Health on YOUR brain

Stacked Intent

• Brief Summary of objectives (3):
  • Define dementia
  • Identify the differences between modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors
  • Explain how diet and exercise affect your brain

Topic 1: Dementia: What is it and how can it be prevented

Dementia is a common term that we use but it may not be a term your doctor uses. Dementia is a familiar word for changes in your cognitive health that have gotten to be noticeable by you, or those around you. People living with dementia have several problems with certain kinds of cognitive functions like planning, remembering, focusing, following directions, etc. The diseases that can cause symptoms of dementia include:​

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• Alzheimer’s disease​
• Lewy body disease​
• Vascular dementia, usually after stroke​
• Frontotemporal dementia​
• and Parkinson’s disease, among a few other less common diseases.​

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The important thing about dementia regardless of the disease that causes it is that these losses in cognitive ability interfere with your ability to live life the way you want to live. As you can see by looking at the image on your screen, dementias involve changes to the brain. Dementias are not a normal part of aging. They are diseases, just like heart disease, arthritis, and cancer. ​

• Point 2:

Dementia is the umbrella term used to describe several conditions that result in cognitive decline. Of all the diseases we just mentioned that cause symptoms of dementia, Alzheimer's disease is the most common. About 60-80% of all cases of dementia are caused by Alzheimer's disease. Dementia is not limited to one condition at a time. An individual can develop multiple forms of dementia simultaneously, like Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia after a stroke. ​

Let's take a minute and focus more closely on Alzheimer's disease. ​

CARE Center: https://dar.uga.edu/funder/campaigns/support-the-college-of-public-healths-care-center/

• Point 3

Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that usually starts with memory loss, and then progresses to loss of other cognitive functions, like your ability to pay attention and plan. When it comes to Alzheimer’s disease, there is a common misconception that it is just the thing that happens when we age but it’s not. If you are living your life and start to notice changes in your cognitive function and recognize that are not normal, I urge you to talk with your doctor.

Topic 2: Differences between modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors

• Point 1: Now that you know what dementias are, you might wonder who is most likely to get them. Many of you may have a family member who has had dementia, and you might be a little worried about whether you are at risk. ​

As far as we know, anyone can get dementias. You can do all the right things and still get them. That said, we can change our behavior, and change our risk. So, let's talk more about risk. ​

There are two major types of risk factors for dementias: non-modifiable risk factors, or things you can't really change, and modifiable risk factors, or things you can change.

There are multiple known modifiable risk factors including: Diet, Cognitive Novelty

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