September is World Alzheimer’s Month, which is the perfect time to take stock of brain health and to become educated on the signs that something may be amiss, both for the sake of ourselves, and those around us.
Vigilance at all ages
When it comes to Alzheimer's, the degenerative brain disease that leads to dementia, the symptoms can be difficult to notice at first, but over time, a pattern emerges.
“It's the little things that often people complain of — ‘I forget names’ or ‘I make mistakes sometimes while I'm doing the chequebook.’ It's when those [create] a daily impact [that they are concerning signs],” says Rebecca Atkinson, who is with the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba as well as the Winkler Senior Centre.
“[With] early onset dementia, . . . someone might be going to work and maybe they're 55 and they can't remember their coworker’s name, and then they go the next day, and they can't quite remember how to do the tasks they've been doing for a long time.”
Atkinson says that what comes after that is blank spots, confusion, and mistakes that impact daily life. She says that because people tend to associate dementia with older adults, the symptoms are often dismissed.
The power of music
Ideally, deliberate lifestyle choices long before these signs appear will prevent some of them. For Atkinson, it starts with thinking of the brain as an organ that requires maintenance, just like our heart or kidneys.
“The bottom line is [that] exercise is good,” she says. “The other thing that is unique to dementia and brain health is staying educated, like really trying new things, really pushing your boundaries of comfort, and saying, ‘I'm going to learn something.’”
One thing that stimulates the brain and helps with its health is also enjoyable and enriching in other ways — music.
“It [makes] the whole brain alive, and alert, and you might try a new song, try a new style, and then move your body with it, and it's great,” says Atkinson, who notes that music can also have a measurable positive effect on those with Alzheimer’s.
"It's rather miraculous,” she says.
Another way music helps is by boosting mood. Since depression is a major risk factor for dementia, having fun through music can affect health.
For those interested in the healing powers of music for sufferers of Alzheimer’s specifically, Carman Active Living Centre will show a movie on the topic today (September 18th) at 1:30 p.m. in its hall.
Replacing frustration with curiosity
Despite everyone’s best efforts, Alzheimer’s still develops. Atkinson also has advice on how to care for and spend time with loved ones who have the brain disorder.
“It’s about learning, because dementia is vast,” she says. “We talked only about memory challenges as one feature of our signs of dementia, but it affects the vision, it affects judgement, it affects your social abilities to get out and initiate things, and much more.”
Atkinson encourages those caring for loved ones with dementia to keep an “attitude of curiosity” and ask themselves what factors are contributing to their words or actions.
“Learn about all the factors that would be affecting someone's behaviour,” she says. “Try to wonder, because it's really hard to understand them if we don't consider all these factors.”
Although it is important to pose questions to the dementia sufferers themselves, observation is also necessary because sometimes symptoms prevent them from having the answers.
“Sometimes people with dementia can't answer accurately or the way that makes sense to us, and when that happens, [the response can be], ‘okay, this is the disease. Let me keep empathy and understanding that there are challenges and changes in the brain . . . . The more I can learn from the outside and watch and observe [and] be that detective, the more I can give appropriate compassionate care.’”
Community resources
Education and being surrounded by empathetic individuals can go a long way in navigating the care of a loved one with dementia.
Anyone who would like to learn about current Alzheimer’s research trends is invited to the Winkler Senior Centre's live-stream event on Thursday, September 19th. Click here for details.
Additionally, Atkinson says that for those who would like a more comprehensive guide to caring for someone with dementia, the Care4u conference takes place in Winnipeg on October 19th this year. She says the conference is a “one-stop shop for everything you need to know about dementia.”
To stay informed about other events for World Alzheimer's Month, see the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba’s website. After that, listen to a new song, sing along, and help protect your brain for years to come.
~With files from Ty Hildebrand and Jayme Giesbrecht~