Family members, playing mahjong can really prevent Alzheimer's disease!

What is Alzheimer's disease?

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease and the most common form of dementia, accounting for 50% to 70% of all dementia cases.

There is currently no cure for the disease and its cause is unknown, but it affects a person's memory, language skills, and even basic thought processes. Eventually, even basic movements such as swallowing will be affected, and the whole process may be accompanied by personality changes.

Alzheimer's disease destroys some of the brain's 100 billion neurons and causes the brain to shrink. The disease generally progresses over a period of 5 to 10 years.

Current Status of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease is a disease that develops insidiously and progresses gradually, affecting the lives of tens of thousands of elderly people around the world. In my country, Alzheimer's disease is one of the main causes of disability among the elderly, and the mortality rate of patients is significantly higher than that of the general population.

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How to prevent it?

Studies have shown that the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease is related to a variety of factors, which can be divided into irreversible factors and reversible factors. Irreversible factors include age, gender, genes and family history, while reversible factors include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, head trauma, drinking, sleep disorders and other diseases or conditions.

The latest research report published in the world's authoritative journal The Lancet in 2020 pointed out that effectively regulating the following risk factors, including low education level, hearing loss, traumatic brain injury, high blood pressure, excessive drinking, obesity, smoking, depression, social isolation, lack of physical exercise, air pollution, and diabetes, can prevent and delay 40% of dementia worldwide.

Based on the above evidence-based medicine and the recommendations of previous experts in the cognitive field, we provide the following guidelines for dementia prevention.

Lifestyle changes

1

Body Mass Index and Weight Management

People under 65 years old should maintain or lose weight, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and control calorie intake to keep BMI at 18.5-24.0kg/m², but should not be too thin. If there is a trend of continued weight loss, cognitive status should be closely monitored.

2

Physical exercise

Many studies have shown that people who are physically active have a lower risk of various dementias than those who are inactive. Here are some exercise methods that are more suitable for the elderly.

Square dance: Square dance is the most popular form of exercise in the community. Participants not only exercise their language communication skills, but also increase their opportunities to interact with the outside world. Dancing also allows people to enjoy the joy brought by music, which helps them maintain an optimistic attitude and plays a positive role in alleviating cognitive decline.

Playing Mahjong: Playing Mahjong is also an intellectual activity. During the entertainment process, the brains of the elderly are always in an excited and active state, which can not only exercise logical thinking ability, but also train calculation ability, while increasing opportunities to communicate with peers and exercise language logic ability.

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Cognitive activities

As they age, the elderly will be less willing to use their brains, their reaction speed will slow down, their thinking process will take longer and longer, and their logical thinking will be less flexible. The elderly should consciously let their brains work more, train their brain's analysis and reasoning abilities through some intellectual activities, and exercise their calculation and language abilities, so as to keep their brains young.

Image source: "The Eraser in the Brain: What You Should Know About Dementia"

Reasonable social

Studies have shown that people who socialize frequently have more active brains than those who don't. Just 10 minutes of social interaction a day can improve cognitive assessment performance and maintain cognitive levels as you age. During communication, people will constantly think and use their brains to interact with each other, which can enhance their understanding, logical reasoning, and language expression.

In particular, interactions with family members or friends can make people feel more satisfied and happy. Data show that people with extensive social interactions have a 26% lower risk of dementia than those with less social interactions.

Controlling smoking and drinking and ensuring sleep are also reasonable prevention methods.

Planning and production

Source: Book "The Eraser in the Brain: What You Should Know About Dementia"