Have you or a relative or a friend been diagnosed with Dementia? Are you feeling confused or anxious about how precarious and risky it can be? If yes, then let us first understand what is Dementia in real terms. The term "Dementia" describes a group of symptoms that involves physical changes in the brain structure which can basically affect personality, thinking, behavior, emotion and memory. This involves mood changes, loss of memory and problems with communication.
The symptoms of dementia develop when the brain is impaired by various diseases, including Alzheimer's disease which accounts for 70 to 80 percent of the cases and also damage caused by certain small strokes. There are approximately 800000 people with this disease in the UK.
Damage to brain cells causes dementia. It affects the ability of cells to communicate with each other. When brain cells fail to communicate normally it affects behavior, feelings and thinking of a person.
Dementia always starts with short term memory loss affecting the way the people talk and think. People often tend to forget the words they want to speak and can also have issues in planning. If the disease affects that part of the brain which controls emotions, then people can feel angry, depressed, frustrated, sad or frightened.
Dementias are of different types depending upon the cell damage in different parts of brain. Like the most common dementia named Alzheimer is caused due to the damage in region of brain called hippocampus. It is caused due to the high level of proteins outside and inside of brain cells that makes hard for cells to communicate with each other and remain healthy. That is why memory loss is the first symptom of Alzheimer.
How to improve dementia? Physical exercises such as running and yoga are very good to improve blood circulation in the brain, relieves stress and feeling of fatigue and prevents muscles form becoming stiff. It is also advisable to challenge your mind by learning new vocabulary or even filling puzzles and crossword. Lastly, avoid staying alone as this may make you feel so lonely and stressed up which eventually can lead to depression.
There are several conditions which produce symptoms similar to this disease for instance, depression, infections and tumors. Therefore it is indispensable that a proper medical diagnosis is done at an early stage. This will in turn ensure that if the person is in a treatable position, then a correct medication can be followed.
There are 7 stages involved in this disease. The first stage has no cognitive impairment with no memory problems. The second stage involves very mild cognitive decline where there are memory lapses. The third stage involves mild cognitive decline causing concentration problems and decline in the ability to plan and organize things. The fourth stage is a moderate cognitive decline with impaired ability to perform. The fifth stage is a moderately severe cognitive decline with immense gaps in memory. The sixth stage is a severe cognitive decline worsening the memory difficulties. The last stage is a very severe cognitive decline where the individual completely loses the ability to respond to the environment.
The best way to keep yourself away from dementia is to control your smoking and drinking habits. As blood directly affects mind, take steps to control your blood pressure and sugar level. Perform regular exercises as it increase the oxygen and blood flow to brain. Also take care of your diet, eat lots of fruits and green vegetables.
The symptoms of dementia develop when the brain is impaired by various diseases, including Alzheimer's disease which accounts for 70 to 80 percent of the cases and also damage caused by certain small strokes. There are approximately 800000 people with this disease in the UK.
Damage to brain cells causes dementia. It affects the ability of cells to communicate with each other. When brain cells fail to communicate normally it affects behavior, feelings and thinking of a person.
Dementia always starts with short term memory loss affecting the way the people talk and think. People often tend to forget the words they want to speak and can also have issues in planning. If the disease affects that part of the brain which controls emotions, then people can feel angry, depressed, frustrated, sad or frightened.
Dementias are of different types depending upon the cell damage in different parts of brain. Like the most common dementia named Alzheimer is caused due to the damage in region of brain called hippocampus. It is caused due to the high level of proteins outside and inside of brain cells that makes hard for cells to communicate with each other and remain healthy. That is why memory loss is the first symptom of Alzheimer.
How to improve dementia? Physical exercises such as running and yoga are very good to improve blood circulation in the brain, relieves stress and feeling of fatigue and prevents muscles form becoming stiff. It is also advisable to challenge your mind by learning new vocabulary or even filling puzzles and crossword. Lastly, avoid staying alone as this may make you feel so lonely and stressed up which eventually can lead to depression.
There are several conditions which produce symptoms similar to this disease for instance, depression, infections and tumors. Therefore it is indispensable that a proper medical diagnosis is done at an early stage. This will in turn ensure that if the person is in a treatable position, then a correct medication can be followed.
There are 7 stages involved in this disease. The first stage has no cognitive impairment with no memory problems. The second stage involves very mild cognitive decline where there are memory lapses. The third stage involves mild cognitive decline causing concentration problems and decline in the ability to plan and organize things. The fourth stage is a moderate cognitive decline with impaired ability to perform. The fifth stage is a moderately severe cognitive decline with immense gaps in memory. The sixth stage is a severe cognitive decline worsening the memory difficulties. The last stage is a very severe cognitive decline where the individual completely loses the ability to respond to the environment.
The best way to keep yourself away from dementia is to control your smoking and drinking habits. As blood directly affects mind, take steps to control your blood pressure and sugar level. Perform regular exercises as it increase the oxygen and blood flow to brain. Also take care of your diet, eat lots of fruits and green vegetables.
About the Author:
If you are looking for information on the stages of dementia, then please visit stagesofdementia.org. It is an excellent resource for people wanting a brief introduction to the illness. It also has useful information regarding what it is.
Thanks for this great article. I have read all information which you have wrote here and very useful tips for those who have Dementia problems.
ReplyDeleteDementia specialist