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
How Stress Fuels Inflammation and Clouds Thinking
If stress keeps stealing your focus, you’re not imagining it. Your brain is working overtime. We dig into how sustained stress elevates cortisol, stokes inflammation, and muddies memory. Dave shares a candid moment from life juggling more than 80 computers, noticing slips in recall and broken train of thought. That discomfort became a wake‑up call to assess the true cost of constant pressure. Dr. Karen Gilbert connects the dots between physiology and daily life, explaining why acute stress can be useful but a never‑ending stress response chips away at mental clarity and resilience.
This podcast shares insights, not medical advice. Please consult a professional for your care. Hi everybody, it's Dave again and joined by my co-host, Dr. Karen Gilbert. Today we're going to touch about stress. Nobody has stress. Not today's world. It just doesn't exist. Well, yes, it does. Everybody has stress. And just like other things, it's how you deal with it makes the difference. You can't ignore it. And it will make you sick. I mean, a lot of problems in your body are caused by stress. And Alzheimer's is one of them. Stress can attribute getting worse or having problems that could be starting or showing Alzheimer's conditions because I noticed stress in myself running and taking care of as a managed service provider over 80 computers. And I was noticing that I was forgetting things and it didn't feel right. And I just wasn't sure. And I was said, I can't, this is causing stress for myself. So I what I did was I was able to get sell my business and be able to get to a point where I was able to relieve that major part of stress. Now that may not be everybody can do the same thing, but the point is there's ways that you can relieve the stress. But it's a very important fact that you have to deal with.
SPEAKER_00:Well, stress contributes to inflammation. When we are under stress, our body releases cortisol to help us deal with the stress. And that's okay short term if it's responding to an injury or an infection or to something uh frightening that we're trying to get away from. But it's not healthy when it's a sustained response over time. So what you did so well was recognizing how that stress was affecting you and the cognitive issues uh you said you were having and losing your train of thought and struggling to finish a sentence. And that sent you to be evaluated, and at the same time, you recognized I have to reduce this stress, and your solution was selling your business. So the important point is uh that you need to look at where your stress is coming from and figure out a positive way to deal with it. And so uh caller ID might help. So for some, uh, if they have someone that calls them and aggravates them, okay, there's a positive way to deal with that. You're not always able to change the stress coming at you, but you have the ultimate power in choosing how to respond. And that can be very healthy.
SPEAKER_01:And one of the simple ways to do it is take some deep breaths. Just try to relax. And in my first podcast, it's one of the things I say the only thing you have control over in your life is how you let things affect you and how you react. You have the choice. Nobody's gonna be able to do it for you. So learn that you have the choice and find ways that you can relieve your stress whenever you feel it.
SPEAKER_00:And relieving the stress along with the better diet, along with avoiding alcohol, along with getting good sleep, evaluating for hearing loss, all of these things work together to allow us to function optimally, cognitively and physically. Thank you for listening to this mini podcast. And we have several others. We also have longer podcasts that go into depth on many of these issues with experts. And David, tell everybody how to find these podcasts.
SPEAKER_01:The easiest way is to go to the website. 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 they 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 David Alzheimer'sfight.org. You can reach me very simply, education at allzcare.org. That's alzcar.org. Uh, you can reach me by phone at 561 683 2700.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for listening. And don't forget to like us 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.
