Health Promotion: Alzheimer Disease and Dementia
Introduction
Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia involves an irreversible disease that progressively affects the brain. Many of the deaths in the USA results from this disease. In the United States, the growth in the number of older population remains unmatched. In 2019, the US had 52 million adults, 15% of them aged sixty-five years and above. By 2060, the numbers might climb to approximately 98 million or almost 25% of US residents (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele & Robinson, 2018). Age results in a higher risk of chronic diseases such as arthritis, cancer, and type two diabetes that form the country’s drivers of illness, deaths, and disability and health care costs. Among the people aged 65 years and more, encounter Alzheimer’s disease and dementia-related illnesses. The long-term and health care costs of Alzheimer’s disease reach approximately $277 billion annually, making it one of the most costly chronic diseases facing the elderly in the society today (Laks, Goren, Dueñas, Novick & Kahle‐Wrobleski, 2016). For this reason, such diseases affect the patient and the family members as a whole. Nevertheless, through various health care promotion initiatives, the health centers would promote the health of such patients. The essay seeks to discuss three ways to improve the health of Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia patients and the family.
Increasing the Physical Activities of Patients
Numerous scholars have demonstrated that physical activities have a broad range of benefits like decreasing the risk of chronic conditions, maintain independence and mobility. The exercise promotes the health of the patient with Alzheimer disease in many ways. In this case, physical activity lowers the risk of cognitive decline. The activity relates to the disease’s tangles and plaques of the disease in the brain and improves the performance of particular cognitive tests (Livingston, Sommerlad, Orgeta, Costafreda, Huntley, Ames & Cooper, 2017). Such activities assist in improving the heart’s health and blood vessels hence decrease the chances of heart disease and high blood pressure in the patient. The patient would decrease the risk of some kinds of cancer like colon and breast cancer the increased physical activity. Research indicates that it could also improve physical fitness by ensuring flexible muscle joints and muscles hence assist the patient in maintaining independence. Physical fitness would also help the family of the patient as the patient could have the ability to clean, dress, and carry out other activities personally hence save the family members from helping the patient. Consequently, such an initiative would ensure strong bones and decrease the risk of osteoporosis that involves a disease that attacks bones hence making the patient weak. Furthermore, physical activity would improve sleep, give opportunities to decrease the chances of the patient feeling isolated as the patient would interact with people.
Control of High Blood Pressure
Research indicates that controlling high blood pressure among the elderly population prevents Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia illness. Increased blood pressure affects the vessels that supply the brain with blood. In this case, the increased pressure damages the small vessels in the brain, affecting some sections of the brain that help in memory and thinking hence causing Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia. Research demonstrates that people taking potassium-sparing diuretics decreased the chances of Alzheimer’s by approximately 75%, whereas those taking antihypertensive medication decreased their chances by approximately a third (Mayer, Di Pucchio, Lacorte, Bacigalupo, Marzolini, Ferrante & Vanacore, 2018). For this reason, those patients taking blood pressure medication and have no Alzheimer’s and could have minimal chances of developing Dementia. On the other hand, if a patient had Dementia from Alzheimer’s and consumed any antihypertensive medication helps in hindering the progression of the disease. For this reason, ensuring the prevention of blood pressure in the patient would help in preventing Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia. Such an occurrence helps the family in minimizing the expenses involved in caring for the patient in nursing homes. Furthermore, it could help the family with the emotional trauma caused during the time a parent stays in a nursing home.
Cognitive Training
Such training involves a program that has regular activities aimed at improving and maintaining a patient’s cognitive capabilities. Cognitive capabilities include working and function memory. The training could assist in slowing or delaying the decline of cognitive capabilities. Mental training helps in obtaining long-term mental functioning in a patient (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele & Robinson, 2018). The training increases the processing speed of the brain that helps patients to plan and carry out their daily activities. The training helps the patient to ensure activeness throughout hence prevents depression hence hinder the development of the diseases. Additionally, the training helps in developing a steady memory, attention, executive reasoning, and visual and language functioning among Alzheimer patients. Such functions would help in maintaining a healthy mood and decrease the chances of the disease progressing without the use of medication. Such benefits help the family to save money.
In conclusion, Alzheimer disease and Dementia is among the number of the killer disease in the USA. Various health promotion initiatives through different healthcare facilities could help both the patient and the family in preventing the disease. The ways one could promote the health of the patient with such a chronic illness include but not limited to increased physical exercise, cognitive training, and preventing high blood pressure. The initiatives help the family save money and avoid the progression of the disease among the elderly population.
References
Kaakinen, J. R., Coehlo, D. P., Steele, R., & Robinson, M. (2018). Family health care nursing: Theory, practice, and research. FA Davis.
Laks, J., Goren, A., Dueñas, H., Novick, D., & Kahle‐Wrobleski, K. (2016). Caregiving for patients with Alzheimer’s disease or Dementia and its association with psychiatric and clinical comorbidities and other health outcomes in Brazil. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 31(2), 176-185.
Livingston, G., Sommerlad, A., Orgeta, V., Costafreda, S. G., Huntley, J., Ames, D., … & Cooper, C. (2017). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care. The Lancet, 390(10113), 2673-2734.
Mayer, F., Di Pucchio, A., Lacorte, E., Bacigalupo, I., Marzolini, F., Ferrante, G., … & Vanacore, N. (2018). An estimate of attributable cases of Alzheimer disease and vascular Dementia due to modifiable risk factors: The impact of primary prevention in Europe and in Italy. Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders extra, 8(1), 60-71.