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Health & Fitness Redefined
Health and Fitness Redefined with Anthony Amen. Take a dive into the health world as we learn how to overcome adversity, depict fact vs fiction and see health & fitness in a whole new light.Fitness Is Medicine
Health & Fitness Redefined
Brain Health: The Race Against Alzheimer's
The thought of losing our memories and cognitive abilities strikes deep fear in many of us. In fact, for people over 55, Alzheimer's disease has become the most feared diagnosis of all. But what if simple lifestyle choices could significantly reduce your risk?
In this eye-opening conversation with dementia expert Lisa Skinner, we dive into the crucial differences between dementia (a collection of symptoms) and Alzheimer's (a specific brain disease). Lisa shares a powerful personal story about her grandmother that launched her 30-year career in dementia care, revealing how this devastating condition affects not just patients but entire families who essentially "lose their loved ones twice."
The episode breaks down the risk factors into those we can't control (age, biological sex, genetics, and ethnicity) and those we can modify through lifestyle changes. Cardiovascular disease tops the list of modifiable risks, followed by diabetes, sleep apnea, and surprisingly, hearing loss. We explore why women face significantly higher risk than men—a complex interplay of hormonal changes, exercise habits, sleep patterns, stress management, and nutrition.
Most compelling is the evidence that exercise has double the protective effect of brain games for preventing cognitive decline, while combining physical activity with mental stimulation triples the benefit. We discuss why proper sleep is non-negotiable for brain health, how strength training preserves cognitive function, and why supplementing with creatine monohydrate might be worth considering.
With Alzheimer's cases projected to triple in the next 25 years, this conversation couldn't be more timely. The choices you make today directly impact your brain's future—and while nothing provides absolute protection, the science is clear that we have more control than we might think.
Take charge of your cognitive future. Subscribe to learn more about how fitness truly is medicine for both body and mind.
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Hello and welcome to how the Fitness Redefined. I'm your host, anthony Manitini. We have another great episode for all of you today. Nice, fun topic, a little stir. I feel like we did five, six, seven episodes over the last year Perimenopause, menopause so this is nice to be on a little different side of it, which I'm really excited. A fun topic, as much as it's not fun watching people go through it. It is a fun topic to talk about dementia and Alzheimer's because a lot of people are affected by it personally and there's a lot of research that comes out every single day about dementia and Alzheimer's because we're all on a path to really find a cure and hopefully prevent it from happening to us and to our kids, et cetera, et cetera. So, without further ado, let's welcome to the show, lisa. Lisa, it's a pleasure to have you on today.
Speaker 2:Hi Anthony, Hi everybody. First of all, Anthony, thank you so much for inviting me onto your show today. This really is a trending topic. It's an important topic. I learned recently that for people over the age of 55, that's a true statistic Alzheimer's disease and dementia is the number one most feared disease that people are worried about getting now, in their older years. So I'm here to shed some light on some of the myths and the misinformation that's out there and offer some hopefully valuable and helpful information for your listeners out there.
Speaker 1:I'm going to dive right into that because I think it's what you said is so true, and I'll give you a little example of a conversation my wife and I have had over our many years married together. We both agree Like if our bodies go, I lose limbs, I get XYZ disease. Like I'm going to keep fighting, we're good. As long as I can be there for her, show up for her, I'm okay. If I lose my mind, just end me. And we both are on the same exact mindset where, if I don't remember who she is and she doesn't remember who I am, like neither of us want to be alive anymore and that's not like a sick thing to say, but it's what quality of life? Does someone really have experience in that? And, like you, we talked a little pre-show, but it's very quality of life. Does someone really have experiencing that? And, like you, we talked a little pre-show, but it's very personal for a lot of people.
Speaker 1:My grandma suffered without. For us time was for years and I watched it slowly kill her and I watched it. She slowly forgot people and it got worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and it's just like what kind of quality of life is she living, like it was so hard. I mean I'm sure she was suffering, but it was so hard to watch my grandfather because he's still alive and he had to watch his wife just slowly fade out in front of him and it was the most depressing thing in the world and it was always hard to find the proper words to say to him to make him happy because he's still mentally with it. But it's just like I felt so bad, like it just you start thinking about your own life, like what if that was my wife going through that, and it really just get emotional, just like thinking about it. But what kind of got you into even studying about dementia and Alzheimer's?
Speaker 2:Same experience that you are currently or had with your grandma. So I'm going to rewind here back 50 years and my very first experience. I've had eight family members in my personal family who have lived with one of the brain diseases, and five of those have been blood relatives. It started with my grandmother 50 years ago. I was a teenager and things were very, very different back then. So I'm going to tell you do we have time for me to tell you this quick story?
Speaker 1:Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 2:Okay. So I had just gotten my driver's license and I was so proud so I told my mom that I was going to drive over to grandma's house. She only lived a couple of miles from us. I grew up with her. She was just a lovely, lovely lady. I adored her and I spent a lot of time with her. My mom would drop us off at her house regularly to hang out. So after I got my driver's license I decided okay, I'm going to go show off to my grandma because I can drive over there by myself. So I did and I told my mother that I was going over there. Okay, so I get over to my grandmother's house. She lets me in, we go into her living room and we both sit down as usual Nothing seemed different down to just kind of engage in a catch-up type of conversation.
