Are You at Risk for Alzheimers Disease? Some Risk Factors You May Not Have Known About
Alzheimers charities remain very active, funding dementia research all over the world. This research, coupled with Alzheimers donations, is vital, because approximately once every minute another person is diagnosed with the disease, and the patients are overwhelmingly female. Not only is being a woman a risk factor for the development of Alzheimers, but age can be a factor: most cases are diagnosed after the age of 55.
Some other risk factors for the development of Alzheimers disease include:
- Genetics. Scientists are still working on a cure, but have recently identified genes that contribute to the development of the disease. If a person’s mother, father, sister, or brother developed Alzheimers, the risk tends to be much higher.
- Head Trauma. People who played sports that have a high incidence of head trauma were at higher risk of Alzheimers than people who never had any head injuries. Experts believe that there is a link between head trauma and the disease.
- Heart Health. Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly are all hypothesized to lower the risk of Alzheimers, while chronic heart and/or problems with diabetes seem to raise risk levels.
While there is no cure yet for Alzheimers, keeping an active, busy mind seems to contribute to overall brain health. Scientists theorize that when cells and neurons are allowed to be productive and to build connections over a long period of time, the threat of loss of function is much lower.
A challenging job that requires complex thought, puzzles and games, or even playing music regularly have also long been considered helpful activities in the prevention of Alzheimers disease. As Alzheimers donations increase, so does the hope of eventually finding a cure. Local Alzheimers events and fundraisers can be searched for on the internet.
As dementia research funding continues to grow, scientists are hopeful that a cure may be found in the near future. Alzheimers donations are being used worldwide to look for a cure, and funding for dementia research continues to be a high priority for those affected by the disease.