Optimizing Brain Function: Tools for Alzheimer’s

“I never lacked money in my life”, said Ruth. “I also had many suitors. Everywhere I went, I had men turning their heads toward me since I was very beautiful.” Ruthie giggled and a big smile of satisfaction appeared on her beautiful face.

I looked into her green eyes and immediately saw how special she was. Though she was well into her seventh decade, she resembled Sophia Loren. Beautiful brown-skin and green-eyes. Her eyes were enchanting.

Three years have passed since I saw Ruth last, when she came to see me for couples counseling and mediation.

The disagreements between her and her man, to whom she has been married for 50 years, began when a crisis of trust occurred between the two of them and their eldest son, Rick.

“Rick is a good son, he lives on the farm next to us, where he raises his lovely family. One day Rick came to ask his father and me for a loan of $100,000. He wanted to buy a luxurious van in order to travel around the country and around the world. He promised to return the money within one year. We agreed to give him the loan and we asked him to pay back the money because we wanted to buy a house in a retirement home community. A house whose monthly maintenance costs $7,500, apart from the astronomical amount that was asked us of us in order to enter the retirement village. A year has passed. Rick, together with his wife and children, went on trips around the world, and the time has come for him to return the loan. We reminded Rick of the agreement and asked him to pay it back. He said he would make efforts to pay it back as soon as possible. A few more months had passed and Rick kept avoiding our agreement time and time again. All this time, I was asking my husband to put pressure on Rick to return the money. And this rag of a husband only said “Don’t worry, when he has it he’ll give it back.” Ruth’s face expressed deep rage.

“Six months ago I invited Rick for a conversation. This conversation led me to experience severe problems in my health. This kid destroyed me. In his audacity, he said that we gave him the money as a gift…”

Ruth wiped the tears from her eyes and asked if we could have couples counseling sessions with her husband, as there had been a serious breakdown of their relationship since that crisis. She asked me to mediate between them in order to reach the heart of the son who had wreaked havoc on his elderly parents.

I willingly agreed to hold couples counseling sessions for them, and in these meetings, the many difficulties and gaps between the couple arose. Little by little, during the sessions, Ruth’s man learned to look into her pain and to embrace her sorrow. Their relationship got better and better and I was glad to know that they were following my suggestions on how to converse outside the clinic as well. True domestic peace seemed to prevail in the family’s home. Later on, we wrote a mediation agreement that Rick agreed to sign and return the money he had taken from his parents.

Ruth felt that she would finally be able to have her peace of mind. At our last meeting, she expressed her great appreciation for the process we went through and complimented her man on the significant change he had undergone and the improvement of their relationship.

The couple were excited to join their friends who live in the retirement village, when suddenly Ruth began to lose her lucidity. How painful it was when her man informed me that she had begun to sink into the gloom of Alzheimer’s disease.

Ruth had fulfilled her dream of buying a house in the luxurious retirement home community, but was immediately transferred to the nursing home of the community, which takes care of all her needs 24/7. “On the day that Ruth forgot who her children were, we decided to enroll her to the nursing center at the community” said her man sadly.

This story hit me because I am emotionally involved in my patients lives.

My heart goes out to Ruth, who was able to fulfill her dream in the twilight of her life, but did not get to enjoy the new lifestyle she wanted in the new community.

Since then, I have been researching Alzheimer’s disease. I have learned a lot about its formation, and about its prevention.

As someone who came from the world of biology, I was assisted by many studies and the best writing researchers in the field.

The following is a summary of what emerged from the studies:

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative disease of the brain that can occur as early as the age of 50. It damages the cerebral cortex, the parietal lobe, which is part of the large brain and is responsible for our sensory information and orientation in space and the area essential for memory and language. In brain tissue, there is an accumulation of a protein called amyloid and another protein called tau that accumulates in the nerve cells, resulting in the death of nerve cells in the brain.

Blood vessel condition

It is important to maintain a balanced blood pressure, a balance of sugar in the blood, and normal cholesterol indices.

Nutrition

It is recommended to eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, nuts and whole grains and to reduce animal-based diet as much as possible. Studies show that excess protein affects the formation of the disease.

Sleep

Chronic fatigue is one of the causes of Alzheimer’s. Just as the food we eat is the fuel for our body, sleep is the food for our brain. It is necessary to ensure a good, quality and satisfying sleep every day. Children and adults suffer from a great lack of sleep due to the many waking hours, and due to the fact that we have many hours of light, even at night.

We are the world’s first and second generation to use electricity. In the course of human evolution, humans went to sleep at dusk, and woke up with the light of dawn. That is a natural cycle of the right hours of sleep for a person. Today we use artificial light when we illuminate the nights, so the brain does not secrete enough melatonin, it only does so when we turn off the lights before bedtime, which causes our system to get confused and agitated, which causes chronic fatigue.