Aging and Dementia

There has been a big shift change in how medicine deals with some of our biggest health woes these days. The shift I am blogging about is from cure to prevention or from cure to management. The big health woes I’m talking about are cancer, diabetes, HIV, obesity, and addiction. Now from an anthropological point of view we can add late onset dementia. The progression of the rare, early onset form of Alzheimer’s and the amyloid cascade hypothesis are well documented despite the hypothesis’ age (20 years old). Researchers are not so sure that it applies to late onset dementia. It seems more likely that dementia (after age 75) is part of the unavoidable process of aging and when compounded by cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes we may be better off considering it in a preventative light rather than by trying to find a drug or cure for it. The anthropological view recognizes that becoming demented is a lifelong process. (That should explain my husband’s behavior-inside joke, in case he reads this.) Becoming demented is an accumulation of environment and behavior affecting our biology. So an aging brain is part and parcel of the rest of our aging bodies, and as a care giver for elderly parents I definitely know that some parts tire out quicker than others. Hence the shift to education and preventative measures, if you’re waiting till dementia’s onset you’re starting too late. The time to stop taking your health for granted is today.