How To Give Yourself Alzheimer’s

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No one wants to get Alzheimer’s disease, however, many of us are unknowingly living our day-to-day lives in a way that contributes to cognitive decline.

Becoming aware of the factors that influence the development of Alzheimer’s can help you sidestep those memory landmines and keep your brain sharp for a lifetime. So, let’s look at a day filled with many of the factors that could lead you down a brain-busting path.

First things first, right before bedtime you should be snacking on sugary junk food while scrolling through social media on your phone. The blue light emitted from your phone will lower your melatonin production and impair your ability to get into a deep sleep which is crucial for body and brain repair. Additionally, that sugary snack will spike your blood sugar and then send it plummeting around 3 am. You wake with a cortisol surge that has you feeling wired and hungry. Unable to fall back asleep, you find yourself in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal and starting the glucose spike-crash all over again. All of this disrupts your sleep and leaves you feeling exhausted in the morning.

Needing energy, you shuffle to the kitchen for an adrenaline-inducing coffee and a splash of inflammation-triggering cream. Starving from your blood sugar rollercoaster ride you have a toast + jam breakfast which is the perfect way to loosen the tight junctions in your intestinal lining while spiking your blood sugar….again.

It’s grooming time and because you want to look and smell your best you apply your favourite products. Being the largest organ, the skin readily absorbs harmful toxins like the synthetic fragrances, phthalates, parabens, formaldehydes and sulphates found in most beauty products.

Now the stress begins as you set out to accomplish the million things you need to get done today. As your stress levels rise your body produces cortisol – a  hormone that is toxic to the hippocampus, the memory centre of your brain. Repetitive stress throughout the day ensures your brain is bathing in a steady stream of damaging hormones.

Now your acid reflux is acting up so you pop your favourite proton pump inhibitor (PPI) to reduce stomach acid which also ensures you won’t absorb important brain supporting nutrients from your upcoming lunch such as zinc, B12 or magnesium. Don’t forget to take that statin pill which will lower your cholesterol below 150 putting you at risk to suffer brain atrophy. 

It’s lunchtime and in an attempt to be healthy, you eat a tuna fish on rye. Unfortunately, this healthy choice has some drawbacks. The bigger the fish the more mercury it will have and this heavy metal has been found to induce amyloid-beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles – the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s.

Gone are the beautiful days of summer and as the temperature drops you spend more of your days inside. This causes your vitamin D levels to drop. Vitamin D receptors in our cells are responsible for regulating over 900 genes – some of which create and maintain brain synapses.  

As you drive home, the evening rush hour traffic sends your blood pressure through the roof. This causes your blood-brain barrier to become porous, lowering your ability to keep harmful inflammatory bacteria out of your brain.

Too tired to make dinner, you go through the drive-thru for an antibiotic-filled, hormone-injected burger and a side of neurotoxic French fries. Those deep-fried golden sticks contain a compound called acrylamide which is neurotoxic and acts like a game of whack-a-mole in your brain.

Once home, you unwind from your hard day with a glass of wine or three. This may sound like a great way to relax except the sulphates, chemicals and sugar in the wine will ensure this feeling is temporary and will wreak havoc on your brain. Feeling lethargic and tipsy you skip the brain-enhancing walk or workout and instead lay on the couch and binge-watch Netflix.

Finally, you wake up on the couch around midnight. It’s late so you skip brushing or flossing your teeth and crawl straight into bed. Poor oral hygiene can lead to systemic inflammation that opens up the blood-brain barrier and allows pathogenic bacteria such as P. gingivalis to migrate there and create more inflammation in your brain.

This has been a truly bad day for your brain. Rinse and repeat this day and you may be on your way to developing Alzheimer’s disease. But don’t panic yet, it takes years for the metabolic and brain insults to develop into Alzheimer’s disease but the more you see yourself in this exaggerated day the more likely it is that decline has already begun. 

The good news is that you can eliminate brain threats by changing some of your eating and lifestyle habits. If you are unsure where to start or are worried about your cognitive health you can turn to a nutrition health coach trained in the treatment and prevention of cognitive decline. A good health coach can help you set up healthy habits to bypass brain bombshells and help you create a lifestyle that will ensure a sharp memory for life.

Michelle Gindl is a Nutrition Health Coach who specializes in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and is a certified practitioner of the Bredesen Protocol.


Michelle Gindl – B.A. Com, CNHC
Certified Nutrition Health Coach
www.michellegindl.com

The author of the article is a Certified Nutrition Health Coach who is also certified in the Bredesen Protocol.


 

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