Alert Symptoms Of DEMENTIA A Decade BEFORE It Happens

Hello, health champions. Today we're going to talk about signs of dementia at decade before you get dementia. And one such sign could be that you notice a decrease in coordination in your ability to control movement. And it could be that you're not able to catch an object like you used to something that's being thrown to you maybe or catch something that you dropped. It could be that you're not using tools or utensils as well as you used to. You don't have the same precision and fine control that you used to. Maybe you notice a little more clumsiness. You're tripping over things. You stub your toe. You bump into things as you move around. Or it could be fine motor skills such as buttoning a shirt or tying your shoelaces or tying a tie. And it's not as easy as it wants used to be. Or it could be some mild tremors just a little bit of shaking of the hands that didn't used to be there before. And all of this would indicate a decrease in motor control. And don't jump to conclusions. This does not mean that you're heading toward dementia, but it's one thing to look out for because it does mean that your brain cells aren't as healthy. They're not firing as precisely. They don't develop as much energy as they used to. And if your brain is slowly degenerating, that increases the probability of dementia. And the biggest thing that we need to understand about dementia about any other disease process is that we have the wrong standard model. Typically people look at disease as happening all of a sudden that we live our lives healthy. As long as we don't want any symptoms, we're just moving along, being healthy. And then one day all of a sudden maybe around 50 years old, we go to the doctor because we're not feeling well. And now they give us a diagnosis. And most people are told this diagnosis and they perceive it as if it happened suddenly. As you have a healthy, healthy, healthy, and all of a sudden you became sick. And the standard way of dealing with this of course is to treat symptoms with medication. We're not really making anything work better. And the years go by and then around age 80 give or take a few. Then all of a sudden we fall dead. As if this happened in solid increments like that, like if it was black or white. But the reality is more like the functional view that we have a certain amount of function. And let's say that we start out at a hundred percent function. And nature are very generous to us in the beginning because we get about 20 years for free. Your body develops, there is no degeneration because your body is conditioned. It's programmed to develop and build and get stronger. So at age 20 give or take you're about at maximum function. But then that function starts declining. Every year you're losing a few percent function. But you're still above this threshold where you're feeling healthy. You don't have any symptoms. And then one day you move into the zone where you do have some symptoms. But of course it didn't happen suddenly. It just looked that way. And then if you are in the standard model, if you just treat your symptoms with medication. Now you're not adding any function. You know, I was doing anything about the root causes. You're not providing anything more of what the body needs to function. So your function continues to decline until the point where you have 0 percent function left. So if you understand this functional model that we have a certain amount of energy that starts declining after age 20, then when do you want to start doing something about it? Well, every single body part is absolutely essential. There are no spare body parts. There are no optional body parts. But I would argue that the brain is the most important body part because it controls everything else. Everything else depends on the brain for its livelihood, so to speak, for its function, for its quality. But most of all, more than anything, the brain is so important for your quality of life. There's like a direct relationship between the health of your brain and the quality of your life. Your brain is also one of the organs that are the hardest to regenerate. It doesn't mean impossible. It doesn't mean that it always just moves one direction downhill. But it is harder than other organs. And one of the reasons that it's harder than other organs is that there is sort of a point of no return. And that is when your cognition, when your brain function has gotten below a certain point, now you don't have the motivation to turn it around. So the brain depends on the brain to turn it around. Your heart could turn around. Anyway, if you feed someone better, you could improve certain things about the body. But the brain needs the brain and the motivation to develop and maintain this quality of life and to regenerate. And that's why it's critical that whatever age we are, wherever we are on this continuum of function, that we start right now, that we understand. The brain is the most important organ and the sooner we understand how it works and what it needs, the better we're going to be able to maintain and sustain that function as long as possible. And then I will bring up something else that I come across a lot as a practitioner. And that's what about the kids? And now you're saying, well, no problem, my kids don't have dementia. Of course not. But what I'm getting at is people think that once you have diabetes, now you have to eat right. You have to turn that around. And I have so many people who say that the hardest thing is that there is junk food at home. I can eat well for a week, but then my kids food, my kids bread, my kids junk food is there at home. And it's so hard to resist. And I just want to ask, what is the junk food doing at home for the kids? Why would you want your kids to eat garbage and end up in the place where you are, where they have a diagnosis? Why not teach them as early as possible how to eat and how the body works so that they don't have all the same issues that you've developed? Next sign has to do with gait posture and movement. So it could be something as simple as a shuffling gait that you're dragging your feet a little bit or that your steps get a little bit shorter, that your stride is not as long as it once was. Maybe you're losing a little bit of that spring in the step. Or it could be a stooped hunched over posture. So how many people do you see when they get a little bit older that this happens? And it could be a very subtle, but it means something. So one of the most common signs is that anterior head carriage, but it can also be internal rotation. So if you notice people's arms are they're supposed to hang straight down parallel to your body. But if they turn in a little bit, then that's a sign that the brain doesn't have quite the same firepower to turn off the muscles that turn your hands in. That internal rotation is a sign of stress, but it's also a sign of brain