Here are twenty-nine well-written articles on aspects Alzheimer’s caregiving:
Alzheimer’s Disease & Related Dementias: Alzheimer’s Caregiving
This is a collection of six valuable tips for caregiving for an Alzheimer’s patient:
Tips for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregivers
This page provides twenty-five lessons learned by Alzheimer’s caretakers about the caregiving process, and about their own lives:
25 Lessons Learned From Alzheimer’s Caregivers
The stress of Alzheimer’s caregiving can be alleviated by interaction with other caregivers. Here are two links providing access to Alzheimer’s caregiving support groups:
Programs and Support
The 5 Best Emotional Support Groups for Alzheimer’s Caregivers
All links have been added to Alzheimer’s > Coping & Caregivers > Caregivers.
]]>Recently published work seems to point in this direction. The researchers used brain scans combined with Obj-SCD (“objectively-defined subtle cognitive difficulties”), a refined set of tests for assessing cognition. Their work appears to show that development of amyloid plaques did not emerge before the development of subtle cognitive difficulties.
Here are five links to media articles on the work:
We Just Got More Evidence Our Leading Hypothesis About Alzheimer’s Could Be Wrong
Objective subtle cognitive difficulties predict amyloid accumulation and neurodegeneration
Which Comes First, Cognitive Problems Or Beta-amyloid Plaques?
Amyloid Accumulation Doesn’t Always Precede Cognitive Decline
What causes Alzheimer’s? Not toxic amyloid, new study suggests
Here is a link to the research paper:
Objective subtle cognitive difficulties predict future amyloid accumulation and neurodegeneration
All links have been added to Alzheimer’s > Neurology & Neuroplasticity.
]]>Here are links to three media articles on lifestyle & Alzheimer’s:
People at Risk of Alzheimer’s May Improve Brain Function With Individualized Treatment
Lifestyle changes improved cognition in people at risk for Alzheimers, study shows
Could Regimented, Prescribed & Individualized Lifestyle Changes Improve Cognition in People at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease?
Here is a link to the research article on lifestyle & Alzheimer’s:
Individualized clinical management of patients at risk for Alzheimer’s dementia
Here are links to three media articles on lifestyle & FTD:
Lifestyle changes may combat a dementia that strikes people in their 40s and 50s
Lifestyle Choices Could Slow Familial Frontotemporal Dementia
Active lifestyle may slow inherited frontotemporal dementia
Here is a link to the research report on lifestyle & FTD:
Active lifestyles moderate clinical outcomes in autosomal dominant frontotemporal degeneration
All links have been added to Health > Physical Exercise and Alzheimers > Mental Exercise.
]]>A Single Workout Can Alter the Brain (How Exercise Affects Our Memory)
A study of healthy older adults shows that just one 30 minute session of exercise increased activation in the brain circuits associated with memory — including the hippocampus. The latter shrinks with age and is the brain region attacked first in Alzheimer’s disease.
Here are two additional media articles:
Exercise activates memory neural networks in older adults
30 Minutes of Aerobic Exercise Supercharges Semantic Memory
Here is a link to the research publication:
Semantic Memory Activation After Acute Exercise in Healthy Older Adults
How Exercise May Sharpen Memory (How Exercise May Help Keep Our Memory Sharp)
New evidence reaffirms suggestions that exercise-induced irisin, a hormone, may protect against neurodegeneration and boost memory in both humans and mice.
Here are three additional media articles:
How exercise may protect against Alzheimer’s
Exercise-Linked Irisin May Protect Against Neurodegeneration
‘Exercise Hormone’ Could Slow Progression of Alzheimer’s Disease
Here is a link to the research publication:
Exercise-linked FNDC5/irisin rescues synaptic plasticity and memory defects in Alzheimer’s models
Weight Training Changes the Brain (How Weight Training Changes the Brain)
Until recently the majority of research on exercise and brain health has been done with aerobic exercise, which indeed, has show that exercise is good for your brain. Now, new work using lab rats has demonstrated that weight training can overcome cognitive impairment and even jumpstart the creation of new neurons.
Here are three additional media articles:
Weight Training – Good for the Brain Too?
Research shows surprising link between weightlifting and cognition
Strong Rat. Smart Rat. Got That?
Here is a link to the research publication:
Resistance-exercise training ameliorates LPS-induced cognitive impairment concurrent with molecular signaling changes in the rat dentate gyrus
The Right Kind of Exercise to Lower Dementia Risk (The Right Kind of Exercise May Boost Memory and Lower Dementia Risk)
It is never too late to begin exercising. This study shows that even starting in your 60’s, you can reduce your risk of dementia. Short intense sessions may be the most helpful.
Here are three additional media articles:
Improved fitness can mean living longer without dementia
Being Physically Fit Reduces the Risk of Dementia
Robust Workouts Guard Brains & Health at Any Age
Here is a link to the research publication:
Temporal changes in cardiorespiratory fitness and risk of dementia incidence and mortality: a population-based prospective cohort study
All the links above have been added to Health > Physical Exercise
]]>Here are links to five media articles on depression and dementia:
How are depression and dementia related?
