Though you go through many activities and incidents on a daily basis, there are only certain instances that are stored in memory by your brain. We call these stored instances as memories or thoughts. Forgetting these memories is what is called as memory loss. Occasional forgetfulness is not a problem. It is quite natural to forget things. But when you frequently lose your memories, it is a disease. We call this condition as Alzheimer.
What is the reason for this disease? What is the solution?
Alzheimer is a memory loss disease. When the functioning of the brain gradually starts to diminish, it leads to memory loss. Your body cells will remain healthy while you are young. But as you age, it starts to get weak. In the same way, the wrinkles(crevices) in the brain will gradually start to reduce in number as we age. This leads to increase in brain foldings. Due to this, recalling capacity of the brain will gradually start to decrease.
Our brain stores the memories in two different ways. Short term memories and long-term memories. For example, list of groceries you want to purchase for a particular day, directions to reach your friend’s home for the first time etc… are usually stored in your brain as short-term memories. These short-term memories could sometimes be stored as long-term memories. But as we age the brain’s capacity to register new memories reduces. This leads to memory loss problems. It is one of the primary problems with Alzheimer disease.
What are the signs?
- Victims of this disease may not realize its presence. But the person close to them can detect it easily.
- Forgetting daily regular activities.
- The difficulty with doing familiar works.
- Confusion with date, time, and place.
- Increased suspicion over others.
- Problems with communication.
- Abstract thinking.
- Problems with taking decisions.
- Change in daily activities.
- Misplacing things.
Bodily changes that can happen due to Alzheimer
- Problems with eyesight
- Loss of hearing
- High blood pressure
- Problem with speech
- Diabetes
- Anxiety
- Stress
Activities of Alzheimer patients
- A person who is perfectly healthy and normal can recall old memories without any problem. However, Alzheimer patients will forget small instances that just happened. Meaning, they can recall memories which are older than 10 years but cannot remember the meal they had just 10 minutes back.
- Sometimes they will even forget what they are talking about. They start with talking about something but end up talking about the thoughts and memories deeply rooted in their mind. Rarely, they will lose their common sense.
- Some people, while doing their daily activities, they will forget what they did and end up claiming they did not do it. For example, after taking a bath, they will forget they had a bath.
- They do not care about the people who are around them. They will not take proper care of their clothing. They can swear without minding about the surroundings.
- While walking or driving back home they will suddenly forget the route. In these situations, they will feel confused about the place they are in.
- They will wake up in the middle of their sleep and start to walk without having any awareness of the destination. They will have confused emotions and increase in imaginations.
- They show no value to money or properties they hold. They do not care about their belongings and lose it often. Will feel confused about who they should inform about the things they lost.
How to control Alzheimer?
- Alzheimer patients should not be left alone.
- They should be monitored always.
- It is a must to keep them healthy.
- They should not be given big responsibilities. If given it should be monitored regularly.
- It is good to accompany them with a trustable person.
How to Prevent?
- We should do things we love to do.
- Developing the capacity to multitask.
- Playing games that demand more brain activity like sudoku, chess etc..
- Preventing being alone as much as possible.
- Drinking and smoking habits must be stopped.
- Engaging in works that demand brain activity.
What is the cure?
There is no permanent cure for Alzheimer disease. But we can reduce the impacts of this disease to a certain degree with Doctor’s directions, and by finding solutions to the problems that result from the disease.