s disease may be cause by reduced blood flow and vascular changes in the brain. Statin drug may help to prevent these conditions.
Alzheimer’s disease causes two changes in the brain. These are known as brain “plaques” and “tangles”. These two are the protein deposits that appear to spread in the brain and are the main characteristics of Alzheimer’s. But, till now the cause of Alzheimer’s is not clearly identified.
People who had taken statin have fewer tangles in the brain when compared to the people who didn’t. Statin is a drug which mainly helps to prevent the disease in few people than others. This drug is given to people mainly after heart attack or bypass surgery.
Statin has also some disadvantages. It can trigger muscle weakness. This condition leads to rhabdomyolysis, in which the muscle cells are completely breakdown thus leading to kidney failure and even death also.
Microchip for Alzheimer’s patients:
An FDA approved microchip can be fixed in an Alzheimer’s patient’s arm. This allows to access critical medical details quickly. The chip is about the size of a grain of rice. It has a 16-digit identification number which is scanned at hospital. After placing the number in the database, it gives critical medical information.
Mediterranean Diet for Alzheimer’s patients:
Mediterranean diet is the diet which involves consuming of vegetables, fruits, olive oil and whole grains. All these may helpful for Alzheimer’s patients to live longer.
Alzheimer’s patients who are on Mediterranean diet had longer survival when compared to those who were following the diet less. This diet varies from region to region. Most regimens include high consumption of bread, cereals, beans, nuts, vegetables, fruits, seeds, olive oil and nuts.
The adherence to Mediterranean diet may greatly helpful for the survival of Alzheimer’s patients.