welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Friday, July 22, 2022

alzheimers news-there are 12 things to do to lower risk by 41%

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-THERE ARE 12 THINGS TO DO TO LOWER RISK BY 41%

one of the sources of alzheimers news i receive regularly is alzforum
this week they reviewed an article from the july 6 jama 

similar findings in the article has been duplicated by several other studies

they looked at 12 modifiable things a person could do in middle age to lower their alzheimers risk by 41%
that is much better than any drug thats being tested now even my drug biogens aduhelm or aducanumab or any of those that will be on the market in the next 5 years

all these things below are available to all of you now to control yourselves

they are
obesity
hypertension
lack of physical activity
smoking 
excessive alcohol intake
diabetes
depression
traumatic brain injury
hearing loss
fewer years of education
social isolation
air pollution

many of you go in for a physical and many of these things are addressed now
one thats missing is high cholesterol it seems it should be on there also
its also easily treated with diet and medication

i dont understand the hearing loss one

the thinking behind the fewer years of education is that when you go to school a long time like i did or my rainwater brother or my historian brother you build up a lot of extra brain cells over time because your education and your job overworks your brain

the trifecta i call controlling hypertension diabetes cholesterol are important
these two are tied into physical activity and obesity

the air pollution one many folks cant do anything about since they may live in an area or city that stays polluted
i guess if you wanted to be complete and control all dozen of these you could move to a less polluted area
the only time i have lived in a heavily polluted area is when i spent 2 years in california in college in a town where in the summer the buildings a few blocks away were fuzzy from all the smog
i have hypertension but its now controlled without meds mainly because ive lost weight and i no longer drink alcohol or caffeinated coffee
i have never been obese
i have always been active
i have never drank alcohol heavily in fact i havent drank anything in over 2 years
i quit smoking in my early 20s
i have never been depressed
i have never been socially isolated
i have had at least 3 concussions in my lifetime
i have 12 years of education and 4 years of college and 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency
i am not a diabetic my blood glucose is always normal

these 12 things above i more aggressively started to control around the time i turned 40
thats probably why i am doing as well as i am now in regards to my memory
its also probably why i havent died from a heart attack or stroke by now

take a close look at these things now especially if you are middle age
doing so may allow you to see your grandkids grow up and if you are lucky your great grandkids
plus
if you do you will be able to remember them growing up also

i am glad i made the changes i did 32 years ago
i am benefiting from those decisions today

i am sure my alzheimers disease would have progressed much farther along than it is now

41% is a large number when it comes to alzheimers disease

ill call these the dirty dozen

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