degeneration. And it could be also the anterior head carriage, the internal rotation of the shoulders, pulling the shoulders up, turning the hands in. All of those are signs of the same mechanism. And I'm sure if you paid attention or if you're going to pay attention, you're going to see something called hip and knee flexion as part of this pattern with internal rotation. So people, the head gums forward, the hands turn in. And now also the hips go backwards a little bit and the knees bend a little bit. And the stronger the brain is, the stronger it's going to be able to maintain this posture. And when the brain starts getting weaker, then we're going to get all of these signs to some degree. But here's the thing that we want to understand about the brain and about neurology, that everything that you can observe, every diagnostic sign is also a form of therapy. That means if you observe this and then you do the opposite, if you have anterior head carriage and you work on your posture, if you have your shoulders rolled in and you move them back. And if you practice this, if you pay attention, if you put more spring into your step, if you straighten your knees, if you stand up straight with your hips, now you're actually building up those pathways that are supposed to maintain that function. I'm sure you've heard of use it or lose it. So the more that you pay attention and practice this, the more you're actually building up your brain to maintain that function. Another thing that you might notice is that when it comes to your gate and your movements, that everything seems a little bit stiffer, that the movements aren't as smooth and fluid as they used to be. Next, you might notice some changes in balance or spatial awareness, the ability to observe, to be aware of your environment without really paying direct attention to it. And if this starts to decline, you might notice that you're a little bit unsteady standing or walking. It could be that you seem to be stumbling. Either you're stumbling directly or you kind of just think you're stumbling and you need to grab and hold on to something. It could be that you're misjudging distance and timing of things. So the distance to stationary or moving objects and if they're moving, then you might misjudge the timing of when something's going to happen. Also, you might find that it's a little harder to multitask when it comes to moving and this could be like doing something while you're walking or walking and turning at the same time. And you find that you have to do one at a time. So it's like you have to stop first and then turn or you feel a little unsteady about it. And when it comes to muscle and body movement, you might notice something as simple as muscle stiffness that your bodies don't stretch and relax the way they used to. And this especially would apply to spinal stiffness. And this is why yoga is so important and so beneficial because yoga is mostly about keeping the spine flexible. And why is that important? Because 90% of the input of the signals that keep the brain alive come from the body, the movement of the body and gravity and the vast majority of those signals come from the spine. So you have so many more receptors. You have more receptors in the spine as far as movement and spatial awareness called proprioception. Then you do in the rest of the body put together. So as your brain starts going downhill, as it starts declining, because it doesn't get the signals, then it results in spinal stiffness. But if you maintain that spinal flexibility, now you're allowing those signals to flow and keep that brain alive. Another thing that could happen is restless legs. And don't jump to conclusions here and say, oh my god, I have restless legs. I'm getting dementia. No, that's one way that you could get restless legs is if the brain starts to get a little weaker and it's not able to inhibit some of those spontaneous actions and signals from the legs. But there are many other causes as well. If you watched my other videos, such as inflammation and pH and mineral status, et cetera. And then we're getting into the things that most people think about that would be mild cognitive decline. And the first thing that happens is that you start forgetting names, you start forgetting words and tasks or even recent events. And again, this is something that happens to everybody. So don't jump to conclusions. It's about how much does it happen? And when does it really become a problem? This mild cognitive decline could also result in a difficulty focusing and organizing. When your brain can stay sharp on one task and keep track of the different things it needs to handle and organize to get something done, then that gets much harder. As a result, you might find that you have difficulty completing tasks, especially if they're more complex tasks and they require sustained, focused attention. And you might also find your mind wandering and it could be difficult to stay on tasks like that, but it could also be that your mind is wondering so that you get lost in conversations. It could also affect your communication. So some people would have subtle changes in their speech. It could be that they speak slower than they used to do or it could be an occasional slurring where they can't properly pronounce or form certain words. It could be hard to find the words. And of course, again, this happens to everybody. It's just a matter of how much does it happen? Is it getting worse? And at what point does it become a problem? You might notice a reduction in facial expression. There is less movement in the facial muscles and this could lead to less animated speech, but also less of an affect. An affect in speech is how much emotion do you involve? How much intonation? How much variation? What's the melody of the speech that you're producing? And if you don't have a lot of affect, then it comes across as flat. It sounds very monotone like you're just droning on. A slowing of the brain can also start affecting your handwriting. And this is something that people used to do with a pen and paper before we did all of our writing on keyboards and cell phones. And one way that our handwriting can be affected is with something called micrographia. And that means that as it's harder to control, as it's harder to write, the writing becomes smaller and smaller and smaller. And it could also be that it gets much harder to control, that it gets really, really sloppy, and it doesn't look as neat as it used to. Something else that can happen is that we notice we're more irritable. We fly off the handle. We could have outbursts or we could just be more irritable in general. And this is because one of the main functions of the brain is to turn things off. So as you have an irritation come up, as you have an outburst about to happen, a well-functioning brain can dampen that and put it in perspective. Whereas when the brain gets a little weaker and slower, then it