Preventing dementia starts early
Let’s talk about the common defense mechanism we’ve all heard when the topic of dementia comes up: “It’s just old age.” The phrase suggests cognitive decline and neurological degeneration are a natural consequence of aging. As if we all should expect to lose the memories and behaviors that once defined our individual personality and relationships as we get older, as well as functional life skills like driving a car, operating a stove, and finding our keys. Is that what aging means?
The truth is, dementia is unnatural and ageless (happening to younger and younger people) rather than natural to the aged. Why? Because dementia is a symptom of chronic systemic mindbody illness that is not natural to aging at all and can happen even to young people who are nowhere near retirement age. For this reason, the best way to think about dementia is to think about preventing it! Starting with identifying what is really causing it. If the cause is not “old age,” then what is it? As more American boomers age, that’s becoming a trillion dollar question.
Anyone who has spent time in a nursing home facility for the “memory impaired” knows that elders with dementia have lost neurological function. Dementia itself is a symptom that a person’s neurobiology has been compromised, sometimes suddenly, but most often gradually over years or even decades. If a person’s neurobiology is compromised beyond a certain point, they can lose what we commonly think of as a Self—including memories, language, and the ability to connect to people and places.
If we can look dementia in the face without misconceptions about aging, if we can touch it, feel it, and talk about it without avoidance, fatalism, denial and deliberate ignorance, then we can get down to the necessary work of preventing dementia before it happens. If you’ve wasted time thinking we don’t know what causes dementia, think again. Do the research. Read between the lines, and connect the dots.
Here are some clues to get us pointed in the right direction toward real solutions. Today we have elders with dementia, diabetics with dementia, Parkinson’s dementia, autism and dementia, chemo-induced dementia, demented mass shooters, and even bees with dementia. And then there’s dementia from overmedication and dementia following traumatic brain injury.
Once we understand and accept dementia as a symptom of brain damage and neurological poisoning, we can see the connection to environmental causes such as neurotoxic pesticides and herbicides, chemicals, heavy metals and plastics. These toxic substances in our environment that we put there damage our brainbody. In other words, our brain is our body.
The heart-brain, as it is commonly called today, or intrinsic cardiac nervous system, shares the same network of ganglia, neurotransmitters and proteins as the brain in our head. And the gut-brain, or enteric nervous system (ENS), is comprised of over 100 million nerve cells—including sensory neurons, enteric neurons, and afferent neurons—lining the inside of our gastrointestinal tract. Our heart-brain and gut-brain are responsible for more of our feelings, intuitions and thoughts than the brain in our head. So when we talk about dementia, we need to understand we are talking about degeneration and dysfunction of the nervous system throughout our whole bodymind. This explains the broad variations in expressions of dementia—all signs that the systemic neurobiology of the person is toxic, stressed out and in need of more attention and care.
Surely none of us wants to become demented. But the stats are sobering. 2018 data show 5.7 million Americans are living with dementia, and 50 million people globally, with that number predicted to hit 75 million by 2050. The numbers are expected to double every couple decades, and not just because baby boomers are aging, but also because younger people are being diagnosed with “younger age dementia” or “early onset dementia.” Younger adults are also being diagnosed with “cognitive impairment” more often that the generation before them—an early symptom of dementia.
A good place to start is with a self-assessment. Be emotionally honest. If you have symptoms of mild cognitive impairment, whatever your age, touch that and let yourself feel it now, don’t wait until you have a diagnosis to do something about it. Do something about it now. Question the common belief that dementia is a natural part of aging.
If you have concerns, touch that, listen to your body, feel it, and start talking about what you can do to help yourself. And most importantly, ask for help. Find a practitioner who has a protocol who can help you. Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum has a protocol called M.I.N.D. which addresses metabolic/hormonal function, underlying chronic infections, nutritional deficiencies and pharmaceutical drug overuse/overmedication. You might want to listen to this interview of Dr. Teitelbaum by Lillian McDermott on her podcast. Dr. Timothy Smith has a book to help as well titled Reversing Alzheimer’s: How to Prevent Dementia and Revitalize Your Brain.
Be aware that stable blood sugar protects your brain from harmful blood sugar spikes and crashes. Some doctors are starting to call Alzheimer’s disease diabetes type-3 because of the mindbody connection between blood sugar dysregulation and delusional dementia. Blood sugar instability is devastating for brain health. If you have been told you are pre-diabetic, it’s time to take action. If you suffer inflammatory blood glucose crises over and over for years and years, the fluctuations can cause permanent brain damage, and a person can develop permanent diabetic dementia. So out-of-control diabetes is a high risk for dementia. If you have diabetes, help yourself with proper hydration, diet and exercise.
The physiological connection between delusional behavior and blood sugar dysregulation is revealing for anyone concerned about dementia. As the brain loses its consistent supply of blood glucose, the brain begins to dysfunction. And as the brain loses function, and the person loses a sense of Self, the bodymind defaults to the brain stem’s adrenaline-driven fight-or-flight response. The brainbody reacts as if the person were experiencing a sudden loss of blood to the brain, as if one were bleeding to death, triggering a primal response to fight for one’s life and a massive release of cortisol into the bloodstream. Without a steady healthy supply of blood sugar to our brain, any of us can suddenly act like a person being attacked by a tiger, or someone drunk, delusional or out of their mind.
If you’re worried about brain health—yours or that of someone you love—you might start your day and theirs with Dr. Kelly Brogan's brain food smoothie to jumpstart better mindbody health by giving yourself organic whole foods with plenty of essential fats. Hydrate every day with a proper balance of electrolyte minerals, detox your home and body of toxic plastics, petrochemicals and heavy metals, and get walking in Mother Nature to breathe in some fresh oxygen for healthy cell metabolism. Your “old” age is in your hands more than you’ve been told.
See the Self-Care lists for how-to tips for healthy changes that matter today and tomorrow.
