Aging Brain

Proven Steps to Prevent Dementia and Sharpen Your Mind

Timothy R. Jennings

• Publisher: Baker Books
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781493409440
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

While growing older is inevitable, many of the troubles we associate with aging--including dementia, disability, and an increased dependence on others--are not. The choices we make now can help us to maintain our vitality, a sharp mind, and our independence as we age.Filled with simple, everyday actions we can take to avoid disease, promote vitality, and prevent dementia and late onset Alzheimer's, The Aging Brain is an easy-to-use guide to maintaining brain and body health throughout our lives. Based on solid, up-to-date scientific research, the interventions explained in this book not only prevent progression toward dementia even in those who have already shown mild cognitive impairment, they also reduce disability and depression and keep people living independently longer than those who do not practice these methods.For anyone hoping to slow the aging process, as well as anyone who acts as a caregiver to someone at risk of or already beginning to suffer from dementia and other age-related diseases, this book offers a hopeful, healthy way forward.

Part 1: History and Aging

1
The Problem of Aging

We All Do It

And yet the wiser mind

Mourns less for what age takes away

Than what it leaves behind.

William Wordsworth, “The Fountain, a Conversation,” in Lyrical Ballads, 1800

It was painful to watch, agonizing really. Anger, frustration, helplessness, mixed with sadness, heartache, loss—and of course denial, this can’t be happening. But sadly it was.

The features were the same—blue eyes, teeth yellowed from years of use—but her historically warm and friendly smile wasn’t warm, wasn’t friendly, not anymore. Like so much of her, it was empty, just a shell—she was a wasting, shriveling, slowly decaying shell.

“Hello, Mom,” was met with a confused look. Her formerly thick brunette hair, always kept, was now thinning, snow white, and disheveled. How could this be happening? Alzheimer’s disease—the name given to this destroyer of worlds, the thief that neuron by neuron slowly steals life away. Like a picture slowly fading, like the last beams of sunlight growing ever dimmer, this insidious disease robs a person not only of ability but also of their very selves.

In the twenty-first century Alzheimer’s disease is perhaps the most frightening diagnosis a person can receive. But it has not always been this way. In fact, dementias like Alzheimer’s are a relatively new problem for humanity. Just fifty years ago cancer was the most dreaded diagnosis for many. While cancer remains a terrible problem, for those over fifty the threat of losing oneself as the brain slowly deteriorates is even more terrifying. The rise of dementias as a problem in human history is a result of ever improving health care and the fact that people are living longer. Prior to the last one hundred years few lived long enough to develop dementia.

Throughout history there have always been health scares, but dementia wasn’t one of them. During the fourteenth century the Black Death (bubonic plague) swept across Europe, killing one-third of the population. People lived in terror of contracting this mysterious disease. No one understood the cause, let alone how to treat it. Religious leaders proclaimed the ghastly destruction was the wrath of an offended god. Yet it was merely a bacterial infection (Yersinia pestis) carried by fleas. Today the disease occurs infrequently, and if antibiotics are given, it rarely results in death.

The greatest killers throughout most of human history have been infections—from either disease or wounds. Prior to modern antibiotics and sanitation, life expectancy was short. Before the twentieth century, essentially every family lost children in death. Before 1900 only 39 percent of men and 43 percent of women lived to be sixty-five years of age, but by 1997, 77 percent of men and 86 percent of women lived to the age of sixty-five.1

At the turn of the twentieth century (1900), the top three causes of death, accounting for 30 percent of all deaths, were from infections: pneumonia and influenza, tuberculosis, and gastrointestinal infections (diarrhea and enteritis). But by 1990, with the advent of water treatment, food inspections, antibiotics, modern dentistry, and childhood vaccinations, this had markedly changed. No longer were large segments of the populace dying from infections. By 1990 the top three killers, accounting for 60 percent of all deaths, were heart disease, cancer, and stroke.2

Today’s top killers are as follows:

