Managing Alzheimer’s with Exercise and Healthy Diet

With more than six million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease and 1 in 3 seniors dying due to the condition but with no cure in sight, finding ways to alleviate the suffering and manage its symptoms is more important than ever. On this entry, we, as your healthcare partner and provider of adult day services in Virginia will be discussing the most studied areas in the subject—diet and exercise; specifically, what do we know about diet, exercise, and Alzheimer’s and how do they help manage the condition, if they do? According to the National Institute on Aging, while healthy diets, specifically the Mediterranean diet and the related MIND (Mediterranean–DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet, are associated with cognitive benefits, it is not clear about the actual mechanisms that are causing these. Similar to diet, physical activity through exercise has shown positive benefits to brain health, but just how much and what specific patterns lead to stronger links in preventing and/or delaying the decline caused by Alzheimer’s disease is not understood clearly. That said, with this strong evidence, it is crucial to lean in and start incorporating healthy eating habits and increasing physical activity into our lifestyles to reap these benefits. Thus, here are the many important ways that diet and exercise have shown to help manage Alzheimer’s disease: Diet

• May reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s dementia or slow cognitive decline by improving cardiovascular health, which may, in turn, reduce the risk for dementia.
• May increase specific nutrients that have protective abilities as well as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
• May inhibit beta-amyloid deposits, which are found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, or improve cellular metabolism to protect against the disease.
• May sustain thicker cortical brain regions that are thinned or shrunk in people with Alzheimer’s.

Physical activity through exercise

• May lower the risk of cognitive decline than those who don’t
• May be associated with fewer Alzheimer’s plaques and tangles in the brain
• May promote better performance on certain cognitive tests
• May lead to more opportunities to socialize which has protective effects against cognitive decline

At our adult daytime center in Forest, Virginia at Raspberry Hill Adult Daytime Center, we make sure that diet and exercise are at the top of our list of priorities through our Dietary Services and Activities Services. Among the activities that your senior loved ones can look forward to include the following:

• Enjoyable experiences that stimulate cognitive functioning
• Relaxation and stress release
• Physical fitness
• Creative opportunities for self-expression
• Opportunities for socialization
• Contact with the community
• Reminiscent therapy
• Increased self-esteem through ‘failure-free’ experiences

On the other hand, you can rest assured that all meals provided in our adult daycare facility are appetizing, healthy, and dietitian-approved. Moreover, through our healthcare training classes in Lynchburg, Virginia, you can count on our staff to be reliable and compassionate and ensure that your senior loved one will thrive and make the most of their stay with us every day.