Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive brain disorder where parts of your brain start to shrink and die as you get older.
It’s estimated that over 11% of people age 65 and older have Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia.
Inside your brain, you have approximately 86 billion neurons. These are brain cells that store and transmit information to each other, by making connections.
When you have Dementia or Alzheimer’s disease the neurons stop making connections with each other properly, causing you to lose your memory and normal thinking process.
What happens is your brain cells (neurons) start to shrink and become weaker because they aren’t getting the fuel that they need.
A type of plaque called amyloid plaque also clogs up the spaces between your brain cells, stopping them from connecting and talking to each other properly.
Alzheimer’s disease actually starts very early on in life, between the ages of 20-40 but may not cause any problems for you until later in life.
The good news is that there are steps you can take to lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia in general.
With this in mind, in today’s article, we will share with you the 13 early signs of Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia to be aware of.
We will also share some nutrition tips and steps you can take to protect your brain from this degenerative disease.
– 13 Early Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease.
1. Loss Of Navigation One of the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease would be losing your ability to locate yourself in time and space.
You may begin to forget how you got to your current location, or where you parked your car for example.
You may find it hard to remember the directions on where you are heading.
A part of your brain called the parietal lobe starts to shrink, causing you to lose your spatial memory.
2. Judging Distances As some of your brain cells start starving
for glucose, you can start to have problems with judging distances and processing information about 3D objects.
You may find it hard to walk up the stairs, park your car or recognize objects properly. Vision problems are very common with this disease.
3. Repeating Yourself Your family members and friends may question you as to why you keep repeating yourself.
If you have Alzheimer’s disease your brain will struggle to make new connections and memories.
So you tend to say the same things over and over because you can’t remember saying it the first time around.
4. Losing Things Although most people forget where they placed
their keys on occasion, someone with Alzheimer’s will lose things more frequently.
If you have Alzheimer’s you will be unable to retrace your steps in order to find the item that you lost because the connections between your neurons aren’t forming properly.
5. Memory Aids If you find that you are forgetting things more frequently, and starting to compensate by using lots of sticky notes, and reminders then this can also indicate the early onset of dementia.
If you find that you are relying on these memory aids more and more often, it could be an indicator of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
6. Confusion People with Alzheimer’s will also become easily confused.
They may believe it’s summer and it’s in fact winter for example. It’s common for Alzheimer’s patients to believe that they are in the past, and start telling stories from different time periods and losing track of the now.
This is because older connections and memories were stored in the brain when it was healthier, whereas the brain is now finding it harder to make new connections.
7. New Speaking Problems Alzheimer’s disease also affects people’s ability to follow a conversation.
It’s common to stop halfway through a story or have trouble finding the right words because connections aren’t properly forming between neurons.
Whilst this is a normal part of aging, Alzheimer’s patients will experience this more often and it will get progressively worse.
8. Problem Solving As we age it’s common to make a few mistakes
every now and then, but with Alzheimer’s, you will have trouble planning normal activities.
For example, you may forget how to follow the steps of a recipe that you have done a thousand times before.
You may start to forget the order to put your clothes on or forget to pay the bills.
9. New Memory The brain of an Alzheimer’s patient will have
problems forming new memories because of how the neurons are shrinking and starving of fuel.
You may be able to easily remember things from a long time ago but have trouble making new memories such as remembering what you ate for breakfast.
10. Social Withdrawal As people with this disease start to lose
their memory, they become embarrassed and afraid and often withdraw themselves from other people, hobbies, and society.
When questioned about their memory, they will often act like everything is fine due to fear and pride.
11. Changes To Personality As the brain becomes progressively damaged by this awful disease, your personality can dramatically change.
Some people become very depressed, anxious, and easily upset in places where they are usually very comfortable.
Rapid changes in mood can happen when in a new environment because your brain struggles to process new information.
12. General Difficulty At the early stages of Alzheimer’s you will struggle to complete regular day-to-day tasks.
You may forget the rules of a game, for example, forget how to get to your local store or what ingredients you need for your weekly shopping.
We’re talking about regular tasks here that you will have done many times before, but are now suddenly having problems with.
13. Misidentification Finally, you may have problems with identifying
specific objects and people.
For example, mistaking your son for your husband. Or you may believe the TV remote Is in fact a phone.
Damage in the brain causes you to misidentify these things. If you or a family member suffers from a collection of these symptoms, be sure to visit a healthcare professional for a proper diagnosis.
– How Can I Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease?
If you are concerned about getting dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, you will want to know what steps you can take to help protect your brain.
1. Eat nutrient-dense, organic foods which help to dissolve amyloid plaque from your brain and clear it out including garlic, parsley, radishes, brussels sprouts, bone broth, turmeric, sauerkraut, beet tops, milk thistle, cruciferous vegetables.
These foods help your liver to stop amyloid plaque from reaching your brain cells.
2. Cut out sugary foods, refined carbohydrates, and alcohol such as bread, cereal, biscuits, pastries, soda drinks, sweets, and pasta.
These refined foods cause damage to the blood vessels connected to your brain, causing your brain cells to starve because they can’t get enough fuel.
Replace these with brain-healthy fats such as extra virgin olive oil, avocado flesh, and raw coconut oil.
3. Load up on DHA-rich foods such as pasture-raised eggs, shellfish, beef liver, and oily fish like salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring, and pilchards.
DHA is a type of omega-3 fat, the main building block for neurons and brain cells.
DHA helps to prevent shrinkage of the hippocampus, the part of your brain that helps you to make new memories and learn.
4. Boost blood flow to the brain by exercising for 30 minutes at least twice per week, such as jogging or swimming.
Anything that gets your heart pumping stimulates blood flow to the brain, carrying oxygen and glucose to feed your brain cells and prevent shrinkage.
You may also take a supplement of Vitamin D3 & K2, two nutrients that protect the arteries in your brain from becoming stiff and rigid. Intermittent Fasting 2.fw 5.
Try intermittent fasting on a regular basis, a simple diet trick where you eat all of your calories in a shorter window of time.
Fasting for 18 hours triggers autophagy, a process where your body is able to clear out misfolded proteins and amyloid plaque that’s clogging up your brain cells.
You can also take a teaspoon of MCT oil to keep you fuller for longer between meals, which also feeds your brain cells with a healthy fuel called ketones.
Following these 5 key steps can help to physically improve the health of your brain, by supplying the nutrients and fuel that it needs.
These steps will reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease from a young age. It’s never too early or too late to start taking care of your body.
– Summary.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, a condition where your brain cells become starved of fuel and begin to shrink.
This disease gets worse over time as your brain degenerates, you begin to lose your mental faculties such as learning, memory function, spatial awareness, and reasoning skills.
By following the action steps shared in today’s article, you can help protect your brain from this disease by fighting off amyloid plaque, supporting blood flow, and oxygenation of the brain cells.
