【International Dementia Day】Preventing dementia is urgent

International Dementia Day , also known as World Alzheimer's Day or World Alzheimer's Day, is held on September 21 every year. It is established to care for patients with dementia and prevent Alzheimer's disease.

Dementia is a group of diseases caused by progressive brain degeneration, which leads to memory loss and cognitive impairment. The most common causes are Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, neither of which can be cured. However, today I will introduce some tips to teach the "silver-haired" to delay the onset of dementia and slow down the progression of dementia.

What is Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with an insidious onset. It usually starts in old age, with a slow and irreversible course, and is clinically characterized by intellectual impairment. The main pathological changes are diffuse cortical atrophy, widening of sulci and gyri, enlargement of ventricles, a large reduction in neurons, and visible senile plaques (SP), neurofibrillary knots (NFT) and other lesions. The content of choline acetylase and acetylcholine is significantly reduced. Clinically, it is characterized by global dementia manifestations such as memory impairment, aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, visual-spatial skill impairment, executive dysfunction, and personality and behavioral changes.

The first thing that appears is the loss of recent memory, often forgetting daily things and some commonly used items. Losing things like keys at home, forgetting friends' names or recent conversations, and getting lost in familiar places. As the disease progresses, long-term memory loss may occur, that is, forgetting things and people that happened a long time ago. Some patients also have visual-spatial disorders, unable to find the way home after going out, and unable to accurately copy stereograms. They feel confused about where they are, what time or date they are.

Rehabilitation treatment for Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's patients have impaired recent memory, but most long-term memories are still preserved. Through conscious and repeated memory training, the decline can be delayed and the recovery of intelligence can be promoted. We can:

01 Read a series of numbers that are not arranged in order, starting from three digits and increasing by one digit each time. For example: 125, 2334, 51498... After reading, ask the patient to repeat it immediately until he cannot repeat it anymore.

02 Show the patient a few items, such as apples, clothes, mobile phones, water cups, etc., and then put them away immediately, asking him to recall what he just saw. The number of items can be increased gradually from a small number to a large number, and the viewing time can be shortened from a long time.

03 Divide the chopsticks into two piles and ask the patient to compare which pile has more and which has less. Then tell the specific content and quantity.

04Give the patient some number cards and train him to arrange them from small to large. Then give him a number card each time and ask him to insert it between the three arranged cards according to the value.

05 Give the patient a list of 30 items and tell him that all 30 items belong to one of three categories (such as transportation, furniture, and plants). Ask him to classify them. If he cannot do so, he can be helped. In addition, we need to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's disease from the source as much as possible in our lives. Strictly manage blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood lipids; have regular physical examinations; quit smoking and limit alcohol; and adopt a Mediterranean diet, including vegetables, fruits, fish, whole grains, beans, and olive oil. We also recommend that the elderly engage in intellectual activities (such as calligraphy, painting, playing musical instruments, square dancing, etc.), physical exercise (recommended at least 150 minutes of moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise, endurance training, and Tai Chi per week) and social activities (such as attending birthday parties, group vacations, etc.), which can help prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

The popular science content of this platform has been funded by the China Association for Science and Technology's Science Popularization Department's 2022 National Science Literacy Action Project "National Society Science Popularization Capacity Improvement Project-Rehabilitation Science Popularization Service Capacity Improvement Action Plan"