Dean Nizetic, Queen Mary University of London Every three seconds, someone in the world develops dementia. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. While researchers have identified a number of risk factors that are linked to dementia – including genetics, smoking, and high blood pressure – there is currently still no cure. Part …
Book review – Changing minds: how aging affects language & how language affects aging
Without language, how could we make friends, be entertained, or fall in love? Why should any of this change with age? Roger Kreuz and Richard Roberts Personal observation and public opinion condition us into accepting that aging negatively affects language. But what is the science to back it up? Veteran authors Roger Kreuz and Richard …
People with dementia enjoy reading – this is how
Caregivers of people with dementia are real-life heroes. The cognitive ability of a person with dementia is slowed down, sometimes significantly, requiring the caregiver to adapt to the condition and pace activities together accordingly. If you are a family member or a friend, you know how difficult it is to plan activities together that are …
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Alzheimer’s: no magic cure, but hope, yes
I found an absolute gem in the TED talk “What you can do to prevent Alzheimer’s?”. The speaker, a neuroscientist, explained the current theory of the cause of Alzheimer’s disease in an easy to understandable way (‘amyloid plaque buildup in the neural synapses’). She was quick to point out that there is no cure or …
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Stop and smell the roses
Too busy to stop and smell the roses? Don’t be. Recent research reported that older adults with dysfunction of the sense of smell had more than twice the odds of developing dementia in 5 years. Dementia is to me one of the most dehumanizing incurable disease of modern times. It affects 10% of the world population, …