When My World Became All Things Alzheimer’s

“In all likelihood, you have mild cognitive impairment that will eventually lead to younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease, especially with your family’s history.” With that brief pronouncement, my world, my husband’s world and our children’s world changed forever. My husband Jim was 48 when we heard those words. I was 40. Our daughter was 9 and our son was […]

Five Tips to Help Caregivers Get Their Zzzs

When it comes to caring for a parent, spouse or other loved one, sleep is not for beauty. It is essential to maintain health and the energy needed to be a caregiver. Uninterrupted, restorative sleep (7 to 9 hours) is recommended by most experts. But for many of the nation’s 65 million family caregivers, sleep is an […]

Timely Topic: Flu Vaccine Not Linked to Alzheimer’s

‘Tis the season for flu vaccine! Every year we get calls from people asking if there is a link between the flu vaccine and Alzheimer’s disease. This is an idea that came about more than a decade ago and has been debunked many times over. Fact:  Several mainstream studies link flu shots and other vaccinations […]

Dietary Saturated Fat & the Risk of Alzheimer’s

In a study published online in JAMA Neurology, researchers found that dietary saturated fat reduced the body’s levels of apolipoprotein E, also called ApoE, which helps remove amyloid beta proteins out of the brain. Essentially, people who received a high-saturated-fat, high-sugar diet showed a change in their ApoE, such that the ApoE would be less able to […]

The Caregiver Solution to New Year’s Resolutions

One of the things I hate about New Year’s Resolutions is they seem to be about taking away something rather than giving yourself something.  I suppose one could argue if you lose weight with more exercise and eating more nutritiously you are giving yourself a longer, healthier life.  But when our brains think of resolutions […]