The disease causes damage to brain cells and interferes with cell communication. This affects thinking, judgment, movement, behavior and feelings.
Risk factors for dementia include (3):
Head injuries
Impaired thyroid function
Depression
Low physical activity
Obesity
Poor diet and vitamin deficiencies
Certain medication
High cholesterol
High blood pressure
Diabetes
Alcohol use
Smoking
Old age
Family history of Alzheimer’s disease
If you find yourself in these risk factor categories, taking steps in preventing Alzheimer’s now can improve cognitive function in older age.
Dementia vs. Alzheimer’s
Top 10 Early Signs of Dementia – Reverse Naturally
Alzheimer’s is actually the most common type of dementia, accounting for 60-80% of cases.
Other varieties of the disease include (4):
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Vascular dementia
Dementia with Lewy bodies
Mixed dementia
Parkinson’s disease
Frontotemporal dementia
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Normal pressure hydrocephalus
Huntington’s Disease
Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome
Early signs of Alzheimer’s include having difficulty remembering recent conversations, names or locations, as well as apathy and depression. Later on, symptoms may include impaired communication, poor judgment, disorientation, confusion, behavior changes and difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking.
Alzheimer’s is characterized by beta-amyloid deposits in the brain, twisted strands of the protein tau, as well as nerve cell damage and death.
9 Natural Tricks for Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease
If you are a high risk for dementia or if you have a family history of the disease, there are a few things you can do regularly to lower your risk of developing dementia.
Preventing Alzheimer’s is straightforward, you just have to put in the work!
1. Quit Smoking
As Web MD puts it: “While smoking has long been known to increase the risk of dying from cancer and heart disease, researchers in Finland say they’ve found strong reason to believe that smoking more than two packs of cigarettes daily from age 50 to 60 increases risk of dementia later in life.” (5)
It’s never too late to quit: “former smokers or people who smoked less than half a pack per day did not appear to be at increased risk of developing dementia.”
Researchers theorized that the increased risk is partly due to the fact that smoking contributes to oxidative stress and inflammation. Many other studies have also confirmed the link between smoking and Alzheimer’s (6,7).
If you’re having trouble quitting, there are many natural herbs that can support your efforts to ditch the bad habit and clear up some toxins in your lungs after quitting.