Speaker 2:She starts telling me about these birds that are living in her mattress and that they come out at night and peck at her face. And you know my jaw drops a little bit towards the floor. I didn't say a thing yet. Bit towards the floor, I didn't say a thing yet. And then she proceeds to tell me about she's pointing to the floor and tell me. You see all those rats, hundreds of them. They're running all over my house, along the walls. They're invading my house, lisa, of course I didn't see anything. And then the last story far-fetched story she told me was that there were these men that she referred to, as these men were constantly breaking into her home and they were stealing her jewelry, they were eating her food, they were scaring her, they were scaring her and she was convinced that they were going to eventually do away with her and just take her life over, take her house over and everything. But they were just waiting to do that until they were comfortable with getting all of her stuff. And by this time my jaw is on the floor. And by this time my jaw is on the floor and I had.
Speaker 2:I really didn't know what to say or how to respond. I mean, these are the most far-fetched, bizarre stories I've ever heard come out of anybody's mouth in my entire lifetime. And so I was a little peeved at my mother, because I told her I was going over there and she didn't prepare me for this at all. She didn't say a word like oh you might, you know, notice some differences in grandma. Nothing. So I said to my grandma, and the only reason why I responded the way I did is because I come from the generation that you respect your elders. You don't argue with them, you don't contradict them, you don't make fools out of them. You know whatever they say is the gospel.
Speaker 2:So the way I responded to it is I said oh, my goodness, grandma, this sounds horrible for you. You must be scared all the time. You said you're not sleeping. I said I want to help you in whatever way I can and get rid of all these things that are happening to you. I said let's start with going into your bedroom and you show me where these birds are coming in and out of your mattress, and then maybe that'll help me figure out who I can call, what I can do to get rid of these birds.
Speaker 2:So she followed me into her bedroom and I threw the covers off. I'm looking every place I can, on the top, on the bottom, on the sides, looking for some evidence of birds coming in and out of her mattress. So I said to her. I said well, help me here. I said I'm not seeing how they're getting in and out. I'm not quite sure how we can resolve the situation yet. And she's staring at the mattress and then she turns to me and she says oh, lisa, they're there. They're just very, very clever. And that's how she covered the story she was telling me.
Speaker 2:And I learned later on after I went, chose this as my professional career that people living with Alzheimer's and dementia, when they're having a delusion or a false belief and that was the bird story when they're having hallucinations which is common to the disease, and that's's the rat story and when they're feeling suspicious and paranoid about things occurring in their life and that was the men's story they become masterful at explaining away their beliefs. And the thing that I want to emphasize to everybody is, even though what she was telling me wasn't her, wasn't my reality, that, like I said, these are the most bizarre, far-fetched stories I'd ever heard in my life. And how would anybody believe anything that she was saying? She believed it, this was her reality. Saying she believed it this was her reality. And I've learned in the 30 years that I've been doing this professionally that there is absolutely nothing any of us can say or do to change that reality when they are locked on to whatever it is they're telling you. Whatever it is they're telling you, and there are best practices and really effective ways to respond. It turns out that I did respond properly, but I didn't know it at the time. It was the way I was raised and conditioned. But what I did was I joined her reality without realizing it, her reality without realizing it. I met her where she was, instead of trying to correct her and state facts and say, oh, what you're telling me couldn't be possible. So I've had a lot of experience and training in this approach. I'm a certified dementia practitioner, I'm a certified dementia care trainer, I'm a certified dementia program director, I have written three bestselling books, I'm an international TEDx speaker on this subject and, as I mentioned earlier, anthony, I also host a very popular podcast on this very subject. So I talk about a different aspect of and so I've had a really fulfilling career doing this professionally.
Speaker 2:But the impetus behind it was this experience that I had as a teenager with my grandmother and it was my very, very first experience and introduction with Alzheimer's disease. And when I left her house, I went home and I was just beside myself and I said, mom, you will not believe what I've just been through. And I told her the stories and I said why didn't you say anything and at least prepare me. I said I was completely caught off guard and she said okay, lisa, your grandmother has been diagnosed with what was called back then senile dementia.
Speaker 2:This was 50 years ago. And she said and yes, that's what she has, and we're just not going to talk about it anymore because that's the was the mindset 50 years ago. There's too many stigmas attached and you have crazy people in your family and, uh, you don't, you know, you're in denial and it's not happening. That was kind of how how people reacted to the dementia diagnosis back then, and so she purposely didn't say anything to me. And I want to change that. We need to change that because so many people are now at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, are now at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. We've been told that the numbers are expected to triple in the next 25 years and we are not prepared as a society, especially if we stick our heads in the sand and we don't even want to acknowledge that somebody we love or care for has it, let alone talk about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, that's an eye-opening story and it shows why you got so heavily into the field and really wanted to make a change, which I'm sure a lot of people appreciate. I think before we dive into practical cause and effects, it's important just to establish definitions. So do you mind just explaining really briefly what the difference is between dementia and Alzheimer's?
