Purpose in Life Wards Off the Effects of Alzheimer's Disease

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry Division shows that people who score high on tests measuring one's feeling of having a purpose in life are less likely to get Alzheimer's Disease and are far less likely to exhibit cognitive signs of the disease even when the telltale physical changes associated with Alzheimer's are present. Previous studies have indicated similar things (the famous Nun study, for instance), but specifically studying purpose in life is new and noteworthy.

Add that to studies that show that feeling isolated, lonely and unloved tremendously increases the likelihood of Alzheimer's, and those that show correlations between the disease and depression, and I think we're starting to get a much clearer picture of how Alzheimer's Disease manifests in the elderly population. I imagine this is especially true in Western culture of the current generation!

Let People Know How To Manage Your Care If Unable To Speak for Yourself!

If something should happen to you and you are unable to speak for yourself does your family know your wishes as to how to manage your care? And will they have the legal right to act on your behalf? Are you thinking about whether you may be called on to do that for someone else? You can do something about that. Fill out Health Care Proxies, print them out, and make sure everyone who might need to be involved has their own copies. http://www.doyourproxy.org/webtool.php

More on Alzheimer's and Type 3 Diabetes

I'm not in the field of dementia care anymore but two close family members with these symptoms keep me needing to pay attention. My dad is in a nursing home right now, and my mother reports that all the patients seem to want to eat is sugar. The family caregivers I used to work with would report the same thing. Long before the scientific evidence started to pile up, those of us working in the field knew there had to be some correlation between memory loss and confusion and these bizarre sugar cravings. Patients lose their appetites for anything else. It is now thought that a lot of what we call Alzheimer's Disease is most likely insulin resistance in the brain caused by excessive sugar consumption, lack of exercise and — this is something scientists do not say — whatever it is that causes people to substitute sweets for what the rest of us consider to be the "sweetness" in life.

I feel I must go out on a limb with this a bit. Too many Alzheimer's patients have spent many years being isolated and lonely, have suffered the trauma of losing their spouse or significant other, have few if any hobbies, or otherwise feel like they have little to live for except watching endless amounts of TV with a bowl of ice cream or plate of cookies close at hand.

There is also sufficient evidence to suggest that early stage Type 3 Diabetes (and therefore most Alzheimer's Disease) can be easily reversed if caught soon enough with exercise, insulin and more moderate sugar consumption. Going for a walk three times a week is enough to make a big difference in someone who is excessively sedentary. Making it a rule never to eat sugar on an empty stomach or substituting more protein and fat and fewer carbohydrates can make a big difference right away regardless of the amount of exercise. And try arranging it so your loved one takes that walk and eats that meal with someone who loves them! That could make the biggest difference in quality of life for both the patient and all concerned.

Scientific articles:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22810099

Layman's articles:
http://dealingwithdiabetes.org/type-3-diabetes-attacks-your-brain/
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/bittman-is-alzheimers-type-3-diabetes/

Diabetes and Dementia

If you work for very long in the field of elder care you eventually hear the following concern: my dad / my mom is wasting away and all he/she wants to eat is sugar. The answer: Get your loved one tested for diabetes!

There is a very strong correlation between the inability to utilize blood sugar and dementia. Cravings for sugar often occur because the body (and brain) relies on having adequate amounts of glucose. Most of us gain weight by eating sugar. If a person is eating too much sugar and is losing weight that is a serious symptom. If it has gotten to the point of them losing their appetite or feeling nauseous after eating, it's even more imperative to get the blood sugar levels checked. It can mean that the body has become insulin resistant or is not capable of producing enough of the insulin it needs to make use of the sugar the person so obviously craves.

People with diabetes over the age of 60 are twice as likely to have dementia. People with dementia who have uncontrolled diabetes are much more likely to show a worsening of all dementia symptoms when blood sugar levels are out of balance.

Click here to read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2039401/Over-60s-Type-2-diabetes-twice-likely-end-dementia.html

NEW BOOK: Waking Up In the Great Recession Mormon Desert

Going through a Great Recession crisis in addition to family caregiving has got to be so intense... I don't want to think about it! But the one thing that makes it better is banding together in family and community. I'm announcing my latest book today. It's not about family caregiving or Alzheimer's Disease or dementia at all! But it IS about the great importance of going beyond differences to band together to heal our deepest, most critical concerns.

The book is called WAKING UP IN THE GREAT RECESSION MORMON DESERT and people who reviewed an advance copy of it have given it some wonderful reviews. For example, David Spangler who was the previous director of Findhorn and has sometimes been called the father of the New Age movement had this to say:

This book is a winner. It has everything a good book should have: suspense, excitement, pathos, joy, laughter—-lots of laughter—and great characters you care about and can genuinely root for! And it's non-fiction! But what it has most is love and wisdom. Profound, heart-opening love and wisdom. It is hands down one of the best books on spirituality and its role in meeting the challenges of our time that I have read. And did I say that it's funny, too? Be good to yourself and read this book. Be good to your friends and buy them a copy. ~ David Spangler, author of FACING THE FUTURE and SUBTLE WORLDS: AN EXPLORER'S FIELD NOTES.

My partner Paul and I are the "great characters", by the way. The book is a memoir and it follows our path from our original home in the beautiful New Age, ultra-progressive town of Santa Cruz, CA to a predominantly ultra-conservative Republican Mormon community in the eastern Arizona high desert. The timing is immediately after the election of Barack Obama and the passage of Proposition 8 (the law repealing gay marriage in California). The result is at turns poignant and funny and eventually leads to a spiritual wake-up call that shows the importance of connecting the political and the personal in our task of developing spiritually on the planet.

Read more about it, read excerpts and reviews,  and get your copy here.

It's available as an inexpensive instant pdf download or as an autographed physical book, both directly from us. It is also available on the Kindle and soon other places as well.