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HOW ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

IMPACTS LIFESTYLE

How Alzheimer’s Disease impacts lifestyle

Abubakr Saidi

Fayetteville Tech Community College

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Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive form of dementia. Dementia is a broader term for

conditions caused by brain injuries or diseases that negatively affect memory, thinking, and

behavior. These changes interfere with patients' lifestyles. Most dementia cases are related to

alzheimer's disease. Although genes play a part, anyone can get the disease. Most people with the

disease get a diagnosis after age 65. If it’s diagnosed before then, known as early onset

Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer's disease became a major public policy issue in the 2000s. It

slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest

tasks. This disease usually becomes worse with time. There’s no cure for Alzheimer’s but

treatment can help slow the progression of the disease and improve the quality of life.

Alzheimer’s disease is thought to begin 20 years or more before the individual notices the

symptoms. Symptoms come in many ways but the most common ones are memory loss,

difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, and confusion with time or place. The article thats

tied into this blog focuses on the challenges that people with Alzheimer’s disease face on a day

to day basis. Researchers interviewed over 20 Alzheimer's disease patients in order to draw a

pattern and find similarities in the lifestyles that are influenced by the disease. Many of the

individuals involved in the interviews gave up daily activities since they could no longer practice

them, and some of those activities had been forbidden to them. Participants reported that its

difficult to go from place to place as it becomes harder to remember which roads, trains or streets

to take. Participants also mentioned the growing difficulties alzheimers bring in with growing

age, as it impacts the individuals efficiency in running errands or visiting family members.

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Alzheimer's is not a normal part of aging but it gives reason to think about the role of age

in the aging process, rather than questioning age itself, but the fact of facing difficulties that are

likely to appear with advancing age. There's a good chance that obtaining this knowledge about

alzheimer disease may be beneficial in the near future. This knowledge can be used to spread

awareness of Alzheimer disease and alert the families of patients of the probability of more cases

within that family may need to be treated before symptoms occur.

Reference

CARADEC, V., & CHAMAHIAN, A. (2017). The épreuve of ageing with alzheimer's
disease. Ageing and Society, 37(5), 935-960.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X16000167