Speaker 2:Oh, not at all, because it's a really important distinction to make, because a lot of people think they're two separate diseases or they're the same thing. So that's a great place to start. Alzheimer's disease is a brain disease. Alzheimer's disease is a brain disease. It's a neurocognitive disease that goes into a person's brain and starts damaging the brain cells in different regions. It typically starts with the short-term memory. 200 known brain diseases that cause similar symptomology, similar behaviors, similar signs as what we see in people living with Alzheimer's disease about 200 known today.
Speaker 2:Now, when we start showing symptoms, the underlying cause is one of these brain diseases or it could be a medical condition, like a thyroid condition or a urinary tract infection. But all of the signs, symptoms and behaviors that we see as a result of the damage being done to the brain are intertwined. They're very similar and we put all of those signs, symptoms and behaviors like I explained I witnessed with my grandma into this bucket, this category that we call dementia. So another way to think of it is you know pretty much, we've all had the flu, we've all had a cold and the reason that we suspect that we have some kind of a virus is based on the symptoms that we are experiencing and they differ in everybody. I mean, I've had the flu before where I have the total body aches and I have a fever and my throat is sore and my glands swell up. And I've had the flu other times where I might have had a couple of those symptoms, but not all of those.
Speaker 2:And this is the best analogy, the best parallel to draw between dementia and Alzheimer's. So think of dementia as the symptoms that we witness in people living with brain disease, but it's not an actual disease. It's a reference to the symptoms. Alzheimer's is the disease. Lewy body is a brain disease. Huntington's disease is a brain disease. So you're talking actual brain diseases versus the symptoms that people experience and that we witness in those people. That makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it makes a ton of sense and that's kind of what I expected it was anyway. So more of the dementia being a condition of it, not the actual name of it per se. So I mean, I know there's a lot of different types of diseases that do cause memory loss days. Obviously there's not going to be a one size fitsall approach for every single disease, for every single individual, but I think the question that everyone wants to know an answer for is is there any kind of cure or is there anything close to a cure that we currently have right now?
Speaker 2:and sadly I have to say, and truthfully I have to say that and truthfully I have to say that right now we don't have a cure and we really don't have any treatments that can reverse it. There are medications out there that doctors prescribe that can slow the progression of it down, and then they'll work for you know a certain period of time and then just stop, and then the disease. You know a certain period of time and then just stop, and then the disease, you know, continues progressing. Not everybody can tolerate those medications. They've been around for a long time. But we do know of what a lot of the risk factors are. There are a lot of risk factors that will either minimize or increase people's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. And we know, based on scientific studies, scientific evidence, that there are ways to take those risk factors and if they apply to you you can actually do things, except for four of them that can negate it from being a risk factor for you. So I'm happy to kind of dive into that if you'd like me to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's start with a slow approach and kind of go into what I know and then we can get your opinion and advice even on top of that. I want to start with a story kind of similar to yourself with my grandma. So for those that don't know or are inactive listeners, my grandma was like the doctor everybody knew. She was the first DO so Doctor of Hospitality and Medicine female. Her and my grandfather founded a medical school, so they are the doctors that people think about when they think do's. Last name dj yovana, for those that are curious.
Speaker 1:But she was paranoid about getting alzheimer's. Paranoid about it because she knew she had a strong family history of it and her reaction when she was in her 60s 70s was to play brain games. So she would always play Sudoku, she would always do crossword puzzles, she was obsessed with Boggle different word association games because she was a very smart woman and she thought that that was the way to prevent getting Alzheimer's. She's like I'm going to keep my brain engaged and it's going to help. Maybe it prolonged it, maybe it didn't. But I think the interesting part of kind of where I'm getting with this it was just a study that came out about four or five years ago and they were testing different, a different theory. They took brain games and they took exercise and what they found was really interesting Brain games only had a very small percentage increase in curving the symptoms of dementia, where exercise alone had double the effect of curving dementia. Now this is where it gets really interesting when you combine both of them together at the same exact time and triple the effect.
Speaker 1:And I think back to me studying in college and I would study as weird as it sounds at the gym and I would practice while I was working out and I was able to retain things like that. It was impeccable, like just moving my body and forcing myself to think and study. Like my retention and all of that was a lot better than me sitting in front of a computer and studying things. Even on top of that, I wasn't shocked because I would always look at like tests and I would watch my peers stay up all night, wake up like I didn't even go to bed and take the test the next day and for myself I actually prioritized sleeping over studying. So if I wouldn't get eight hours of sleep I wouldn't study. I would just rather get to sleep and I always did better in school, I think from a combination of that approach plus the learning and working out, and the study kind of helped prove it. So I want to get your thoughts on that and if you knew that.
