Are you getting more forgetful? How to tell if it's a sign of early dementia
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Are y'all getting more than forgetful? How to tell if it's a sign of early dementia
CNA Lifestyle speaks to the experts to observe out what the signs are, how different it is from normal ageing, and why travelling and social media can assist yous fend off the risks.
(Photo: Unsplash)
16 Sep 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 13 Aug 2022 01:46PM)
Accept you ever walked into the kitchen to get something just forgot what it was you needed? What almost the times you couldn't recall where you'd placed your keys?
Or yous're at the gym simply you've forgotten to bring your workout gear – once more. More detrimentally, were at that place occasions when your mind drew a blank when your boss asked for some crucial numbers at a coming together?
READ: Nearly 3 in 4 persons with dementia in Singapore experience ashamed, rejected: Study
If there are quite a few times when you find yourself saying "yes", y'all might have entertained the thought that maybe, just maybe, you lot might be developing dementia.
Just are you? It's a particularly salient question, because September is World Alzheimer's Month. "The respond is no," said Dr Ng Li-Ling, vice president of Alzheimer's Disease Clan (ADA) in Singapore.
"Nigh people forget petty things every day, like people's names or where we've placed our keys. Simply this is a normal part of life."
"To call up data, you showtime need to annals it, procedure information technology, then recall it," said Dr Ng Li-Ling.
"In some cases, if you have poor hearing or are inattentive, you may not even annals the information."
Multi-tasking doesn't help either as you may non pay sufficient attention to things that you need to think, and that makes recalling the information harder, she said.
READ: She couldn't aid her dad – but now she'south helping other dementia patients with tech
Dr Ng Kok Pin, consultant with the Department of Neurology at the National Neuroscience Plant (NNI), added that the forgetfulness may also be the event of other issues – such every bit the lack of sleep, certain medications, an underactive thyroid, stress and anxiety, alcohol or low mood – and non necessarily dementia.
WHAT IS DEMENTIA?
In Singapore, dementia tin can occur in individuals as immature as 45 years one-time; or for some people, in their 30s, co-ordinate to Dr Ng Li-Ling. In fact, as long as the dementia starts below the age of 65, it is medically classified as early or young onset dementia.
"In 2018, the NNI saw 228 new patients with immature onset dementia," said Dr Ng Kok Pin. "This is a 25 per cent increase from 2017." He estimated that there are well-nigh 2,000 to iii,000 cases of young onset dementia in Singapore.
READ: How weight training tin can alter the encephalon – and possibly improve retention and noesis
So, what is dementia really? In normal ageing, the brain shrinks and retentivity is affected as a result, which explains why you sometimes tin can't remember what to get at the supermarket.
"In Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common blazon of dementia, the brain shrinks at a faster rate than in normal ageing," said Dr Yao Fengyuan, principal and consultant with the Section of Geriatric Psychiatry at the Found of Mental Health (IMH).
Dr Ng Kok Pin explained that the prime number suspects behind the brain shrinkage in Alzheimer's disease are "ii abnormal structures called plaques and tangles".
They damage and kill nerve cells in the encephalon, "which results in the encephalon cells dying at a faster rate than normal and encephalon function to fail".
READ: Heavy drinkers and teetotalers akin may have heightened dementia risk
Interestingly, the early signs seen in younger patients are dissimilar from the older ones, according to the Alzheimer'southward Society in the UK.
Older patients tend to endure from memory loss, but in younger sufferers, they may accept problems with eyesight, planning and making decisions, and oral communication instead.
WHAT IS NORMAL FORGETFULNESS AND WHAT ISN'T?
While it is common to forget the proper noun of someone yous've simply met, someone with early signs of dementia may do so repeatedly and fifty-fifty forget about always meeting the person.
"In that location is evidence from research that people with slight but noticeable reject in cognitive ability – especially memory – are at a college risk of developing dementia.
"Notwithstanding, information technology does non mean that all these people volition eventually develop dementia," said Dr Yao, who is also project director of the Aged Psychiatry Customs Assessment and Treatment Service at the IMH.
The list below contrasts some of the possible signs between normal ageing and early dementia highlighted by the Alzheimer's Society. However, annotation that non everyone with dementia volition display these signs.
Short-term memory loss
- Normal ageing: You lot occasionally forget what your friends or colleagues tell you.
- Possible dementia: You continue asking your friends or colleagues for the same data over and once more.
Compromised eyesight
- Normal ageing: Poorer eyesight due to physical changes in the eyes, such every bit cataracts.
- Possible dementia:Problems interpreting visual information, such every bit difficulty judging the distance on the stairs, or misinterpreting patterns or reflections.
Language
- Normal ageing: Yous sometimes can't think of the right discussion to say. You may as well accept to concentrate harder to follow a conversation. But y'all may lose the thread when a few people talk at once.
- Possible dementia: You often say "that thing" because you lot tin't recall the word for the object. At gatherings, you find information technology difficult to join and proceed upward with the conversation.
Orientation
- Normal ageing: You sometimes ask, "what is today'south date?", but you effigy it out after.
- Possible dementia: You lose runway of the fourth dimension, week, month and the passage of time.
Mood
- Normal ageing: Yous sometimes experience tired of socialising, be it with friends, family or at work. Yous may also get irritated when your routine gets disrupted.
- Possible dementia: You lose interest in socialising, work and even your hobbies. You are easily irritated at piece of work, and even with familiar people and places such as friends and domicile.
If you lot think you may have dementia, you can get yourself assessed by your family md or at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Institute of Mental Wellness, Changi Full general Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, National Academy Hospital or Singapore General Hospital, advised the ADA.
READ: Benefits of dancing: Happy feet, healthy brains and improve balance
ARE YOU AT Run a risk OF DEMENTIA?
The more common class of young onset dementia is vascular dementia, which occurs when there are issues with the blood supply to the brain. It is closely linked to diabetes, stroke and centre disease, noted the Alzheimer's Lodge.
"Some types of dementia may be hereditary but there are other factors such as increasing historic period, lifestyle issues, poor hearing and instruction, and chronic health bug such as a high blood force per unit area, which may increase your risk of developing dementia," said Dr Ng Li-Ling.
"In sure types of dementia, pocket-size strokes can lead to cognitive turn down and dementia."
READ: Are you lot looking for a brain booster in a bottle? Don't bother
For younger individuals, Dr Yao said that the risk factors for them are mainly caput injuries, strokes and sometimes, a family history. "The early onset of Alzheimer's affliction before the age of 60 is hereditary in nature but is rare.
"Even so, it does not mean that a person will definitely develop dementia if they take a family history of dementia," he said.
Age is a chance factor for developing dementia and unfortunately, "absolute prevention doesn't be", said Dr Ng Li-Ling.
Merely at that place are some ways to reduce your risk, she said, citing the World Health Arrangement's recommendations beneath:
- Look after your cardiovascular health
- Be more physically active
- Follow a good for you diet
- Engage in social activities
- Challenge your brain
- Quit smoking
And yous'll be happy to know that going on a holiday can help you reduce your adventure of dementia – that's something to tell the boss when you're applying for leave. Chronic stress can be "deleterious to one's brain", said Dr Yao.
Taking a break from your hectic piece of work routine and adding travel to the mix can help you to de-stress and stimulate your encephalon with new experiences at the same time.
Don't refuse invitations to dinner or catch-up java with friends. Maintaining strong social connections and relationships are other means to minimise your risk, said Dr Yao.
Even connecting with old friends on social media can improve your sense of connectedness, he said.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/wellness/dementia-signs-symptoms-234471
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