can control that outburst or that emotion. It could also be a social withdrawal that you're not engaging as much in your community because it takes too much energy or you don't find it as rewarding anymore. You could also experience a lot more anxiety and depression. And again, one of the brain's main functions is to turn off those anxious thoughts and those depressing thoughts. So the better the brain is working, the easier it is to elevate the mood. And you could also see a lack of empathy, meaning that you have a hard time understanding other people's emotions and what they mean and why they have them. So it's harder for you to understand other people and why they do certain things. Or you simply don't care about them as much. You could also be seeing more fatigue. And this would be fatigue even after you get adequate sleep or it could be that you experience fatigue after a minimal exertion. Something that really shouldn't get you tired. Another sign could be that you start getting sleep disturbances because proper solid quality sleep depends on a well-functioning brain. And it could also be that you need more frequent naps. But I want to really point out how important movement is. I'm sure you've noticed by now that half or more of all the signs that we're talking about, they relate to movement. And that 90 percent, I've said this many times, that 90 percent of the brain input is related to movement. And what's the purpose of the brain? The purpose of the brain is to process information. So this 90 percent of the input that it gets to process from movement, that's the juice that keeps the brain alive. And there's such a close connection between brain function and movement, then that's why we can pick up these subtle signs first in the signs that have to do with movement. And now we want to understand that movement is incredibly important as it relates to use it or lose it. But there are many other aspects of dementia such as genetics and inflammation and so forth. So just because we get all these subtle signs that I've talked about, it does not guarantee. There's not like 100 percent association with movement and dementia, but we need to understand that all these signs have to do with brain degeneration. And if that is occurring, if we're losing brain function, that increases the probability of developing dementia. Those are the very early signs because they do indicate that there is a lesser quality that your neural networks are degenerating, that there is less energy production. Your cells can't produce the same amount of energy. They're not capable of the same frequency of firing to control all aspects of movement and function. And you're The brain is simply not able to do as much as it used to, as fast as it used to. And the way to take charge and do something today and for every day of the rest of your life to slow and reverse that degeneration, it's very simple. It's three things. You got to eat better, you have to move better, and you have to think and feel better. So eating better, I talk a lot about, I have hundreds of videos to talk about how to eat to avoid low grade inflammation metabolic syndrome, to avoid toxicity, etc. I've also talked a lot about how to move better and it simply means your body is made for movement. You need to take so many thousand steps, you need to do some stretching and it doesn't mean that you have to go to the gym every day, but your body is made for movement. And then you have to practice thinking better because if you think better, you will feel better. When you feel better, your body heals. When you feel bad, when you feel stressed, when you feel overwhelmed, the brain starts degenerating and your brain starts developing more inflammation. So one of the best things that you can do to get healthy is simply to be happy. Practice thinking better. Read positive things. Do relaxation exercises, breathing exercises, do some meditation. And I'm sorry to have to tell you, but if you want to be healthy, you have to pay the price of happiness. There can also be some sensory changes. And one of the most common is a decreased sense of smell, known as an ausmia. And it could be that you don't recognize certain things at all anymore or it could be that the coffee doesn't smell as interesting or the food doesn't smell as interesting as it used to. And then another subtle sign of a sensory loss could be a difficulty interpreting sounds. And this would be especially in a noisy environment, but this is not because your sensory apparatus isn't there. It's because even with normal hearing, even though you can perceive the sounds that interpreting and creating a picture and a three-dimensional image of sound is a very complex process that is taking place in the brain. So again, even if you're hearing, but your brain doesn't function, that could affect your ability to interpret sound. And we could also have changes in vision. You could, for example, have a decreased ability to judge distance that your eyes perceive light and turns that into neural impulses, but it's your brain that creates the picture. And this could also affect your ability to move in dim light. And it could also be that you don't recognize objects as clearly or it takes longer to figure out exactly what they are. And some of the subtle signs could also affect executive function. So again, we talked about outbursts. If your brain can't control your impulses, now you might have spontaneous outbursts more so than before. It could mean that you're making poor choices. It could have to do with safety. You could make unsafe choices or you could make poor financial decisions. You could be overspending because you don't have the proper limits in place. You might notice that it's harder to make decisions. Whereas before, it was pretty easy, clear cut. And now all of a sudden, it's like you can't decide. You hesitate and you can't just leave it sitting. You might see a decrease in spontaneity because you just don't have the motivation to go after things, to go do things. Nothing is really fun anymore. And you might find it harder to manage your finances. That all of a sudden, it seems more overwhelming. It seems more complex and it's just really hard to track your bills and pay them on time and staying on top of budgets. But the biggest thing I want to convey is that your brain controls everything about you. And absolutely everything happens for a reason. If your arm swing is different from side to side, it's not an accident. It's not random. It means something. And I'm not saying everything has to be super important. But we have to start understanding that every little thing is a result of how well the brain is functioning. So if we start paying attention and we improve things just a little bit at a time, now we're also improving the overall function of the brain. If you enjoyed this video, you're going to love that one. 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