David's Alzheimer's Fight
Hosted by David Uhlfelder, who is facing early-stage Alzheimer’s with resilience and humor, alongside co-host Dr. Karen Gilbert, this podcast shines a light on living well with the disease. Together, they share personal stories, expert insights, and practical tips to help others navigate the journey with strength, knowledge, and hope.
David's Alzheimer's Fight
You can’t eat TVs or watch bonbons, but you can exercise with David & Karen
Want a brain that feels clearer and a routine you’ll actually keep? We dig into how consistent, enjoyable movement—walking, biking, chair yoga, light weights—feeds blood flow to the brain, supports memory and mood, and reduces the inflammation linked to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. Dave shares an honest look at a back-pain setback, the decision to pursue physical therapy and dry needling, and the relief of getting an orthopedic green light to return to biking. Along the way, we talk about why good form beats heavy weight, how to scale around limitations.
Email us at david@davidsalzheimersfight.org or education@alzcare.org.
This podcast shares insights, not medical advice. Please consult a professional for your care. Hi, everybody. This is Dave. I'm joined by my co-host, Dr. Karen Gilbert. And today's short program is going to be about exercise. And that's critical in this whole situation with Alzheimer's because that helps to stimulate your brain, your blood flow, and the ability to think. And I've noticed since I've been exercising on a regular basis, and it's cut back a little bit, and I'll explain that in a little while, but you got to stay movement, you know, whether it's running or with bike riding or working out with weights or working just simple aerobics or chair yoga or anything like that, you've got to do something. You can't just sit around and eat TVs and watch bonbons. It's a joke. So today, like I was gonna say, is I've been exercising and I was riding my bike and walking, and I actually got up to riding my bike 15 miles a day. Well, in the process, it wasn't necessarily because of the bike riding. I developed a problem in my back where there's like chronic pain. And I've now gone to a uh physical therapist. I'm doing uh physical therapy. I've also been doing what's called dry needling. What it is, it's sort of like acupuncture, except it's the the needle goes a little bit further in and it touches the muscle. And they attach then a device, it's like a TENS unit, and that helps to massage that muscle and helps to create the blood flow back to that area, which helps reduce the swelling and the pressure and this and the soreness. Well, that's helped a little bit, but what's what's happened was I went to see my orthopedic uh surgeon, which I'm not planning on having surgery, and thank goodness he told me I didn't need it. And he told me, and I asked him, I said, Is it okay to ride the bike? It could I hurt myself enough that it would hurt my spine? And he said, No, you know, you might have a bruise or something like that, but uh your spine is in pretty good shape, and therefore it's okay to ride the bike, which is really great because that's what I enjoy the most. Because one of the things about exercise, most people, it's a dirty word. So, but you still have to do it. So that's important. So I'm now going to be able to ride my bike. I start riding my bike again, and I just have to be real careful.
SPEAKER_00:Well, what we aim for, uh, what we recommend is at least two and a half hours a week. So if you divide that over seven days, it's barely half an hour. And even if you split it 15 minutes in the morning, 15 in the evening, that's fine too. Whatever exercise you will do consistently is going to be the best one for you. So that's the plan. Find something you enjoy, whether it's walking, whether it's jogging, whether it's biking, whether it's doing chair yoga, chair tai chi, uh simple lifting. They don't have to be very heavy weights, but lifting some weight uh so that you get some more muscle building. And it will help with circulation, and that's circulation throughout the body, including the brain. And so that's the reason exercise is beneficial for protecting the brain and also for someone that's having symptoms of cognitive impairment or has a diagnosis of early stage Alzheimer's, um, as you did, David. We do get pain from time to time. I work out, I work out six days a week, and I will get these pains from time to time. Uh typically, the soft tissue injuries work themselves out. Uh, I do uh weightlifting class twice a week, but I keep it light. It's I don't I don't pick up heavy weight. I'd rather have good form than try to lift something that's really too heavy for me and strain a shoulder and elbow and so on. So really, everyone, even with some physical limitations, everyone can find some routine that they can do. As I said, even chair exercise, that physical movement is what's so beneficial. It helps decrease inflammation throughout the body. And we talked about inflammation as the foundation for so many diseases: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's. So every bit of exercise you do is going to be very beneficial. And uh you've talked about what you did when you started experiencing that pain. You were talking about, well, how do I know how much the exercise is giving me these improvements in my cognition as opposed to the other strategies you're doing? There's probably no way to know. But the point is, the more you do diet, exercise, not smoking, no alcohol, the more of these strategies you do, obviously, the more benefit you will get.
SPEAKER_01:Personally, I have found that it's certainly helped me. And I can only say that from my experience. Everybody else may be a little bit different, but from my experience, this has helped me tremendously.
SPEAKER_00:I've seen tremendous change since you first called, since we first started recording podcasts. Uh so all I can say is keep up the good work and the responses you're getting uh from people who may be hearing this information for the first time and now they are inspired. This is just phenomenal. So so, so proud of uh everything you're doing and making a difference for others at the same time as you're caring for yourself. Thank you for listening to this mini podcast. We we will have more. Uh so please tune in to these programs. David, tell us how everyone can find the podcast through your website.
SPEAKER_01:The website is David Alzheimer'sfight.org. On that site, we have a lot of resources and we also have links to all the different podcasts. And I also post things about other people's podcasts and so forth. So it's a very good resource to look at.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much. You can reach David by email. Uh David at DavidAlzheimersfight.org. You can reach me very simply, education at allzcare.org. That's A-L-Z-C-A-R-E.org. Uh, you can reach me by phone at 561 683 2700.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for listening. And don't forget to like us and on all social media sites that you can find and make sure to watch our podcast. Thank you so much. We are here on this earth as humans to help others. That's what I believe. Please note this podcast provides information only. Podcasts should not be considered professional advice or a substitute for professional advice. Viewers of the speakers do not necessarily reflect those of Alzheimer's Community Care or David Ufelder. Listeners and viewers are encouraged to consult with appropriate professionals and are responsible for how the information provided is used.