Speaker 2:Every single thing that you just said has been substantiated through studies and research. And is you know what is being recommended for people to possibly minimize their risk of developing Alzheimer's? There's more, a little more involved. We can, you know, dive deeper into that, but those are very important elements to minimizing your risk. It doesn't work for everybody. Your grandma's a perfect example. She did a lot of those things and I have seen some of the most brilliant people on the planet develop Alzheimer's disease. But given that it does help some people minimize their risk, it's worth doing to avoid developing Alzheimer's disease if possible, because that's all we have to go on right now. So let me start with the four risk factors that we know of that we call non-modifiable risk factors, and the reason why they're categorized as non-modifiable is because we can't change them. They either apply to us or they don't apply to us.
Speaker 2:And the more of these, what you want to guess.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going to guess. The number one is genetics.
Speaker 2:The number one. That's one of the four, but the number one is our age.
Speaker 1:See, I was going to say age is number two, but okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and of course we can't change our chronological age. We're aging every single day but it is the number one risk factor.
Speaker 1:Age sex women are way more likely than men.
Speaker 2:Yes, you're right.
Speaker 1:That I definitely knew, and I think I know why too, but we'll get into that a little bit later.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, because there are theories about that.
Speaker 1:Number four.
Speaker 2:You already said another one genetics. There's one more.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go race, but I'm not positive. Yes, okay.
Speaker 2:So, whatever our ethnic background is, we know now that there are some ethnic backgrounds that do develop Alzheimer's disease more than some of the others. So those are the four that we can't change. We can't change our age, we can't change our gender, we can't change our genetics and we can't change our you know our race backgrounds or ethnicity. Race backgrounds or ethnicity, so we're stuck with all, with. You know one, two, three or four of those, and so if you know you are 65 or older, if you're a woman, if you come from one of the ethnic backgrounds that we know is a higher risk and it runs in your family, like it does in mine, there's four strikes against you right there, and we haven't even started factoring in the modifiable risk factors that we're going to talk about in a minute.
Speaker 1:I want to stress a point though, and I think this is super important Just because you have one, two, three or four of the risk factors, it's still a percentage game, and I feel like a lot of people don't understand percentages from a hole in a wall. They pretend they do but they don't. Let me explain really quickly. If you have 100 people in the room and all of them are super athletic, super in shape, there's still a one percent chance someone's going to die before the age of 50, like it doesn't matter what you do.
Speaker 1:You might have a massive heart attack attack, but you mitigate the risk and the other 99 can still live past the age of 50. But if you add in, let's say, everyone in the group smokes, drinks, eats fried foods all the time doesn't get out of their chairs, and you have 100 people in your room and say 90 people will make it past the age of 70. And say 90 people will make it past the age of 70, there's still 10 people, and we all know these 10 people that you're like. How the heck are you? 100 years old, yeah, and still sharp as a tack, and you smoke seven packs a day and have sherry every single morning.
Speaker 2:And eat hot dogs every single day of your life and you drink Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it defies everything that we're talking about morning and ate hot dogs every single day of your life and you drank and exactly yeah, everything defies everything that we're talking about, but they're.
Speaker 2:The point is and I emphasize this to anybody that I am talking to about this yes, it, these things will either increase a person's risk or or, conversely, minimize. But does that mean you're going to get it if every single risk factor applies to you? Absolutely not. I have seen people who could have every single risk factor going against them and their brains are perfectly healthy. And I've seen other people who there's absolutely no explanation for why they developed Alzheimer's disease based on their life history. So it doesn't discriminate, it picks on anybody. But we do know, based on scientific evidence, that these things that we're talking about today can help minimize or can increase a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I can even mention the modified ones if you want, because I think I got to handle them as well, so I'll dive in with I know if I'm missing. I want you to add in and also add to what I know. I think the first and obvious one is what's right behind me Working out Maybe not in order, but it's definitely a modified one. That is definitely one of them.
Speaker 2:But I'll tell you the number one, because this surprised me. I never would have thought of this if I hadn't learned it professionally. The number one modifiable risk. And when we say, when we're saying modifiable, it means that it can be treated. Maybe it's a medical condition, it can be changed by implementing something different into your lifestyle choices. But the number one is, believe it or not, it's cardiovascular disease and it ties into your fitness. But so anybody who has a heart condition, anybody who suffers from hypertension or high blood pressure, is at an increased risk of developing alzheimer's disease, and but it can be negatedated under a doctor's care, with treatment, with eating healthier foods, with getting regular exercise, and all of these things that Anthony and I are talking about are intermingled. They all relate to each other. So that is the number one. And then second is diabetes. The top risk factors apply to medical conditions. So cardiovascular disease, diabetes disease, diabetes, sleep apnea that one was surprising, but you mentioned it with your grandma that she made sure she got plenty of sleep and prioritized that. Hearing loss is also a huge risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease. But again, you wear hearing aids, you're you're treating that condition, so it would then reduce that risk from being high to lower. And then, of course, we haven't even.
