Alzheimer’s is a frightening disease. Its dreaded consequences are felt by not only those who suffer from it but also their loved ones. Over the years, Alzheimer’s has claimed many lives worldwide and continues to do so even today in the age of advanced science.
Latest data from the CDC shows that the US´s neurodegenerative disease rates are at the highest level since World War II. Many specialists from around the globe including scientists, biochemists, medical doctors, and holistic doctors are working together to bring new approaches that are showing promising results for thousands around the world. By approaching these epidemic health concerns with an approach that looks to find the root causes instead of simply just trying to address the symptom, people are actually seeing learning how to prevent and even recover from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s is a progressive disorder that hampers memory and is a leading cause of dementia among individuals. People who have Alzheimer’s often show the following signs and symptoms;
1. Memory loss disrupting daily life.
2. Challenges in planning and solving problems
3. Difficulty in performing mundane tasks
4. Confusion with time or place.
5. Trouble in understanding images and spatial relationship
6. Problem with speaking or writing
7. Misplacing things
8. Poor Judgement
9. Withdrawal from work and society
10. Mood changes
However, by adopting data driven and genetically driven holistic approaches many are seeing a reversal in their symptoms and practitioners are seeing promising results with tackling these neurodegenerative issues associated with Alzheimer’s. The entire idea behind a functional or holistic approach is not merely to treat the disease of the symptoms, but to find and address the root causes of the dysfunction. Functional practitioners understand that the way you treat your body can affect your brain. Holistic and functional medicine practitioners focus on identifying the cause and removing those interferences so the body can restore normal function.
Using Data-driven approaches to understand how the body is functioning on a genetic level, for example, shows the practitioner and the client how to modify their lifestyle so their body can clear toxins and allow the body to heal itself.
Adopting a holistic approach first means understanding what is causing the symptoms. The causes can be high stress, lack of nutrition in the diet, an excess of dairy, sugar, or toxic chemicals in the food, underlying infections, or exposure to environmental toxins and heavy metals.
Factors Influencing Alzheimer’s:
High Stress
It is essential to manage stress in your life. Doctors have found stress to be one factor that is related to dementia, depression, anxiety, and chronic illness in people. According to a research study conducted by a research publication affiliated with the University of Toronto, Chronic stress is associated with the degeneration and impaired functioning of the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex which increases the risk of depression.
Including stress management, exercises like Yoga and meditation can help in relieving stress and the adverse effects it can have on your body.
Environmental Toxins In Our Foods
Herbicides are usually used as weed killers to protect the quality of organically grown food. Herbicides like Glyphosate are typically found in commodity foods such as oats, wheat, corn, almonds, quinoa, produce like fruits and vegetables, etc. The consumption of Glyphosate through such food can trigger symptoms that can severely alter brain chemistry.
Glyphosate can also wreak havoc on our guts. Our Gut is responsible for producing around 75% of the brain’s neurotransmitters and regulating about 70% of our immune system. When our gut is under attack from foreign bodies such as Glyphosate it naturally disrupts the body’s innate immune system, thus leading to interference with normal neurological and immune function which can then lead to neurological disorders and chronic auto immune disease.
Unhealthy Diet
The standard American diet is full of delicacies rich in gluten, dairy, and sugar. Gluten and dairy can cause severe neural inflammation in your brain that results alterations in brain chemistry and even atrophy of the cerebellum region. Avoiding gluten foods is a step in the right direction if you are looking for implementing preventative measures against Alzheimer’s. (N Engl J Med, 1982; 307 (14): 895)
Dairy
A substantial amount of studies have been conducted over the years associating dairy with schizophrenia, ADD/ADHD, depression, and other brain chemistry imbalances. Dairy is also known to cause complete psychosis among some individuals.
Avoiding dairy products like cheese, yogurt, and butter can do wonders in tackling the early signs and symptoms of neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s.
Underlying Infections
Infections like candida, clostridium, or different kinds of molds can severely affect the body’s dopamine levels. Infections can release neurotoxins that block can block normal neurotransmitter production and conversion. Clostridia is an example of one type of infetions that can alter production and conversion of dopamine and norepinephrine. This result in excessively high levels of dopamine that trigger fight or flight responses in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s. In addition, high levels of dopamine cause damage to neurons in the brain. (Nutritional Neuroscience 2010 Vol 13 No 3: 1-10).
Alzheimer’s continues to be an elusive disease in the medical world. However, by transforming our lives with the help of functional medicine and holistic approaches, many are seeing positive results in reversing and preventing neuro degenerative disease and brain chemistry imbalances.
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