Alzheimer’s Disease is a growing illness in North America, and many studies have shown that exercise, both physical and mental, can help to prevent its onset. But although Alzheimer’s and Dementia are widespread in North America does not mean that any changes in mental function with age are something to be concerned about.
As reported recently in the Modesto Bee newspaper, experts say that age should bring changes in cognitive ability, but that there’s not necessarily a problem.
“There is such a thing as normal memory change with age, just as there are normal changes in vision,” Susan Lehmann, a geriatric psychiatrist with Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, told the news source.
She said that people without Alzheimer’s or Dementia should remember how to read, they should remember major details about their own life, and they shouldn’t forget details about the world around them.
Lehmann told the media outlet that less than half of people who reach the age of 85 to 90 years old will have Alzheimer’s or Dementia, so while these diseases should be prevented if possible, most seniors will not suffer from it.