Speaker 2:There are other medical conditions that that we're aware of. I'll give you three. So anybody that suffers from a thyroid condition either hypo or hyper, that can. Actually, while you're having a thyroid problem, the symptoms can show up that mirror or mimic dementia. But that's an exception, because if you do have a thyroid condition and it's treated, then you can actually reverse your symptoms and not. There's only a couple things that we know of where they're reversible, and a thyroid condition is one of them. A urinary tract infection, believe it or not, it could bring on symptoms like dementia just practically overnight. But again, it's treatable with antibiotics and if you start your teeth, oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that's. Another one is, you know, like gum disease. But so I have seen so many people over my career just all, all of a sudden start acting like they have dementia. It doesn't happen that fast and it turns out they had a urinary tract infection. And once it gets into the blood system then it affects your brain and can mimic dementia. But there's a simple fix. You are treated with antibiotics. Get rid of the infection. Once it's in your bloodstream, it does take longer for those symptoms to clear up than your regimen of antibiotics. So if you're on a 10 dayday antibiotic regimen and the infection is gone, it may still take up to another month before your brain is kind of out of that fog. And Lyme disease is another one that mimics the same or similar symptomology that we see with dementia. Again, that's a treatable disease too. But so, in terms of lifestyle choices, these are key because a lot of these things that cause these medical conditions are due to lifestyle choices, wouldn't you say, Anthony, are due to lifestyle choices, wouldn't you say, anthony?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. Even an important one that personally affects me is concussions. I've had four in my life and I could tell you I don't remember things from my childhood, so I remember flashbulb memories, which I think is super interesting, because even if you see people with Alzheimer's, my grandma said the same story every single day until the day she died. It was all true. It was a true story that something had happened to her life. It was just a memory that was so in there that she just kept telling it over and over again. So our flashback moments are actually incredible that our brain can just pin and relive something.
Speaker 1:But I think concussions is the missed one and it's CTS is coming out more and more. You're seeing it more with athletes, but as far as the first three you mentioned, as far as the highest ones, right. So cardiovascular disease, diabetes and then sleep apnea all three preventable with healthy diet and exercise. That in and of itself. You also mentioned a stat that didn't surprise me from a hole in a wall, and I actually wouldn't be surprised if it was a lot higher that the rate of Alzheimer's is going to triple over the next five, 10 years 25 years 25.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't be shocked if it was five, 10 years. You look at fit bodies, right? There was a stat that came out that said in 2025, being in shape is going to be rarer than a Rolex, and if we don't think that those two are associated, then you just got it dead wrong. So when we take it for granted that, hey, we're 50, 60 pounds overweight, we don't take care of our bodies, we don't sleep right. Don't be shocked if you get dementia at 70, 75 years old and you're stuck trying to remember things because you neglected your body.
Speaker 2:It's all related. It's all related.
Speaker 1:All related. A really simple dementia uh one that's in that pool that caught. One disease that causes dementia is many, uh like strokes in your brain. So we all get many clots. They go into our brain, clogs up a little vessel.
Speaker 2:That part of the brain dies and yeah, that is actually, um, not an actual disease, but it's a cause of dementia and it's, from what you said, a stroke or a trans-enschemic attack, which is aka a mini stroke, and that causes what we call vascular dementia, and the symptoms are pretty much the same, but they're caused from our brain, our brains bleeding, not from an actual disease like Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Still causes some of the symptoms vascular disease.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Right on the head and it's like something like that which we know how to prevent clots, like we know this, but yet people kind of take life for granted and I think sometimes people need a hard awakening into reality and it's something that a lot of my clients are truly understanding, appreciate is we gotta take responsibility for our own health, because there's way more things. Yeah, no one else gives a shit. Let's be be real. Your family will love you, your spouse will love you, but the only person that's responsible to take care of you is you. Sorry, not sorry.
Speaker 1:So the symptoms you get later in life are a direct reflection of what you do throughout your earlier days. So we talk about cardiovascular disease, talk about type 2 diabetes and you talk about sleep apnea three things overall that we could work on and fix. Like you can start that now, and I'm a big believer in not waiting till Monday, starting this right very second, and you can do that now. What's stopping you? Absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1:You control what you put inside your mouth. Like no one else is force feeding you down things and saying you have to eat this and then like, or pouring alcohol down your throat, like that's something that you have full control over and can start right this very second to make a positive change, so you don't end up with dementia and have to make your loved ones suffer because it's a horrible disease, it's horrible to watch people go through and it's something like what you said if we wish, we could help, treat and eventually prevent overall, and I just hope that there's a better way to get across people. So I'm going to ask you personally what's one way you've gotten through to people to help them start mitigating the risks of preventing dementia.
