Alzheimer'S Disease Essay

brain that are stimulated through exercise. It turns out spending a half hour on that treadmill that’s currently collecting dust can help with learning and memory. Several studies have actually found that physical exercise may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Get Plenty of Rest Most of us know we need to rest our muscles after a good workout so they can grow stronger and stronger. Rest also plays a crucial role in brain development. Research points to sleep’s healing power as a factor in the…

What follows when you try to recall a memory? Do you look up? Close your eyes? At times not recalling it at all? All the frustration that the brain goes through to reminisce meticulously. For someone to reminisce with precision is nearly an impossible task due to the way the brain stores memories, the reconstruction of memories, and temporary and permanent disturbances. Thus, our brain functions like a puzzle, at times creating false pieces to fill in the empty spots. This action of the brain is…

Sundown Syndrome, also known as sundowning, is a fairly common “clinical phenomenon” which has no exact definition. It most commonly appears in the elderly with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, and usually occurs in the late evenings and at night. The causes and range of symptoms of Sundown Syndrome are still being debated, but several symptoms, behaviors, risk factors, treatments, and methods of prevention have been identified. People should become more aware of the symptoms of sundowning so…

people who experience it or their caregivers wouldn't. But humor and improvisation may be a key element to reducing anxiety and creating joy for both you and your loved one. In Part I of this series I discussed some of the facts and myths about Alzheimer's and dementia. In Part II I presented five…

Neuroscience has grown exponentially over the past decades leading to very interesting research methods. Carl Zimmer, author of Secrets of the Brain volunteered for one method which created a 3D magnetic image of his brain. Jeff Lichtman, from Harvard university, is using micro thin slices of the brain to make a map of the brain. He hopes to use the map to create a 3D image for continued exploration of the brain’s complex functions. Karl Deisseroth of Stanford university is attempting work…

Dementia encompasses a wide range of symptoms that compromise a person’s ability to perform daily tasks. Symptoms of dementia include impairments in memory, behavior, language, and cognition (Alzheimer’s Association, 2012). There are many causes of dementia including neurological disease, vascular disease, and traumatic brain injury. In the 1980’s, medical doctors began to inquire about the speech, language, and hearing of patients with dementia. Since then, the speech language pathologist’s…

get worse over time Normal aging can cause some forgetfulness. It is normal to have some trouble learning new material or needing more time to remember it. But normal aging does not lead to dramatic memory loss. Such memory loss is due to other diseases. Some people can easily remember an event from 50 years ago but then…

Parkinson’s disease (PD) was first described by James Parkinson in his classic 1817 monograph “Essay on the Shaking Palsy”. PD is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease (AD). PD affects around 0.3% of population in industrialized countries and approximately 1% of the population above the age of 60 (de Rijk et al., 2000; Rajput, 1992). The mean age of onset of PD is 55. PD is mainly characterized clinically by resting tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia.…

inevitable symptoms that come with the disease as forgetfulness, short tempers, communication difficulty, difficulty performing “simple” tasks, hallucinations and much more. Although I was intimidated in the initial month of my job, as I have grown into the position as Resident Companion learning the personalities of my residents and developing relationships with them, the job it is not as daunting. Through my anthropological study, I have learned that although this disease may interfere with…

What is Dementia? The term ‘Dementia’ is not just one specific disease, however, it is a broad term to describe disorders that affect the brain. Dementia affects thinking, behaviour, emotions and these things interfere with a person’s ability to perform everyday tasks, as shown, something as simple as reading a book, class notes or posters can prove to be difficult to someone who has Dementia. What is Frontotemporal Dementia? Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) is one of the less common forms of…