What is the future of your brain? What is the future of my brain? You may reply, "Well, that is a strange question." And I readily agree. But strange as it sounds, I believe it has validity. It goes without saying for someone who has a close friend or family member who suffers from memory loss, dementia, or Alzheimer's.
A Healthy BRAIN for LIFE - How to Prevent Alzheimer's, Dementia, and Memory Loss by Richard Furman, MD, FACS says on page 189:1
“The Chicago Health and Aging Project offered some interesting estimates concerning the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease. The study showed that one in eight people, 13 percent, age sixty-five and older has Alzheimer's, and approximately 45 percent of everyone eighty-five and older has Alzheimer's.”
Alzheimer's is among the most dreaded conditions on the planet. I also learned that stage one can be present in one's brain with no obvious symptoms for up to twenty years and we have no control over our genetic inheritance. With statistics like that, who wouldn't be interested in his brain's future?
The five factors that increase the risk of Alzheimer's are:
High cholesterol
A sedentary lifestyle
Excess weight
High blood pressure
Diabetes
The more of these risk factors we have, the greater is our risk of developing Alzheimer's.
The good news is that by developing healthy lifestyles, we can decrease the odds of developing Alzheimer's.
The risk factor that I have is a sedentary lifestyle. I have renewed my determination to exercise a minimum of thirty minutes a day. I highly recommend this book which is available on this website.
—Carol