Speaker 2:By educating them and making them aware that these things contribute to our risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, and then telling them what science is proving to be a possible prevention from it. Not for everybody, I mean, none of this is set in stone. There are a lot of studies that have supported these facts that we're talking about, but again, they don't work on everybody. But this is kind of the way I look at it and why I go around raising awareness about these things, living with dementia, and then the things that we can do to prevent it. And I agree with you, anthony, it's a tragic disease, um, and we actually end up losing our loved one twice because, like anthony was saying, his grandmother just kind of, you know, just disappeared inside herself and then they eventually pass away because it is a terminal disease, there's no cure for it. So we have to, you know, mourn the loss while they're progressing through the stages of the terminal illness to where they don't know anybody and they need full-time care and everything that goes along with it, and then they pass away. So now we're mourning them the loss twice. That's a heavy burden on the people who are left behind. So what I say, I mean really it's just kind of my logical way of thinking, if I was listening to this podcast and this information was all new to me, it's like I didn't know that and I didn't know that and I didn't know that. Then let's say you're in your 30s and somebody today it's me and Anthony we're saying but there's things that you can do to lower your risk. But there's things that you can do to lower your risk. And some people might say because when I was in my 30s I said it like why am I worried about something that's going to happen in 50 years? But fast forward 50 years. If it does happen to you, you might, it might occur to you that, boy, if I had listened to what Anthony and Lisa Skinner were telling me on the podcast Health and Fitness Redefined podcast 50 years ago, I might not be living with Alzheimer's disease and dementia today. So ask yourself is it worth making some lifestyle changes and you can do them gradually to avoid losing all of your cognitive functions?
Speaker 2:Because Alzheimer's disease typically starts showing up at the age of 65. Up at the age of 65. For every five years that you age after 65, so 70, 75, 80, the risk increases substantially by the time people today, not even in 25 years. Today, one out of three people age 85 or older develops Alzheimer's disease, and that's today. That's a true statistic and you know just by being aware of some of these things and I can now understand why it is the number one most feared disease to get in people 55 or older.
Speaker 2:Now there is a more rare form of Alzheimer's disease called early onset, that shows up before the age of 65. It's a much rarer form, but recently somebody was diagnosed with it at 19 years old, and before that it was somebody in their 30s. We are seeing a higher incidence of early onset dementia than we've seen in the past. So it's a scary proposition to think about spending the rest of your life basically with your cognition failing you completely and having to have somebody care for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week and not recognize family members. You can't communicate with them. In exchange for, do I really need that hamburger? Drive through that fast food place and eat that hamburger today. Maybe you cut it back and then the exercise component of it is has um, there's a huge correlation, just like anthony said, between I need to I need to add to this, because it's not just exercise, it's the type of exercise.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we're specifically strength training and you mentioned something very interesting before which we know the eight. Uh, sex, sorry, you mentioned sex and I told you women are more likely to develop Alzheimer's than men, correct, and we all know that's a true stat, that's true, that's true.
Speaker 1:Why? I think I know why and I'm going to answer this and a lot of people probably going to like my answer, but I don't care. If it helps people, so be it. So women, as we all know, uh, 40s start going through something called menopause. Menopause, those are your hormones all up in a row, so things you grew up functioning with your entire life, with help in all aspects of your life, right? It starts dissipating, your body starts changing. You take that. So now your sex hormones are going over a whack and dissipating. You throw that in with women are way less likely to lift weights by far it's. You're starting to see an increase, but women now are still don't lift as much as men do. And muscle, as we know, preserves your metabolism. It preserves your brain.
Speaker 1:Sleep Women are way more or less likely to get eight hours of consistent, keyword, consistent sleep and have good circadian rhythms. The biggest one, which I'm saved for a little later stress. Women are way more likely to get stressed out. Carry stress with them day to day. I love the funny example because I think humor helps break everything. You know the difference between two boys fighting and two girls fighting. The boy fight will end in an hour. The girl fight will last 10 years.
Speaker 2:That's true.
Speaker 2:One of the things I want to add to the sleep, because this has also been proven. Because this has also been proven that one of the reasons why sleep deprivation increases a person's risk, it's not only in the amount of hours you get that's recommended at least seven but people with sleep apnea, for example, they don't fall into the REM sleep, the deep sleep, and this is actually the time that our brains are working like washing machines and cleansing the toxins out of our brains. So that's why sleep apnea is such going through that cleansing process. That happens in people who do enter that REM sleep. Are you aware of this, anthony?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a specific protein that doesn't break the blood-brain barrier, unless you're in deep REM sleep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so that's kind of an important thing to understand. Why sleep apnea? Why would somebody with sleep apnea be at a higher risk? That's the reason. And then the other thing that you should also address, since it's more your area of expertise than mine, but I know that there's a correlation, but it's tied into everything that you are talking about and mention is they're now seeing a connection between inflammation in your brain and inflammation in your body as being a contributor to a person's risk, and a lot of that inflammation can be mitigated or tamed, if you will, through these things that Anthony is talking about the diet, the exercise, the lowering your stress, all of those things. And so we've learned.
