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No, Not Everything Is A Sign Of Dementia: 6 Myths About The Disease
In the age of the Internet, we often find ourselves blindly believing in what we read — especially information on disease symptoms and treatment. We’ve all been there: staring at our screens, frantically typing the same questions into Google, desperate yet scared for the vast array of answers that pop up in less than a second.
But regardless of the volume of information we have access to, there are still many misconceptions about one disease in particular: dementia. In fact, the number one question asked to Google about the disease is “how do I know if I have Dementia?” yielding about 741,000,000 results alone.
According to the World Health Organization, dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide. Currently, more than 55 million people have it, and every year, there are nearly 10 million new cases.
Yet, according to clinical neuropsychologist Michell Clionsky, we have the capability to reduce cases of dementia in America by 50%, meaning 1 in 2 cases are preventable. And yet, we do very little as a nation to help it.
“We try too hard to find an elusive cure and fund our caregivers, both of which are essential, but they’re both chasing down the horse that got out of the barn, rather than keeping the horse in the barn. I’m an in-the-barn kind of guy. I want to deal with dementia before it becomes a problem,” Dr. Clionsky says.
The lack of education on preventing the disease was one of two primary driving factors for him and his wife, Dr. Emily Clionsky, to publish their own book on the topic: “Dementia Prevention: Using Your Head to Save Your Brain”. The second reason being because he lost his mother to the very same disease he encourages others to learn more about.
With 40 years of experience in his field and an incredible book published by Johns Hopkins University Press, we decided to pull some…
