Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease which is rapidly spreading as the population all around the world is aging. As of today, there is no complete treatment for the disease and patients vary in the way they react to the disease. It is also very hard for the families of Alzheimer’s patients as there is a need in the later stage of the disease to be constantly around. It is very debilitating. Let’s have a closer look at the existing drugs which help fight the disease.

Those drugs people have been taking for Alzheimer’s may work a little longer than first expected. New research shows that various drugs for the disease that have long been restricted to patients with moderate symptoms can have positive effects on those in the severe stage of the illness. Just a few years ago donepezil and other drugs alike were in the middle of a high court case.

Drug manufactures Eisai took the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to court for not allowing people in the early stage of the disease to receive the drug. After months of fighting, NICE reversed the ban allowing people in the early stages with mild symptoms to have treatment. While that was all good and well for those in the later stages of the disease, it did nothing for victims suffering severely.

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Alzheimer’s is a debilitating disease that affects memory, cognition, and the ability to perform normal daily functions.  There are ways though to prevent Alzheimer’s or at least slow the progression down by using mental exercise and other cognitive brain training activities.

For most people, going through the normal daily routines doesn’t challenge the brain enough to keep it sharp, active, and hold it back from deteriorating over time.  It is important to challenge your brain through various activities so your brain learns to fire more actively, even when you aren’t using it.  Thus, effectively reversing Alzheimer’s symptoms and/or preventing and slowing the entire process down.

Recent studies on brain research have shown that daily brain training could reduce the chance of getting Alzheimer’s by as much as 50%. This is significant finding and it would only make sense to participate in such training to reduce your own chances of ever contracting this serious disease.

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Everybody wants to stay mentally fit as it is important mentally fit. For you to be able to do so, the brain needs to be exercised in the same way you would train physically at the gym. As you age, it is also important to make sure your cognitive abilities stay sharp and agile.

Healthy brain is important for individual health and long term well-being. As we age, we may not use our brain in the same extent as before which leads to mental decline. By treating or attempting to prevent mental decline, the lives of some elderly can be significantly improved.

Doctors are getting a better understanding of risk factors for cognitive decline. Enhancing brain health should be a priority. People deserve to live their lives mentally sharp as they will be able to enjoy a better quality of life.

Process of mental health and brain training such as learning, intuition, language, discernment and memory are usually denominated cognition. At all ages, people may experience cognitive impairment. Some cognitive disorders may be reversible while others can’t until today (Alzheimer’s disease for example).

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Each day that passes by, our brain continues to grow as we approach adulthood. According to studies made by Alzheimer’s association, if one engages in vigorous exercise, a reserve for the cells as well as connections is built which makes it to remain healthier as one continues aging.

Daily mind exercise helps in ensuring that all the crucial organs are well utilized which in return makes you to stay mentally fit. Well, you don have to look for those remarkable ways elsewhere. The ways are right here at your disposal. Here we go to discuss (Alzheimer’s disease).

• Playing Word Games: Once in a while, it is important to engage in brain fitness by playing games such as scrabble or crossword puzzles. Apart from being enjoyable, these games ensure that you have the correct focus to help you have a better mind health. Most of the time, you will be focused to engage your brain by asking it to make creation of words from letters that have been scrabbled. By doing this, you are engaging it in an exercise that will bring some major improvements.

• Switching Hands: If you are used to perform activities using a particular hand, may it be left or right, you can do some switching. For instance, if you are used to using your right hand to tie your tie, you can use the left one. This switching might seem simple but it is quite challenging.

• Reading: After you are through with your daily chores, it is advisable to take 20-30 minutes to read any type of book that intrigues you much. From it, choose a topic that excites you and you are willing to learn from it. Do some imaginations here and there and try to figure out what you expect the outcome to be like. As you do this, you are engaging yourself in mind exercise which helps it to sharpen up.

• Choose a Class: Enroll in a class and choose something new that you can engage yourself in. this can either be dancing, photography or any other section that intrigues you. Once you have made your selection, ensure that you have chosen a subject that will engage your brain in new behaviors.

• Meditation: In order for meditation to be effective, a lot of focus is required as well as the ability to make any clearance from your head. It is a wise choice to set few minutes of your time to meditate as this will greatly help you in relieving any stress that you have. By so doing, your oxygen circulation will be improved.

• Engaging in Travel: According to Alzheimer’s association, it is highly recommendable for one to travel now and then if possible. Traveling helps in brainpower stimulation as new connections are created. In addition, as one travels, he gets a chance to intermingle with other cultures paving way for the brain to create new connections as well as ideas that are important for development.

