Dementia &
Alzheimer’s Disease
A guide to Dementia & Alzheimer’s disease, how red light therapy can help and how to access the treatment
What is dementia?
Dementia is an umbrella term for the decline of the brain’s ability to function normally. Early stages of the brain’s decline is referred to as cognitive impairment, but once someone is unable to care and make decisions for themselves , the diagnosis is then dementia.
The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, but there are other diseases that can lead to dementia. These include strokes, neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease and injuries causing brain damage.
What is Alzheimer’s disease?
Alzheimer’s disease is a slowly progressive brain disease and is the most common cause of dementia. It usually occurs in older people but it is not an inevitable part of ageing.
What causes Alzheimer’s disease?
Proteins that are normally removed by the brain’s rubbish removal system start to congregate inside the brain. These proteins include amyloid, tau, and neurofibrillary tangles. Until recently, it had been assumed that these are toxic on the brain and that getting rid of them would lead to a cure for Alzheimer’s. Despite billions of dollars having been spent on developing and trialling drugs that removed amyloid, the results were poor. It’s been an expensive lesson. The amyloid and other proteins aren’t the problem, it seems to be the body’s reaction to them.
Researchers had earlier wondered whether the trigger for getting Alzheimer’s disease could be something that activated the immune system and caused an inflammatory reaction inside the brain. Called the inflammation hypothesis there is increasing evidence showing that inflammation inside the brain is definitely a big part of the problem.
The most promising area of research is centred on mitochondria, the cell batteries. Mitochondria are little entities living and working inside each of the cells in our body. Mitochondria provide the power for the cell to do its thing. It has been shown that mitochondria stop working properly in Alzheimer’s – if the mitochondria don’t work, the brain cells can’t work because they need the power that the mitochondrial battery provides.
Without effective mitochondria, the brain cannot stop unwanted inflammatory reactions nor can it stop the accumulation of amyloid, tau and neurofibrillary tangles. Boosting the mitochondria in brain cells enables the brain to clean up messes, and stop inflammatory reactions.
What are the symptoms?
The early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease usually involve memory, with people immediately forgetting something that they have just been told. Short-term memory loss is one of the key symptoms. In the early stages, the person with Alzheimer’s can be aware that memory is unreliable, but over time, this awareness fades. As well as memory problems, Alzheimer’s makes it difficult to think, plan and make decisions as the ability to reason is affected. There can be personality changes including mood swings, depression, anxiety, distrust and anger, along with behaviour changes such as wandering and losing inhibitions in social situations.
Long term memory is usually still present, as is the response to music that formed part of the person’s life.
If you find yourself losing the car keys, a doctor will usually tell you that it is fine to lose the car keys, but it is worrying when you forget that you have a car.
Can Alzheimer’s disease be prevented?
The risk of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia can be reduced by the kinds of food we eat and the things that we do.
The Mediterranean diet which is high in fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish and olive oil but low in red meat has been shown to be protective. Reducing the amount of processed food really does help as does regular exercise. Keeping busy, spending time with other people, learning new skills and doing activities that keep you from sitting down too long are all protective.
Recent research has shown that daily use of trans-cranial red and near infrared light provides neuro-protection and thus can help slow down, if not prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The red and near infrared light acts on the brain cell, providing a boost of energy to the mitochondria and kickstarting the brain cell to do what it is supposed to do.