Can We Prevent Alzheimer's Disease?

Scientists disagree on outlook, but there is hope to head off the devastation.

Some researchers say we can’t prevent Alzheimer’s because we don’t know what causes it.  But others disagree.

Considering that by the time you reach 85 years of age, your odds of developing Alzheimer’s Disease are almost one in two, I’m for anything that provides real hope of prevention.

Dr. Arnold Bresky, M.D., (abresky@earthlink.net) who has done extensive work in Southern California with many aging clients with dementia thinks we can do a tremendous amount to minimize our risk of getting this brain-destroying disease.

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Dr. Bresky, self described as a Preventive Gerontologist,  is a creative thinker who loves working with elders.  He has many patients in their 90′s.  He has developed an Alzheimer’s prevention plan, and tells us that there is plenty of science to back it up.  So why isn’t everyone doing this?

“It’s work” says Bresky.  “Lots of people just don’t want to do the work”.  They want a pill, or a doctor, or the government to fix it for them.

He explains that dementia is a chronic inflammatory disease.  As with heart disease, which is also a chronic inflammatory problem, lifestyle is everything.  Dr. Bresky says what we eat has a tremendous preventive effect.  “A Mediterranean diet alone lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease by 40%” he says.  He urges all his patients to eat the way people do in Italy and Greece, where studies were done on why these populations had the lowest risk of heart disease.  A diet high in fruits and vegetables, with plenty of fish, nuts and other sources of mono-unsaturated fats and low in meats is part of the strategy he recommends.

The other parts of his plan include listening to music 30 minutes daily, as music heals.  “The brain works through numbers and patterns”, he says.  Listening to Mozart’s piano concerto stimulates the brain in a particular way that has a specific effect we want.  He suggests that Mozart  is the best kind of music for prevention of Alzheimer’s, as compared with other types of music.

As most doctors tell us, we also need to find good stress reduction techniques.  “I teach people how to meditate or pray”, says Bresky.  It works.  Chronic stress is damaging, and “depression kills brain cells”.

Walking is also essential to this prevention effort.  Walking just four hours a week reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s by 30%, he says.  Along with these things, his plan includes laughter, 9-10 hearty laughs a day.  It requires drinking plenty of water, good quality sleep, and the novel idea that health measures include doing a simple or small act of kindness for another person every day.
Other essentials include adequate hydration, and good quality sleep.  Sleep is enhanced by doing all the other parts of the program, even for people with insomnia.

He says people won’t do this sort of program on their own. They definitely need a coach to teach them.  He sees patients on his program once a week.  They have to be accountable to him on a written report and check off the requirements, He reviews it with them.  Support and encouragement make a great difference in how well people comply with all the steps.

He has done small studies proving the positive effects of the program, but has not yet found funding to expand the research to a large, double-blind study.  He is seeing enough successes to believe wholeheartedly that we can do a great deal to ward off the onslaught of this frightening disease.

The work I do involves advising families who are struggling with aging issues, particularly the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease.  I see that for their parents, it’s too late to prevent dementia, but it’s not too late for us.  What makes sense about Dr. Bresky’s thinking on this is that the healthy lifestyle he wants his patients to follow is one we all need to follow for lots of reasons.  Weight reduction, healthy hearts, longer life all sound good.  Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease is one more benefit of doing what’s good for us anyway.