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According to the World Health Organization, dementia affects more than 55 million people worldwide, and increases by approximately 10 million new cases each year. Alzheimer’s disease is considered the most common form of dementia, contributing to 60-70% of cases, and the risk of developing it is high. It occurs with age, especially if genetic factors are present.
Dementia in general is “a condition in which a person suffers from a deterioration in their ability to think, which leads to a decreased ability to function and take care of themselves,” according to psychologist and neurologist Dr. Aaron Bonner-Jackson of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.
Dr. Jackson emphasizes that “dementia is not a natural part of aging, and it is not a condition that everyone will suffer from it,” but it – and diseases that fall under it, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s – have different causes that include a group of symptoms that can affect cognitive abilities and physical and mental health.
This makes us mention the common symptoms first before we review other new signs that scientists have recently pointed out.
The most common early signs of dementia
According to the American Alzheimer’s Association, the most common early signs of possible Alzheimer’s disease – as it is the most common type of dementia – are:
- Memory loss affecting daily lifeMeaning forgetting important information, dates, and events, and relying on family members, posters, or electronic devices to remember simple things.
Dr. Jackson adds, “They do not store new memories, and they cannot remember what they did yesterday, so they ask the same questions over and over again.”
- Difficulty concentrating A decline in the ability to deal with numbers and manage ordinary things, such as writing a grocery list or keeping track of monthly bills, and taking much longer than usual to do simple things.
- Confusion of the relationship with time or place Regarding the ability to track dates, seasons, and the passage of time, and to perceive where a person is, or how he got to where he is.
- Getting lost in familiar places, This is what happens “when you find yourself feeling confused and lost in your neighborhood, or on your daily commute to work, or even at home,” says Dr. Jackson.
- Mood or behavior changesDr. Jackson says, “When a person suffers from dementia, there are changes in his mood or behavior. He becomes less interested in himself and in the things he used to enjoy before, more nervous and socially isolated, or more frustrated or anxious.”
- confusion in speaking or writing, That is, difficulty finding vocabulary, inability to name or misname things, continuing or joining a conversation, or stopping in the middle of it without knowing how to continue or return to the conversation.
- Slowing down and misplacing things, The person feels slower in everything, walks more slowly, may notice loss of hearing or poor vision, and may put things in unfamiliar places or lose them without being able to find them again.
New red flags
Research indicates 3 things that happen to many people and which they treat as normal, even though they may make them more susceptible to dementia, such as:
Research prepared by experts at the American Academy of Neurology and published late last year – after monitoring the sleep patterns of more than 88,000 people with an average age of 62 years in the United Kingdom over the past seven years – indicated that “certain sleep habits could be linked to the development of dementia, Waking up regularly throughout the night or sleeping poorly may be linked to dementia later on.”
After taking age, gender, and genetics into account, the researchers found that “those with sleep disorders were 53% more likely to develop dementia than those with a more regular sleep pattern.”
Dr. Matthew Paul Pace, an associate professor at Monash University in Australia and Harvard University and supervisor of the study, said: “People who suffer from irregular sleep may need to improve the regularity of their sleep to prevent dementia.”
The American Academy of Neurology explained that the study does not prove that irregular sleep causes dementia, but only shows the connection between them.
A recent study conducted by medical scientists at the University of Chicago found that “rapid decline in the sense of smell predicts multiple features of Alzheimer’s disease,” meaning that “failing to smell strong odors such as shower gel and shampoo or not picking up strong cooking odors or scented candles could be an early indicator.” On getting dementia.”
Dr. Jayant Pinto, supervisor of the study and professor of surgery at the University of Chicago, said: “We were able to show that the size and shape of gray matter in the areas associated with the sense of smell and memory in the brains of people who suffer from a rapid decline in their sense of smell were smaller compared to people who had a less severe decline in their sense of smell.” “Smelling, that’s just one of the many symptoms of Alzheimer’s.”
Pinto explained that smell and changes in this sense are “one of the important elements in the context of a group of factors that we believe influence the brain in health and aging.”
Research published last October showed that difficulty navigating while walking and miscalculating “path integrity” — which involves a person knowing where they are and how they’re moving, estimating speed and distance, and sensing where their feet are and when to turn or change direction — could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease. “.
Recently, the British newspaper “Mirror”, citing the Alzheimer’s Foundation in Scotland, reported that the difficulty that some people find in moving and raising their legs “when climbing stairs” to the point that makes them more vulnerable to slipping or falling may be one of the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