To sum it up, engaging an individual’s body in exercise helps the brain to exercise too. Exercises such as walking help in the increase of blood circulation as well as free flow of oxygen.

There has been all sorts of ideas about how difficult it is to find Alzheimer’s cure or even prevention. Many people think that the only way to go about dealing with this mental condition is just wait and hope for the best.

Well, this is not true because a research conducted recently has revealed that your kind of lifestyle has a major bearing on the brain conditions you incur as you become old. It has been proven that you can protect your brain by eating healthy, keeping your mind active, exercising, socializing and avoiding stress. It is therefore important to ensure that the kind of lifestyle you lead is not in any exposing you to the risks of acquiring Alzheimer’s disease.

Instead, you should make sure that your lifestyle enables you fight the Alzheimer’s risks. Neurons in collaboration with other researchers are working tirelessly to find the possible Alzheimer’s cure but since this seems fruitless, the attention now is shifting to prevention measures. The most valid conclusions that most of them have always arrived at is that healthy lifestyle is the possible prevention of this condition.

They have also come up with some steps that everyone should take in improving their brain fitness. Do not say that it is too late to improve your Alzheimer’s condition. Just make sure that you always have enough mind exercise daily and you will just be amazed at how easy it can be to regain your sharp brain. In fact it is good to bear in mind the fact that many factors contribute to your mental health, most of which are within your ability to control.

For example, your lifestyle is controllable unlike other factors such as genes which are subject to nature and are beyond your control. There are simple mental health measures that you should always put into consideration in your quest for a healthy brain. The most obvious are eating healthy, having enough sleep, avoiding stress, stimulating your mind always and having regular exercises.

Paying much attention on each of the above measures will help your brain stay strong and healthy. That way you will understand that one doesn’t have to study neuroscience to know how to take care of their brain. Through research, it has been established that regular physical exercises, you can prevent yourself from acquiring the Alzheimer’s condition by about 50%. Exercising doesn’t not necessarily have to be in a gym or spending hours jogging.

You only need to make a habit of being more active during the day. You can create a distance from your car park to the office where you can walk, instead of using the lift you can decide to use the stairs, carry your items to the parking lot after shopping, and so on. These are supposed to create some sort of continuous movement which is healthy not only for your brain, but your body too.

Head protection is another important measure in preventing Alzheimer’s disease. Repeated hits on your head have been found to expose the person to Alzheimer’s risks especially footballers, boxers, or accidents. Protect yourself and you will stay healthy.

If by chance you discovered you had a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s, you would do everything in your power to slow the process down. This is because it robs people of their most important memories and if there is something that can be done to postpone the early symptoms, why not use it?

It is possible to improve your cognition and hence, ensure that you protect yourself from decline of your cognitive skills. This is what is popularly known as memory training. In the last couple of years, there has been an increasing supply of brain training programs. This find their way into the market as more people seek to find the best strategies for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and keeping health complications such as Alzheimer’s at bay.

While this is the case, it seems like the question in the minds of many people is whether such programs work. From neuroscience, it is clear to see that the brain is plastic. This means that it is easy to continue forming new connections with neurons throughout one’s life. In the past, it was believed that plasticity declines as one ages but research has proven that this is far from the case. This is because the brain has the ability to continue wiring itself in response to the varying information it is fed on a day to day basis.

This is also true during the early Alzheimer’s stages. While the capability of brain training cannot be disputed, there is no proven clinical evidence to back up these claims. Still, there are those who believe that it offers effective results and with sound backing since they have benefited from the same. At this point, it is important to note that there are some researchers who have scientific proof that showcases how memory training helps in deferring of this disease.

Through brain imaging, the process uses brain cells that are healthy and unaffected by the diseases to take over and maintain the appropriate memory needed at any given time. There is an increased 33% increase in memory capability of individuals with Alzheimer’s and who undergo memory training. When memory training is done, the results are not only limited to the individuals increased memory but to other aspects as well.

This includes language processing, skill learning, object memory and spatial among others. This is because the healthy brain takes over the area damaged and hence, goes a long way to get rid of the concerns and complications brought about by cases of Alzheimer’s. There are several training programs for improvement of one’s memory and it is ideal to carry out some extensive research and find one that perfectly meets your needs.

Memory training has proven to be effective as proven through research and for this reason it should be taken up with the seriousness it deserves. The more the brain is trained, the sharper it becomes and the harder it becomes to sink into an early Alzheimer’s case. At the end of the day, it ensures you hold on to your memories awhile longer.

