Dementia

I was speaking to a group of elders interested in end-of-life issues, some of whom are caretakers for people with dementia. They were interested in Alzheimer’s reversal, generally speaking, for some of their clients. After a few general questions, Nan turned to me and said she wanted to get practical, "Given that this is an epidemic we’re all facing, what can we do to avoid dementia?"

I would recommend the following steps to everyone, not only likely to prevent Alzheimer’s but to improve your health in almost every other way. For each step, I’ll give a “what to do” and then in italics, the “how” to accomplish that step.

How is your brain rejuvenation program going? In the first article here, I described the basic lifestyle habits associated with improved and maintained brain function. Specifically, let’s talk about each step and where to go from here.

Anti-inflammatory diet. Have you been eating real food? Did you go grain-free or gluten-free? Once you have been eating 100% gluten free for 6 weeks, you have the opportunity to test yourself to find out if gluten is inflammatory for you. After 6 weeks truly gluten free, eat a lot of it: have some at each meal for 2-3 days. If you feel absolutely fine (not just your belly, but your skin, brain, bowels, sleep and mood), it may not be inflammatory specifically for you (good news). However, gluten still increases intestinal permeability so it’s smart for everyone to limit it to some degree (bad news?)

Eating window 12 hours or less. How is this one working for you? Which 12 hours are best? I would prefer to eat dinner a little earlier than I do, so I delay breakfast to keep my eating window from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Eight hours of sleep every night. Is it working? If not, you may need some more attention: this is a critically important area. Check out Solutions for Insomnia for some starting steps.