Nobody wants to forget all their memories. It is however, unfortunately, the fate of people condemned by Alzheimer’s disease. They gradually forget who their relatives are, then who they are. The brain is no longer able to remember anything, and sick people are quickly totally dependent. It is a fear for millions of people.
Keeping Alzheimer’s Away Through Introspection
This is a recent study, published in Neurology in July, which demonstrates this. Is introspection useful for having better cognitive abilities? In any case, this is what this study, conducted by British, French, Belgian and German researchers, concludes. Two clinical trials and their data led to these conclusions. A total of 259 participants aged between 69 and 73 were tested.
They answered several questions about their lifestyle. Some questions, in particular, are of great importance. Those that question how often they immerse themselves in analyzing and understanding their thoughts and feelings. In other words, the frequency of the introspections they do.
The answers have been compared and the results are final. The people who most often practice introspection are those with the best cognitive abilities. Thus, Dr. Harriet Demnitz-King, co-author of the study, dares to advance in a statement. She indicates that what she call self-reflection can be a ” tool to help people stay cognitively healthy as they age“. Against Alzheimer’s disease, it is a mental exercise which is useful, especially since there is currently no curative treatment..
But how to do it ? It is very simple. Just take a few minutes a day and analyze your thoughts, put words to the feelings that cross us, take hold of us. Am I happy, and if so why? Am I sad? Why did I feel this emotion at this precise moment?
A revolutionary test in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease
As said above, there is no treatment against Alzheimer’s disease. Once the subject is affected, it gradually declines as the disease sets in and develops. The patient just finds himself accompanied and helped as best he can. He is often seized with anxiety, sometimes violent, because he does not understand what is happening to him. Research on the disease continues. Caregivers hope one day to find treatments, methods of care, which make the lives of patients more pleasant. And why not one day find a way to cure this disease?
A recent study has highlighted a major advance in the fight against the disease. According to this study, the presence of the disease in the blood is identified up to 17 years before the first symptoms. Despite the lack of treatment, this is good news for those affected. Indeed, if the diagnosis is established years before the first symptoms, then the management is better and it is possible to to slow down as much as possible the degeneration of neurons.
« We plan to use the test of Wrong folding to establish a screening method for the elderly to determine their risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia“, say the researchers behind this groundbreaking study. Every day, science and medicine evolve. What give hope for a future where Alzheimer’s disease can be treated.
How to support a sick patient?
If we obviously think of people affected by the disease, we also think of the people who accompany these people. Psychologically, it is of course always extremely violent to see a loved one not recognizing us. But before that, the disease is expressed by memory loss. Do not tell the affected person that he should know, that you have already told him. It’s useless. His brain is now unable to remember anything, and his souvenirs start to disappear.
The best thing to do is merely to accompany a sick person. To show him that you are there, that you love him. It is of course extremely hard, but it is the only thing to be done.