• Cardiovascular disease—28.2 percent
• Cancer—22.2 percent
• Stroke—6.6 percent
• Chronic lung disease—6.2 percent
• Alzheimer’s disease—4.2 percent
• Diabetes—2.9 percent
• Flu and pneumonia—2.6 percent
• Accidental injury—2.2 percent

Strikingly, the top five causes of death are all a result of people living longer—they are no longer dying at a young age from infections. America as a populous is aging, and with an aging population comes increased numbers of age-related diseases. In 1950 there were twelve million people over the age of sixty-five accounting for 8 percent of the population. By 2002 this increased to 12 percent or thirty-six million people. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), by 2030 there will be seventy-one million people in the United States over the age of sixty-five.

The number of very old, those over eighty-five, is also increasing. From 1950 to 2002 there has been an eightfold increase in the number of people ages eighty-five and older. It is projected that by 2020 there will be seven million people over the age of eighty-five, and by 2040 that number will double to fourteen million.3

For the young the idea of living longer is all about length of years, but as we grow older the quality of life begins to overshadow mere age. This is evidenced by the growing right-to-die trend—the principle that individuals have the right to end their lives, usually because their quality of life has become so poor it is tantamount to sustained torture. In the United States, three state legislatures (Oregon, Washington, and Vermont) have passed laws permitting physician-assisted suicide, and in 2009 Montana’s Supreme Court ruled physician-assisted suicide legal. In California in 2015 the governor signed a physician-assisted suicide law into effect during a special session of the legislature after the law failed to pass in regular session. Its full implementation is pending at the time of the writing of this book.

Pain, suffering, and disability undermine quality of life and must be considered in any discussion of aging. In 2011 there were more than 40 million people ages sixty-five and older in the United States, and more than 14.5 million (36.6 percent) of them suffered with some type of disability. More than 9 million (23.6 percent) had impairments in their ability to walk, nearly 6.5 million (16.2 percent) could not live independently, more than 6 million (15 percent) had impaired hearing, nearly 3.8 million (9.4 percent) were disabled due to cognitive impairment, more than 3.5 million (8.9 percent) could no longer provide basic self-care, and more than 2.6 million (6.8 percent) were visually disabled.4

People don’t simply want to live longer; they want to live better—healthier, happier, and fuller lives. The greater question today is not how do we live longer but how do we live better—how do we retain our vitality, health, independence, and autonomy? How do we slow the ravages of time?

The good news is not only can we live longer but we can also live better, healthier, and more vibrant lives. By making the right choices we can maintain our independence, vitality, and most importantly our mental acuity. Dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease are not inevitable. Disability is not predestined. Yes, we can live longer, and we can live better!

In this book we will explore aging. I’ll differentiate normal aging from pathological aging. I will identify activities that accelerate aging and increase the risk of both physical disability and dementia, but I’ll also provide specific actions a person can take to slow the aging process and protect our brains and bodies from deterioration in order to maintain our independence, autonomy, and abilities as we age. At the end of each chapter will be lists of learning points or action steps or both for you to implement that are designed to reduce your risk of dementia. Because of individual differences from person to person, not every intervention is applicable to every person. For instance, a person with nut allergies would not benefit from adding nuts to their diet whereas those without the allergy would. Select those elements from the action steps that are applicable to your life and build an action plan that will improve your vitality and brain health and keep your mind sharp.

Science and medicine have reduced the risk of dying young; now it is up to us to decide how we will age. Will we make purposeful choices to maximize health and maintain our abilities?

My wish for you is that you will use the information in this book not only to live longer but also to live more vibrantly with each passing year!

LEARNING POINTS

1. Modern science has reduced the risk of dying young.
2. Dementia is a problem of living longer.
3. We can make choices to reduce the risk of dementia even while living longer.

2
Developing a Healthy Brain

It Needs a Healthy Body

A comfortable old age is the reward of a well-spent youth. Instead of its bringing sad and melancholy prospects of decay, it should give us hopes of eternal youth in a better world.