Speaker 1:It's important to understand something yet again relating to why women are more likely to have Alzheimer's. So those four is the fifth one. Women are way less likely to eat meat and meat is known to preserve your brain, especially lean meats. So, looking at chicken, turkey, bison, elk, lean red meat you can get from cow and we know that those good fats actually help lower your chance of getting cardiovascular disease, help lower your chances of getting high blood pressure and help preserve muscle mass at the end of the day. So you get really good fats and you get really good protein from these meats that half of us just avoid or just don't eat enough of. So it's it's all of these five separate things that added in and really cool.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you know this, lisa, but I am, and those that listen know I am obsessed about this Creatine, specifically creatine monohydrate. There has been so many studies on creatine monohydrate now with no upper limit, so meaning normal people take five grams a day of creatine monohydrate, you can get up to 20 grams a day. That actually showed to increase brain performance and increase memory. That actually showed to increase brain performance and increase memory. And it is as effective with people with dementia as the leading medicine out there, and that's just a supplement. And what's crazy slash not crazy about it is where do we naturally get creatine from? Do you know?
Speaker 2:No, I don't.
Speaker 1:Two things Red meat it's naturally founded and sleep. Oh, Our body releases creatine throughout our body. So lower levels of creatine, like women, like we addressed, because they're not eating meat and they're not sleeping properly. So everything can be wrapped up all together.
Speaker 2:I wasn't even aware of the creatine theory until you just told me, but it ties in with what we know and what increases a person's risks, and that you know where you get it from. The sleep and the meats makes sense options out there to help towards that. I'm going to remember that. That's a good thing to know.
Speaker 1:I wasn't aware of the creatine theory. It's only because I literally upset my wife. She goes you're either going to talk about AI or creatine. That's all you ever talk about.
Speaker 2:I'm like yes, the point to this whole discussion is awareness.
Speaker 2:I think that probably a lot of the things that we've talked about today, especially in relationship to a person's risk of developing a brain disease Alzheimer's, whatever and not minimizing it it's like I never knew any of this stuff and it stands to reason when you look at, you know, the way our lifestyles have changed over the last 50 years.
Speaker 2:No-transcript. More people are developing Alzheimer's disease because of our crazy lives that we lead, the stress, the run here, run there, drive through this fast food, drive through there to you know, get something quick, Other than doing a lot of driving and racing around, a lot of driving and racing around when we're not. We lead kind of a sedentary lifestyle, more so than we did 50 years ago, because there's a lot more available to us. That creates that sedentary lifestyle and we are seeing results of the way our lifestyles have changed in the last 50 years and it's increasing our risks of developing these diseases and and living with, you know, cognitive impairment, which I wouldn't wish on anybody no, no, the only the only last thing I want to bring up because it's personal to me and I love you, mom, but my mom has.
Speaker 1:I say my grandma is my mom's side and she's been super worried about getting Alzheimer's and she does work out and she does do some other things associated with it. But then she goes and she gets told she cholesterol levels are high. And then what do they give you? If I have high cholesterol, they give you a statin. What are statins known to cause? I mean, I feel like our medical community needs to catch up with what outweighs what. We don't even have scientific sound evidence showing that high cholesterol is even a bad thing, especially because it's strictly based on one of the proportions of LDLs to HDLs that you have.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But yet we're going to give people something that we know, in the long term, is directly correlated to increase your chances of getting Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've read that there's been a lot of studies on statins that point in that direction.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah. So just misunderstanding of all of this, I think, is something people need to understand, and I'm going to say this I think doctors are the best human beings on the face of the earth. My whole family is them I mentioned. My grandparents found a medical school and they live a legacy upon it. But it doesn't matter what I say, it doesn't matter what the doctor says, it doesn't matter what Lisa says. Do your own research. It's super important. Before you put anything inside your body, you know exactly what it does.
Speaker 1:Obviously, I don't believe in living a perfect life. I think that's a fallacy. I tell my wife all the time when she asks me she's like well, what about this, what about this, what about this? I'm like Sal. Here's a rule of thumb If it doesn't make you at least 20% better, who gives a shit? Right, like, if you're going to be you, stressing about being perfect is worse than you just trying to be 80% good. Right, like? I'll have a beer once in a while. It ain't going to kill me, right? I'm not going to sit there and stress. I can worry about time of day, eating, what exactly types of proteins I'm getting, and really get into the weeds, but that's going to overcomplicate and overstress me, but if I could be 80% good, I can live the life I want and really mitigate my chances of getting this such a horrible disease and everything else that comes with it.
Speaker 2:So I agree with everything you're saying. It's so true and the information is out there. This isn't just me coming on this show and giving my opinions about these things. This information is available if you know what to Google or know what to look for, but a lot of people don't even make that association that, oh my gosh, this can increase my chance because we don't, like I said, sleep apnea. Who would have put two and two together? That that could increase your risk.
Speaker 1:See, that one shocks me the least. Huh, what that one shocks me the least, the sleep apnea thing.
Speaker 2:Which one shocks you the most?
Speaker 1:The hearing one that I. But then I thought about it and I know why, or I think, I know why. I think it's related isolationism has been known to cause similar effects to dementia, and you are so right.
Speaker 2:Well, there's some other components to it, but that's one of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can see that If you can't hear people and you can't communicate and you're just lost in your head, it can definitely start sounding crazy, right? So you need to socialize, we need to be involved. It's a muscle we work by hanging out and talking to people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very true, so that one I got to say shocked me the most.
