BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A volunteer coordinator with Community Hospice talked about dementia and brain health at the Bradford County Library on Thursday, May 30.
- Renee Horne said dementia is not a normal part of aging and that many seniors never experience the symptom.
“We all have problems with memory as we age, and our brains slow down,” she said. “But at the same time, that doesn’t mean you have dementia.”
Horne said dementia is a symptom with an underlying cause, most often Alzheimer’s disease.
“If I go to the doctor and I have a cold and a cough, that’s not my diagnosis,” she said. “It’s the same thing with dementia. That’s just the symptom, and there’s going to be a disease behind it.”
Horne also said that dementia is reversible, so people should not be afraid to talk to their physicians if they are experiencing signs. She added that she had experienced the phenomenon.
“My B-12 tanked, my iron tanked, my Vitamin D tanked, and my thyroid all tanked at the same time,” she recalled. “And I went into a dementia mode. I got all those numbers back up, and then it kind of all came back.”
Forgetfulness vs. dementia
Horne said normal forgetfulness may include an occasional bad decision, forgetting an important day but remembering later, sometimes forgetting a word, and losing things occasionally. However, dementia signs include poor judgment and decision-making, losing track of seasons and dates, difficulty conversing, misplacing things, and being unable to retrace steps.
She added that 10 early signs of dementia are:
-1- memory loss that disrupts daily life,
-2- changes in planning or solving problems,
-3- difficulty completing familiar tasks,
-4- confusion with time or place,
-5- trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships,
-6- new problems with words in speaking or writing,
-7-misplacing things or losing the ability to retrace steps,
-8- decreased or poor judgment,
-9- withdrawal from work or social activities, and
-10- changes in mood and personality.
Horne said a decline in cognitive thinking could present in confusing relationships, a shortened attention span, loss of organizational skills, and loss of peripheral vision.
“So, I don’t know my brother versus my sister,” she said. “Thinking I can still cook, but walking away and forgetting I turned the stove on. Lots of bad driving accidents when they shouldn’t be driving. You might forget to put the toothpaste on before you brush your teeth. You can’t get organized, which means you can’t cook because you can’t do the steps.”
How to talk to someone with dementia
During her presentation, the hospice staff member used the acronym T.A.L.K. to explain how to converse with a person undergoing cognitive decline.
She said remembering four techniques can increase understanding:
T—Take it Slow,
A—Ask simple questions,
L—Limit reality checks,
K—Keep eye contact.
In explaining the concept of limiting reality checks, Horne said a person with dementia often makes inaccurate statements and that the responder should avoid correcting the speaker. Instead, the responder should redirect the conversation.
Maintaining a healthy brain
Horne also recommended techniques to maintain brain health. She suggested that keeping your body and brain active reduces cognitive decline.
Horne added that one 20-year study explained in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that people who constantly challenge their brains by doing crossword puzzles, playing board games or cards, reading, writing, and playing musical instruments resulted in reduced incidents of dementia.
That study found that people engaging in one such activity once a week reduced their likelihood of developing dementia by seven percent, and those taking part in such activities more frequently reduced their dementia risk by up to 63%.
The Community Hospice staff member demonstrated one game using a balloon, in which two participants tossed the balloon to one another and alternatively recited letters in the alphabet. She then increased the complexity of the exercise by substituting words beginning with consecutive letters instead of the letters themselves. Instead of A-B-C, participants recited Apple, Bat, and Cat.
Another study found that brisk walking, cleaning, gardening, or other physical tasks reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
Horne said another study showed that people who regularly slept six hours or less in their 50s, 60s, and 70s were about 30% more likely to develop dementia than those who slept seven or more hours a night.
“Lack of sleep could influence dementia risk in several ways,” she said, quoting one researcher. “One of the most studied mechanisms involves the brain’s nightly cleaning cycle. When we’re asleep, there’s an increased flow of fluid through the brain, and this is hypothesized to clear out waste products and lower their concentration.”
Finally, Horne said that people who stay socially active lower their risks of dementia, adding that one study concluded that women with more extensive social networks were 26% less likely to develop dementia than those with smaller networks and women who had daily contact with friends and family cut their risk of dementia by almost one-half.
