Boomers and the Alzheimer's Crisis

Part One:? The Alzheimer’s Crisis

In 2015, I started the My Boomer Brain blog.? One of my very first blogs was about the Elephant in the Room – Alzheimer’s disease.? Alzheimer’s and other dementias were my focus of study while I was getting my master’s degree in gerontology.? For the ten years before my going back to school, I had worked with physical and occupational therapists who were addressing the physical disabilities of later-stage Alzheimer’s.? The landscape of care was so different then and I was appalled at what I saw.? The behaviors and physical demands of those with late-stage Alzheimer’s and dementia were difficult for caregivers.? In the 1990’s there were no memory care units; they were lock-down units

When I wrote that blog, I was trying to get the point across that Alzheimer’s was already a catastrophic problem.? The numbers were growing every day, there was no viable cure or treatment, and the financial cost of care was already skyrocketing.? When I attended national conferences, we professionals in the field, all knew there was an overwhelming problem headed our way.? At that time, we talked about Alzheimer’s as the elephant in the room.? We all knew what was happening but there was no action taking place to prepare for what was to come. Now the elephant has walked all over us and stomped out of the room.?

The 2024 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures detailed the latest statistics and information about the state of Alzheimer’s in 2024 and the projections for 2050.? It is estimated that there are 7 million Americans with Alzheimer’s this year.? The cost of care is 360 billion dollars!

The projections for the disease in 2050 are out of this world!? It is estimated that 13 million people will have Alzheimer’s in 2050.? That is nearly twice the number of Americans who have the disease this year.? The costs of Alzheimer’s and other dementias will skyrocket over the next 25 years.? In 2050 it will cost the nation a whopping 1 trillion dollars to care for those with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias!

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to explain these astronomical numbers.? The boomers are now passing the age of 70 to the tune of 10,000 per day!? Age is a nonmodifiable risk factor for dementia.? The older you get, the higher your risk of getting the disease.? Longevity also plays a role in this crisis.? There is still no pill or secret sauce that will cure Alzheimer’s.? The cost of care increases exponentially the longer someone lives with the disease.?? There are approximately 76 million boomers alive in the United States today.? This is a numbers game now and the results are frightening.

This crisis hasn’t gone unnoticed.? Fundraising for research, education, and caregiving is a priority for the Alzheimer’s Association.? Last year they were able to raise 100 million dollars.? They are actively working with legislators in Washington to receive increased funding for research, and their efforts are paying off!? However, is this still too little, too late for the boomers?

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Part Two: Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease

Brain aging and brain health were gaining attention in the mid-2000s.? I was starting to experience some brain glitches during that time, and it scared me!? At a conference on aging in 2006, I visited a booth by Posit Science.? They had research to support that you could stop brain aging losses by living a brain-healthy lifestyle.? The conference started me on a multiyear quest to learn everything I could about brain aging and brain health.? Throughout those years we never said that a brain-healthy lifestyle could prevent Alzheimer’s and dementia.? But I thought I had found the fountain of youth.? There was something I could do to create an ageless brain!? What I was learning convinced me that we could maintain a high-functioning brain until the day we died.? Even though we couldn’t say that this lifestyle could prevent Alzheimer’s, we could say that it could delay the onset.? ?

I believed boomers would be as excited about this discovery as I was.? To my surprise, no one took me seriously.? At the time it seemed like the people I talked to didn’t believe they would ever get dementia!?? So, I started the My Boomer Brain blog and created my education platform about what was happening to our boomer brains and what we could do to reverse these changes.? Besides the blogs, I developed programs to teach anyone who would listen what brain aging losses did to older brains and delivered presentations on the brain-healthy lifestyle.? The problem at that time was that the research hadn’t captured definitive results that lifestyle was largely responsible for developing dementia.? The connection wasn’t there yet.?

I presented brain aging and brain health to a lot of groups over the years.? The urgency to adopt the information just wasn’t there.? However, over the past few years, brain aging, and brain health have become very hot topics.? There is good research to support the value of living a brain-healthy lifestyle and hopefully prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s and other dementias.? On 04/08/2024 an article ran in the Wall Street Journal: “What Middle-Aged People Can Do Now to Help Prevent Dementia Later.”? This article is streaming on several different news services.? I am very excited that the information is being directed toward 40 and 50-year-olds because that is the best time to recover brain losses and incorporate continual practices to increase brain volume.?

Boomers have been left out of this scenario.? If you remember in Part One – the boomers will be the primary reason that the incidence and prevalence of Alzheimer’s will double by 2050 because of the sheer size of the group.? The brain-healthy lifestyle is a viable solution for delaying or preventing Alzheimer’s disease.? Our brain doesn’t know how old we are, it ages by the lifestyle that we live.? We can change our brains no matter what our chronological age is.? There are greater losses to recover when we are older, but living this lifestyle will improve our physical health, mental health and build cognitive reserve.? It is never too late to change your brain.? Instead of writing off the boomers as the reason for a healthcare crisis, more attention must be directed toward educating and helping them to create a brain for the ages.?

In recognition of this, I have written a book. ‘The Boomer Brain’ starts with the science of how we can change our brain; examples of real boomers recovering from brain events; the PLAN to live a brain-healthy lifestyle; and ways to get you started without upending your life.? We don’t need to become a statistic for Alzheimer’s.

#Alzheimers #boomers #brainhealth #aging #Alzheimersprevention #lifestyle

#TheBoomerBrain #healthcare #brain

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The release of The Boomer Brain on Amazon is very close. Feel free to message me or send me your email if you want the first notification of the release date.

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