Alzheimer’s Research, a British charity, has said that the biggest challenge of today’s age is dementia.
Dementia was first defined by a German doctor, Alva Alzheimer, in 1906 after an autopsy of a woman who had largely lost her memory. They found that the woman’s brain had shrunk and defects had developed on and around her nerve cells.
This was in the days when dementia was rare and only a few decades of research had passed. But nowadays, every three seconds someone is diagnosed with dementia. It has become the most deadly disease in some rich countries and there is absolutely no cure for it.
So what is the end of this disease? Why is it spreading so fast? And is there any ray of hope against it?
Are dementia and Alzheimer’s the same?
no. Dementia is a symptom of many mental illnesses.
Memory loss is the most common aspect of dementia, especially difficulty remembering recent events.
Other symptoms include changes in a person’s attitudes, mood and personality, getting lost in familiar places or the correct word during conversation. He doesn’t remember. It even goes to the extent that people are asked to decide whether they want to eat or drink something.
Alzheimer’s is the most common disease that causes dementia. Apart from this, ‘Vascular Dementia’ and ‘Parkinson’ are also included in it.
Is this the greatest health challenge of our time?
There are 50 million people living with dementia worldwide today, but by 2050 this number is expected to reach 130 million.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of deaths from dementia has doubled since 2000 and it is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide. But in some rich countries it is the leading cause of death.
Dementia is listed as the cause of death on one in eight death certificates in England and Wales.
A major difference between dementia and cancer or heart disease is that there is no cure and no way to slow the progression of the disease.
“Dementia is the greatest challenge of our time,” the chief executive of the British charity Alzheimer’s Research told.
According to experts, as the disease progresses, the patient’s needs increase and he needs constant care, and the annual cost of caring for dementia patients is close to one trillion dollars.
Why is this disease becoming so common?
The answer is very simple. We are getting older and the risk of dementia increases with age.
That is why it is being said that dementia is likely to increase rapidly in Asia and Africa. If we think like a philosopher, we might say that dementia is the price we pay for our success in fighting life-threatening infections, cancer and heart attacks.
But there is also an unexpected and promising trend that has surprised many experts. Under this trend, rates of dementia among older people are decreasing in some countries. Some reviews have found that dementia has declined in the UK, Spain and the US, and that the rate of the disease has halted in some countries.
This is largely attributed to improved heart health and education as they benefit the brain.
If I Live Longer Will I Get Dementia?
It is not necessary. There was a time when people believed that dementia was a normal part of aging. But research has made it clear that dementia is caused by the disease. There are many people who live to be over 90 years old and have no signs of dementia.
“I think there are some people who will be fine at 100,” says Tara Spiers-Jones, a professor at the University of Edinburgh.
It seems that we have not been able to understand what is wrong with the brain.
“Unfortunately, we still don’t have a full understanding,” says Professor Spiers-Jones. He said that our information is very lacking.
“We don’t know why neurons die, we don’t know the exact reason why they die.” We don’t know which protein that accumulates in the brain is dangerous, we don’t even know why it accumulates, why it accumulates where it accumulates, why it spreads in the brain.
He said that instead of discussing all types of dementia, our focus is only on Alzheimer’s. Each type of dementia has different characteristics.
Different types of dementia may require different treatments and some patients have ‘mixed dementia’.