Ray Palmer (1808–87), American clergyman and poet

When we talk about aging, what do we mean? Are we speaking merely of chronologically growing older or do we mean something else? While a common dictionary definition of aging is the length of time something or someone lives or exists, in this book when we speak of aging we are not referring merely to the number of years one lives but also to the slow decline in vitality, health, and ability that occurs as we age. Most people would be thrilled to live eternally if they knew they would retain their health, vitality, strength, and abilities. Aging in the context of this book refers to functional aging—the slow decline in vitality and ability.

While time passes at a constant rate for every person, not every person ages at the same rate. Life experiences and the choices we make affect our passage through time and can slow or accelerate our aging—the gradual loss of vitality and ability.

In this book we will identify multiple factors that accelerate aging—and interventions we can take to slow it down. While we will discover there are many factors involved, this does not need to be overwhelming. Consider for a moment those factors that contribute to your car either breaking down or being disabled by an accident. These factors are analogous to what can happen in our bodies.

• Poor construction (e.g., ignition switch problems that contribute to accidents1)—genetic or epigenetic vulnerabilities to aging
• Poor condition—lack of exercise or failure to maintain healthy nutrition
• Defective or worn-out brakes—impaired ability to calm down or slow down
• Bald tires—overly emotional individuals who are not grounded in reality or who easily slip and slide as the emotional weather changes
• Distractions (e.g., texting, changing the radio station, other people in the vehicle)—caught up in entertainment or alcohol and drug addictions such that one doesn’t attend to one’s health
• Poor visibility—lack of education, insight, or understanding
• Wet, snowy, or icy conditions—toxins, pollution, and industrial exposures that accelerate aging
• Purposeful sabotage—physical and emotional abuse, war, and crime
• Sleeping at the wheel—failure to listen and learn; ignoring healthy guidance when presented

Just as each factor above contributes to the risk of your car breaking down or being wrecked, so too each of the corresponding bodily factors contributes to our risk of disability as we age. Addressing one or more of the factors related to our cars does not guarantee we will avoid a breakdown or accident, nor does having one or more of these problems make accidents or breakdowns a certainty. However, the more of these problems that exist simultaneously, the greater is the likelihood that an accident or breakdown will occur. Every factor that we address reduces risk. Likewise, when it comes to aging we will explore many factors that accelerate aging. The more of these factors we address, the more vitality we retain and the greater we are able to slow the aging process and reduce our risk of dementia.

A Healthy Brain Requires a Healthy Body

The first principle to maintaining a youthful brain is to maintain a healthy body. Why is it important to maintain physical health if one wants a healthy brain? Because the primary purpose of every organ system of the body is to serve the brain: the lungs breathe and the heart beats in order to provide oxygen and nutrients to the brain. The legs move the brain from place to place while the arms allow the brain to interact with the world. The primary function of our eyes and ears is to provide data input to the brain.

The gastrointestinal (GI) system absorbs nutrients to provide energy and raw materials for the operation of the entire body but especially for the brain. While the brain weighs only three pounds, which is about 1–2 percent of the body weight, it utilizes 20 percent of the body’s energy. The GI system also protects the brain from potential toxins. Whatever we eat and drink is absorbed into the blood. But before the blood carries what has been ingested to the brain it first passes through the liver. This is so the liver can identify and neutralize any toxins and poisons to prevent them from impairing or damaging the brain. For instance, the liver has enzymes that detoxify alcohol. In order to get intoxicated, a person has to drink enough alcohol to overwhelm the liver’s ability to detoxify it. Ingesting small amounts of alcohol w...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Endorsements
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1: History and Aging
• Part 2: Oxidative Stress and Aging
• Part 3: Lifestyle and Aging
• Part 4: Pathological Aging
• Addendum Dr. Jennings’s Smoking-Cessation Strategy
• Notes
• About the Author
• Back Ads
• Back Cover