New to forum - geriatric nurse
Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 8:51 am
Hello everyone! My name's Alexis and I'm a geriatric nurse living in North Carolina.
My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when I was a young girl, perhaps eight or nine, and I saw how badly it affected my family - especially my mom. A few years later I learned that it actually runs in the family and that's why my mom was constantly dieting, exercising, taking supplements, meditating, etc.
This got me really interested in psychology and neurobiology, which led to me majoring in those. After a few years as a research assistant I decided to go back to school for nursing. Currently, I'm a geriatric nurse who works with Alzheimer's/dementia patients.
Of all the patients I have, there are only two behaviors that actually seem to slow the progression of Alzheimer's, as far as I can tell.
1) Staying mentally active
2) Staying socially active
Diet and exercise certainly play a role, but there's strong evidence that even after the gene activation of Alzheimer's, staying mentally and socially active can stop any symptoms from expressing (nun study). It may be that keeping physically healthy lowers your risk of Alzheimer's or perhaps slows the process, but keeping your mind sharp is the only way to stall its progression after a diagnosis.
I don't know if that's valuable for any of you to hear, but I hope it's useful.
My grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when I was a young girl, perhaps eight or nine, and I saw how badly it affected my family - especially my mom. A few years later I learned that it actually runs in the family and that's why my mom was constantly dieting, exercising, taking supplements, meditating, etc.
This got me really interested in psychology and neurobiology, which led to me majoring in those. After a few years as a research assistant I decided to go back to school for nursing. Currently, I'm a geriatric nurse who works with Alzheimer's/dementia patients.
Of all the patients I have, there are only two behaviors that actually seem to slow the progression of Alzheimer's, as far as I can tell.
1) Staying mentally active
2) Staying socially active
Diet and exercise certainly play a role, but there's strong evidence that even after the gene activation of Alzheimer's, staying mentally and socially active can stop any symptoms from expressing (nun study). It may be that keeping physically healthy lowers your risk of Alzheimer's or perhaps slows the process, but keeping your mind sharp is the only way to stall its progression after a diagnosis.
I don't know if that's valuable for any of you to hear, but I hope it's useful.