While it is normal to forget some things, the behavior is common in many old people. Alzheimer’s is a disease that usually affects older people, causing them to forget everyday activities and basic stuff.

Eventually the seniors will end up forgetting the names of their family members. One important thing to keep in mind is that the disease is not a normal part of aging and it is not the only cause of memory loss. It is a progressive disease, with most victims showing a younger-onset especially in their 40s and 50s.

Alzheimer’s disease affects a wide part of the brain. It starts by disrupting the way in which electrical charges travel in the cells as well as the action of the neurotransmitters.

This causes a disruption in the communication between the nerve cells, thus affecting various functions of the brain. The other effect Alzheimer’s has on the brain is that it causes nerve tissues in all parts of the brain. This eventually results into a dramatically shrunk brain thus affecting almost all functions.

The shrinkage is severe in the part of the brain known as the hippocampus - which is responsible for the working memory as well as the formulation of new memories. Other noticeable changes in the Alzheimer’s brain include the shriveling of the cortex, causing the damage of parts responsible for thinking, remembering and planning.

Spaces in the brain filled with fluid - ventricles grow larger. Under the microscope, it is noticeable that Alzheimer’s tissues have many but few nerve cells and synapses as compared to a healthy brain. There are also abnormal clusters of fragments of proteins called plaques, built up between the nerve cells, as well as tangles in dead or dying nerve cells.

Tangles are made up of twisted strands of another protein. Both tangles and plaques are considered the main cause of loss of tissue and death of cells in the brain of a person suffering from Alzheimer’s.

When tangles form in the brain, tracks fall apart and disintegrate, disrupting the supply of nutrients and others to the cells, leading to their death. Plaques on the other hand are mostly formed by beta-amyloid which blocks signals from one cell to another at synapses. They might also activate the cells in the immune system that not only trigger inflammation but also eat up the disabled cells.

As the Alzheimer’s disease progresses, these plaques and tangles will start spreading in the brain’s cortex in a predicable pattern. They start at the areas of the brain dealing with memory, planning, thinking and learning before proceeding to speaking and understanding and areas dealing with sensing the aspects around the individual. At severe stages, the cortex is damaged and wide spread death of cells cause the shrinkage of the brain.

The progression rate of the disease varies from one patient to another, with some living and average of 8 years while others surviving for up to 20 years. Different aspects will also affect the progression of the disease, including existing health conditions and age when the disease is diagnosed.

CogniFit brain fitness program can improve cognitive functions of everyday living in individuals with depression. A recent study “Online rehabilitation of cognitive functions: the possibilities of the CogniFit program”, conducted at the Prague Psychiatric Center, in the Czech republic, by Dr. Marek Preiss and his research group, and presented last month at the 12th European Congress of Psychology in Istanbul, is the first one to suggest that online cognitive training reduces depression and improves functions of everyday living in individuals with depression.

A group of outpatients with unipolar or bipolar depression who trained three times a week for 8 weeks with CogniFit mental training, a scientifically validated online cognitive training program, were compared to a control group of patients who received standard care but no cognitive training. Before and after the intervention all patients were administered several questionnaires which measure patients’ perceived levels of depression, cognitive function, and functioning during daily life.

The results presented at the 12th European Congress of Psychology in Istanbul, indicate clear reductions in the levels of depression as measured by the BDI-II in the CogniFit group but not in the control group. Moreover patients in the CogniFit group reported fewer failures in executive control (reasoning and planning) and fewer memory lapses in everyday activities. “We are very excited by these results. To our knowledge this is the first study to suggest that by training cognitive function - which is known to decline as a result of depression - we might be able to reduce depression and improve everyday functioning. The improvement in everyday functioning is due, possibly, to an improvement in memory, occasioned by the cognitive training effort. Our patients were better equipped to cope with daily challenges and were afforded a sense of purpose by the periodical training, which might explain the reduction in levels of depression,” said Dr. Marek Preiss, the principal investigator for this study. “We hope that additional research with objective measures of depression and daily function will confirm the findings we obtained using more subjective instruments.”

Dr. Evelyn Shatil, head of Cognitive Science at CogniFit explains “This is yet another among our studies to strongly suggest that the cognitive gains conferred by brain training may actually transfer to important and untrained domains of daily living. Our published research has shown that working memory training improves reading in individuals with dyslexia and that attention training improves walking and gait in individuals at risk for falls. Now, these important new findings, which link cognitive training with the perception of reduced depression and better quality of life, in patients with depressive disorder, give substantial hope that cognitive training is conducive to better mental and emotional health as well as to enhanced daily functioning”.