Dietary supplements – Do they make a difference in dementia prevention?

A healthy lifestyle has been shown to be good for our brain health and can reduce our risk of dementia. A key component of a healthy lifestyle is a healthy diet, with scientific evidence showing that the healthier our diet the lower our risk for dementia. However, the picture has been less clear for dietary … Continue reading Dietary supplements – Do they make a difference in dementia prevention?

Getting lost in dementia – An overlooked danger?

Everyone associates dementia and Alzheimer’s disease with memory problems but the other common problem – spatial disorientation is far less known, despite it having potentially fatal consequences. A new study sheds light on why people with dementia get lost and points towards new solutions. Memory problems are the key symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, even in … Continue reading Getting lost in dementia – An overlooked danger?

The good and bad in dementia care – Which factors determine the informal care experience?

Informal carers are the key providers for the care of people with dementia. Most of those care aspects are often attributed to negative associations, such as increased burden and stress. But there is also anecdotal evidence that carers report positive aspects for caring with someone with dementia. A recent study investigated the carer perceptions of … Continue reading The good and bad in dementia care – Which factors determine the informal care experience?

Take my breath away – Do breathing problems during sleep increase our risk for Alzheimer’s disease?

Sleep is a key part of our body’s healthy functioning and it is therefore not surprising that we nearly spend a quarter of our life asleep. However, for some people, their sleep gets disrupted by breathing problems, so-called obstructive sleep apnea, with previous reports suggesting that obstructive sleep apnea might increase our risk for Alzheimer’s … Continue reading Take my breath away – Do breathing problems during sleep increase our risk for Alzheimer’s disease?

Is Alzheimer’s disease infectious?

The idea that Alzheimer’s disease could be an infectious disease seems a strange notion. However, over the last decades, there have been occasional reports that in rare occasions people can get ‘infected’ with Alzheimer’s disease. Two international expert groups decided therefore to review the evidence whether Alzheimer’s disease can be infectious and have now published … Continue reading Is Alzheimer’s disease infectious?

Anticholinergic medication and its impact on dementia risk

We all trust that that medication is safe for us to use. We base this assumption on the fact that the development of the medication went through the rigorous process of clinical trials. Clinical trials do not only test whether a new medication is effective in treating the disease or symptom but importantly also whether … Continue reading Anticholinergic medication and its impact on dementia risk

Memory in Alzheimer’s disease – It’s all about forgetting, isn’t it?

The mantra for many decades in Alzheimer’s disease is that people who are at-risk or have the disease forget information quicker than people of the same age who do not have the disease. This is certainly true for most people, however, a recent study (* Lim and colleagues, Neurology, 2020) actually suggests that it might … Continue reading Memory in Alzheimer’s disease – It’s all about forgetting, isn’t it?