Speaker 1:But the sleep apnea shocked me the least because I knew about the sleep and the protein already. That is directly related and I actually have sleep apnea, which probably helps a little bit to at least understanding it from a hole in a wall. And sleep apnea there's 1% of the population that it's strictly anatomical and has nothing to do with how much you weigh or being overweight or anything. But I use a CPAP, so that definitely helps and I recommend anyone that does have sleep apnea. You fall asleep with the steering wheel. Once you're going to get a CPAP, don't get to that point. Do it, especially because we know that lack of sleep can cause Alzheimer's. We know lack of sleep makes you unproductive the next day. We know lack of sleep triples your cortisol levels, so you're going to eat like shit throughout the day and you can hold onto fat longer. We know that lack of sleep causes muscle wasting. And those are just the four things we can strictly talk about now, with a hundred other things that lack of sleep causes it makes it irritable, go ahead.
Speaker 2:Can I add one thing to the sleep apnea topic? Sure, a lot of people don't know they have sleep apnea. So number one thing to um to be cognizant of is if you're a snorer. Not everybody who snores has sleep apnea, but a lot of people who have sleep apnea snore. If you are a known snorer, then it would be worth getting tested, because the likelihood of you having sleep apnea is high. And then another thing that happens with sleep apnea is during your sleep cycle. While you're sleeping, you stop breathing. And, um, some people, their sleep apnea is so severe that they can stop sleeping 90 times an hour. I mean stop breathing. So that's definitely something that can be reversed by using CPAP machines.
Speaker 2:So, even if you, you know, if you suspect, let's say, start with being a snorer. It's so easy to get sleep tested nowadays. The days where you had to go to that sleep clinic and spend the night and do all that's all changed. You can do it in the comfort of your own home. Just talk to your doctor about it and say you know what? I was listening to this program and I am a really bad snorer. So maybe I do have sleep apnea and just have never realized it. Do you agree with that, anthony?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2:How did? You discover you had sleep apnea.
Speaker 1:Anthony, oh yeah, 100%. How did you discover you had sleep apnea? I'm very into my body and I would sleep 12, 12 and a half hours a day and still be tired my whole childhood.
Speaker 2:But you're not a snorer.
Speaker 1:No, which is crazy.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you're like an exception.
Speaker 1:My uncle was my doctor at the time and I'll never forget this. I kept going and I was like man, I sleep way too long. And then I'm like physically exhausted oh, you're getting old, You're growing. I was like no, you don't get it, Like I can literally go to bed at 7 PM, sleep till 8 AM the next morning and then still take a nap.
Speaker 2:Well, that's another sign. That's another sign is chronic fatigue, because you're not getting a restful night's sleep. You're not going into that deep sleep state.
Speaker 1:I forced him to give me a sleep test.
Speaker 1:I said get me a script for a sleep study. I got. It came back positive for dyspnea and I just knew it. Then I got a bunch of surgeries. It went away for a couple of years and then it came back. So the scar tissue built up where I had the surgeries and it binds my breathing. I barely get air in my nose and when I lay my throat so big the air always kind of gets stuck. So I can tell when I have a bad night I'm screwed. So I'm really like strict Same time to bed every night, same time. Wake up every morning CPAP. Every night CPAP, no strip. That's how I get through.
Speaker 2:Wow, you are just a super disciplined person. Can we clone you?
Speaker 1:It took a lot to get here, but yeah, all right, lisa, I'm going to ask you the final two questions. I asked everyone just to wrap this show up. So the first one is if you were to summarize this episode in one or two sentences, what would be your take-home message?
Speaker 2:Could you repeat?
Speaker 1:that I didn't catch the whole thing. If you were to summarize this episode in one or two sentences, what would be your take-home message?
Speaker 2:There are proven ways that we know now that we can minimize our risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. If that's something that is important to you or anybody you know or your loved one, then just pay attention to what we've talked about. Do your own research. I think that's a great idea. The information is out there Now. You know what to Google or to look for, and then you have to make your own choices. You are responsible for your own health couldn't agree more.
Speaker 1:And the second question how can people find you and get a hold of you and learn more?
Speaker 2:okay, a couple ways. Um, I have a a website. It's called mindingdementiacom, or you can listen to my podcast. I talk about every aspect aspect of Alzheimer's and dementia If you're family or you know somebody, or if you're a caregiver and you're going through this in your life. It's a weekly podcast. A new episode drops every Wednesday and the content is something to do with living with Alzheimer's disease the other brain diseases that cause dementia and how to make your lives a little easier to live, whether you're a family member or a caregiver or a doctor. So that's a great resource that I provide for people and it's free. It's a podcast.
Speaker 1:I love it. Lisa, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you, guys for listening to this week's episode of Health and Fitness Redefined. Don't forget to subscribe, share with a friend. It's the only way this show grows. And remember fitness is medicine. Until next time, I'm ready. Outro Music.
