Written by Blythe Winchester, MD, MPH, CMD, AGSF
November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, and this month serves to bring awareness to a disease that affects more than 6 million people in this country. Dementia is a group of symptoms that happens when people have trouble with memory- this can range from misplacing items to forgetting how to pay bills or pick up grandchildren. Alzheimer’s Disease is a type of dementia, and the most common, but there are many other types too.
This month also highlights the more than 12 million care partners and caregivers for those who live with the disease. We need to support those who are doing this in our community- studies show that serving as a care partner can increase several health risks, so helping them to have time to care for themselves is very important.
One study of a cohort of tribes in this country showed that over half of elders in the age group of 70-95 had some kind of memory issues from a mild impairment to dementia. Age is still the greatest risk factor for dementia, but there are also risk factors that can be addressed to reduce your risk of developing memory issues.
If you have hearing or vision problems, treating those can reduce risk. Other things that can help are controlling your blood pressure, cholesterol, and not smoking or drinking alcohol. If you have diabetes, controlling your sugar can also help prevent dementia.
Staying active both physically and socially, and challenging your brain are great risk reducers. I frequently encourage people to try to learn a new skill- it is never too late and your brain always loves to learn new things. Working on learning and using the Cherokee language is an excellent way for us to work our brains and lower dementia risk.
We are fortunate in that our community and health system have resources to help with addressing many of those risk factors. In addition to the hospital and tribal programs, we have community events, a senior center, a wellness center, art and language classes, and many ways to help all of the EBCI keep our brains as healthy as possible.