Dementia and Alzheimer’s - Mental health By Fatima Mane Sano

Dementia and Alzheimer’s - Mental health

As an individual who has been unfortunate enough to see the immediate impact that this degenerative plague has on family members, and the victim of Dementia or Alzheimer’s, I can safely say that mental health is something about the disease that needs to be recognised further, it is so easy to focus on the disease and try numerous preventive methods and trials to prevent further degeneration, but if you were to put yourself in the position of constantly feeling as though faces, names, places that all used to be so familiar turn foreign. I feel as though most people have encountered a moment where they go up the stairs, perhaps to grab a pair of keys, and once you enter the room, you forget why you even came in the first place, and then you proceed downstairs, only to later realise that you needed to grab your keys, it had no detrimental impact on your quality of life, just need to have another trip up the stairs - do not worry, this is not an indicative sign of having dementia or Alzheimer’s, all perfectly normal - but when similar scenarios begin to happen extremely frequently, and severe to an extent where it begins to interfere with your daily life, it may be diagnosed as dementia.

There are many different, like, assumptions made about dementia, like it’s not necessarily a specific disease. It has, like, a broad range of things that affect people, with, for example, general troubles could be like reasoning, judgement, memory, like some people may have a bit of difficulty with speech and writing, some people might struggle more with recognition, perhaps with their surroundings, surroundings that are familiar to them, in extreme cases this could even be their home, and struggling to remember the journey, or episodes of distraught and perplexion as they have no recollection of where they are. Additionally, dementia can influence someone’s life to a point where simple tasks that people conduct every single day begin to be difficult. For example, let’s say you need to change clothes every morning, or brush your teeth, or take a shower, it can have that large of a grasp on your life where you’re simply unable to perform these tasks independently, and it’s dehumanising and really hurtful to see as a family member or someone who is close to the person, cause you start to see other diseases begin to consume their character, and it feels like the person you used to hold so dear is a mere shell of their entire persona. What is so upsetting, it’s just how the person isn’t actually aware that they are experiencing any sort of cognitive deficiency, so they are just simply unaware of what’s happening. It is extremely common within the elderly of about age 65 or higher, but it’s not a common symptom of ageing. Someone who was a literal embodiment of strength, a pillar that time could not erode when memory did. She was so strong, and even though I did not get the blessing of knowing her, my grandmother (Fatima D - I was named after her), became a testament to how illness can quietly steal pieces of a person, leaving a family to gather the fragments of memory and love that remain. My grandmother’s battle with Alzheimer’s was a profound reminder of how mental decline affects not just the individual, but the emotional well-being of everyone around them. I remember when my mother said she went to visit her, and her mother did not even recognise her, these periods of non-recognition are very demoralising for both the family and the victim of the disease, because the victim would feel distraught and potentially threatened, and the upset family member could potentially feel frustrated and try to have a ‘pushy attitude’ towards trying to stimulate their recollection, or simply feel very upset, justifyingly, as someone’s mother, aunt, sister, brother, uncle, grandfather, etc. perceives you as another foreign figure and memories lost. Through her, I saw how a mind’s slow unravelling can tug at the threads of an entire family, showing how mental health weaves us together, and there is a disregard to the emotional resilience that coping with the disease demands.

Now we have mentioned the symptoms of dementia, and how living with the disease is like, what I have failed to mention up to now would be how Alzheimer’s and Dementia are intertwined. Alright, so Alzheimer’s is a type of Dementia (60-80% of all dementia cases are Alzheimer’s), statistically speaking it affects approximately 7.2 million people in the US as of 2025, and in the UK in 2024, approximately 982,000 individuals were living with dementia - REMEMBER Alzheimer’s accounted for 60-80% of all these cases - there are projections indicating that this number will rise up to 1.4 million in the UK by 2040, and in the US, the numbers are predicted to double by 2050, to about 13 million sufferers of the disease. Do not worry, towards the end of this, I will inform you of ways to prevent obtaining a degenerative or neurodegenerative disease. I will now explain what Alzheimer’s is, and how it is linked to a key word I mentioned, neurodegenerative. So, Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease, neuro meaning it refers to the nerves of the nervous system or the brain, and then degenerative means deterioration or decline, so with Alzheimer’s disease, there is a deteriorating of the neurons in the brain, and the brain houses approximately 100 billion nerve cells, and they then communicate using 100 trillion connections, and this is what controls every other organ and function in your body, not to mention your cognitive function and thinking abilities. Alzheimer’s targets solely just the neurons, and depending on which ones are targeted, it affects different parts of the brain. Due to this loss of nerve cells, there is a reduction of brain tissue, and it begins to shrink.

Very differently from Dementia, in Alzheimer’s disease, the mind begins to unravel from within. Torn tau proteins twist into tangles inside neurons, dampening the very pathways that once carried thought and memory. Between these fragile cells, sticky clumps, known as plaques, build up, blocking the flow of electrical impulses that allow communication. Over time, these tangles and plaques create a silent storm in the brain, isolating memories and slowly dimming the person who once was, reducing them to a shell of their previous persona.

Below, I will attach a small insight on the science behind the disease that I had learned from the following sources -

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350447?utm_sourcehttps://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/wp-

content/uploads/2023/12/Dementia-in-Detail-Dec23-web.pdf?utm_sourcehttps://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/15/6/824?utm_sourcehttps://www.dementiasplatform.uk/news-and-media/blog/amyloid-and-tau-the-proteins-involved-in-dementia?utm_source

ADVICE

As you saw previously, the number of sufferers are indicative to continue to rise radically, so as a means of prevention, I have listed some advice:

To help reduce the risk of developing degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's or dementia, consider the following strategies:

1. Stay Mentally Active: Engage in activities that challenge your brain, such as puzzles, reading, learning new skills, or playing strategic games.

2. Exercise Regularly: Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week, to promote good blood flow to the brain.

3. Maintain a Healthy Diet: A Mediterranean-style diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats, may support brain health.

4. Get Quality Sleep: Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night, as poor sleep can increase the risk of cognitive decline.

5. Manage Cardiovascular Health: Control blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels, to reduce risks associated with vascular dementia.

6. Stay Socially Engaged: Regular social interaction helps maintain cognitive functions.

7. Avoid Smoking and Limit Alcohol: Both can negatively affect brain health.

8. Protect Your Head: Wear helmets when appropriate, and take precautions to prevent falls.

9. Manage Stress: Chronic stress can impact memory, practice mindfulness, meditation, or other relaxation techniques.

10. Regular Health Check-ups: Early detection and management of health conditions can help prevent complications affecting the brain.

While these steps can reduce risk, they cannot eliminate it entirely. Consult with a healthcare professional for personalised advice.

Thank you so much for reading!!!💗💗💗By Fatima Mane Sano

Email - sanofatimamane@gmail.com