Alzheimer’s or depression: Could it be both?
Depression | Alzheimer’s Association
New Therapies Help Patients With Dementia Cope With Depression
Cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety in people with dementia: a clinician guideline for a person-centered approach.
Here are three research articles dealing with Problem Adaptation Therapy (PATH) therapy:
Problem Adaptation Therapy for Older Adults With Major Depression and Cognitive Impairment
Problem Adaptation Therapy (PATH) for Older Adults with Major Depression and Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Home-Delivered Problem Adaptation Therapy (PATH) for Depressed, Cognitively Impaired, Disabled Elders: A Preliminary Study
All links have been added to Neuro-Psych.
]]>Here are links to three media articles on the work:
Scientists Discover 4 Distinct Patterns of Aging
‘Ageotypes’ provide window into how individuals age
Ageotypes: Why do people age differently?
Here is a link to the research study:
Personal aging markers and ageotypes revealed by deep longitudinal profiling
All links have been added to Aging
]]>At the beginning of the present study, two things were already known: 1) higher levels of inflammatory factors in people are associated with greater loss of muscle mass, and 2) physically fit people tend to have lower levels of inflammation in their bodies than inactive people. So the question was: do older, active people also have more and healthier muscle mass than other less active older people? This first study focused on men — another study on women is to be published soon.
This study enrolled 21 elderly athletic men, 10 healthy but sedentary elderly men, and 10 runners and cyclists in their 20s, none of whom had been performing weight training. The initial measurements taken focused on blood (for measuring inflammation levels) and thighs: their size at outset of the study, and the quality of their front (quadriceps) muscle as determined by biopsies. Immediately, the following was evident:
Group | Thigh Size |
---|---|
Young Men | Largest |
Elderly Athletes | Middle |
Elderly Inactive | Smallest |
The experimental activity consisted of lower-body weight lifting, which would stress the thighs of all of the participants. After the weight-lifting, blood samples and biopsies were again drawn and examined for signs of both flaring of inflammation, together with signs of counter-inflammation activity, as shown here:
Group | Inflammation Level | Anti-Inflammation Activity |
---|---|---|
Young Men | Smallest | Greatest |
Elderly Athletes | Middle | Middle |
Elderly Inactive | Largest | Smallest |
While being a lifelong athlete is obviously protective of one’s muscles, starting at middle age to go to the gym, or run, or cycle can gradually build up missing mass. And those aches and pains at first are the signs of inflammation, and their decline are the signs of the decline of inflammation.
Here are links to three media articles on the work:
25 Again? How Exercise May Fight Aging
Lifelong Exercise Prevents “Inflammaging”
LIFELONG EXERCISE PROTECTS AGAINST AGING
And here is a link to the research publication:
Effects of aging and lifelong aerobic exercise on basal and exercise-induced inflammation
All links have been added to Aging and Health > Physical Exercise
]]>Here are the seven media articles:
For Better Brain Health, Preserve Your Hearing
Link between hearing and cognition begins earlier than once thought
Mild Hearing Loss May Be Associated with Mental Decline in Seniors
Hearing Loss Linked to Dementia
CAN HEARING AIDS HELP PREVENT DEMENTIA?
Cognitive loss and hearing loss
Hearing Loss and Dementia: Breakthrough Research Seeks Causal Link
Here are the three studies on the association of hearing losss with dementia:
Association of Subclinical Hearing Loss With Cognitive Performance.
Association of Hearing Loss With Dementia
Relationship of Hearing loss and Dementia: a Prospective, Population-based Study
All links have been added to Aging and Risk Factors.
]]>Here are links to three media articles about the work:
How Deep Sleep May Help The Brain Clear Alzheimer’s Toxins
Scientists Now Know How Sleep Cleans Toxins From the Brain
Sleep may trigger rhythmic power washing in the brain
And here is a link to the research study:
Coupled electrophysiological, hemodynamic, and cerebrospinal fluid oscillations in human sleep
All links have been added to Neuro-Psych
]]>Here are five media articles about the developments:
Therapy Cats for Dementia Patients, Batteries Included
Robotic pets delight patients with dementia
Robotic Pets To The Rescue? Dementia Care Gets Innovative
Is this robotic therapy pet the uncanny valley of dog?
The Second Coming of the Robot Pet
And here are a number of research articles on the use of robot pets for dementia intervention:
Pet robot intervention for people with dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
The Utilization of Robotic Pets in Dementia Care.
How do “robopets” impact the health and well‐being of residents in care homes? A systematic review of qualitative and quantitative evidence
Effect of an interactive therapeutic robotic animal on engagement, mood states, agitation and psychotropic drug use in people with dementia: a cluster-randomised controlled trial protocol
Use of a Robotic Seal as a Therapeutic Tool to Improve Dementia Symptoms: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial
Robotic Pets: A Senior’s Best Friend?
All links have been added to Alzheimers > Coping & Caregivers > Dementia Assist Dogs & Robot Pets
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