At our Move for Minds events in June 2018, we featured nearly 50 superstar experts in the fields of brain health and Alzheimer’s who shared their latest research and insights into what we should know about this disease today. Here are the biggest lessons learned from their insights:
1) Hope for a cure is on the horizon, but it’s still a while away. Every Alzheimer’s researcher on our panels confirmed that there are exciting drug and clinical trials underway right now. While no one has yet found a cure, nor been able to pinpoint the exact cause for developing Alzheimer’s, there is reason to believe we are getting closer to understanding the disease. But we’re still talking years, not months.
2) Precision medicine may hold the key to future developments in treatment. Each case of Alzheimer’s is unique and will require individualized treatment.
3) A healthy lifestyle may help delay, and perhaps even prevent, Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Exercise, a healthy plant-based or Mediterranean diet, and meditation are not optional. They are a must if you want to keep your brain healthy, minimize inflammation, and help delay chances for delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
4) Women’s brains are fundamentally different from men’s. One key factor: As women approach and go through menopause, they lose the hormone estrogen, a neural protector. Mounting evidence points to this loss as a major contributor for women’s increased risk for the disease. Hormone replacement therapy may help some women, but it must be administered early in the process of losing estrogen. Every woman should demand that her hormone levels are checked regularly before she enters peri-menopause.
5) Losing control over one’s finances may be one of the first signs of Alzheimer’s or dementia setting in. Monitor your loved ones who might be at risk for Alzheimer’s – and help them get their finances and legal work in order sooner rather than later. Listen to our financial expert Sheila Klehm, a managing director at UBS Wealth Management, talk more about this.