Early Onset Alzheimer’s – Encourage, Inspire, and Inform: Lifestyle Matters

Some of us have had our brains examined, or as medical professionals would say “scanned.”
Once you know the shape your brain is in, you are faced with choices: (1) Eat chocolate bonbons
and watch TV or (2) Prioritize brain health.
When you hit the age where you are too old to die young, it is important to think about brain
health. 

With age, maintaining body and mind should be a top priority. Sometimes all we can do
with our bodies is be diligent to think about what still works to compensate for the creaky old
age joints or other physical health issues. I consider it as keep on keeping on. 

The Alzheimer’s Association in their “Brain Health in America” section of the Alzheimer’s
Disease Facts and Figures encapsule the results of the U.S. Pointer Study on Lifestyle. This
clinical trial was the first large-scale study of how lifestyle can protect cognitive health. 

Several years ago, I served on my local Alzheimer’s Association board of directors alongside
a researcher who took us to her lab where they were researching brain trauma for the NFL. At
the same time, they were researching how a healthy lifestyle could delay the onset of dementia.
At that time, she said that lifestyle changes were more promising than medication.

At that time medication could only treat symptoms, but after years of research, two new
drugs that are administered at infusion clinics are in stage 3 and 4. In the early stages of
Alzheimer’s, these drugs have cleared beta-amyloid from the brains of most participants. Genetic
testing is advised before treatment because side effects are more prevalent among those who
have two copies of APOE e4 gene, a gene that increases the risk of Alzheimer’s. 

Jim was in a drug trial and his genetic testing showed that he had one copy of APOE e4, and
one copy of APOE e3. His risk was slightly elevated, and as it turned out he did not have
Alzheimer’s disease, but a different and rare type of dementia. 

We can’t do anything to change our genetic makeup, but with a healthy lifestyle we increase
our odds of keeping our brains healthy. 

The four-fold U.S. Pointer “Brain Health Recipe”:

 1. Physical Exercise. We should aspire to 30 minutes of moderate-to-intense aerobic
activity four times a week. I don’t think walking my geriatric dog qualifies for this.
She moves slower than I do, but my Smart Watch tells me how many steps I take. I
keep trying to increase it. Strength and flexibility exercises twice a week help keep
muscles from being flabby. I have five-pound weights, in plain sight, but I don’t use
them as often as I should. I used my grass trimmer yesterday, and my arms and hands
shook for twenty minutes after I came inside. I guess that’s a clue that I need to try
harder. 

 2. Health Monitoring. Here’s another place my Smart Watch helps. I can check my
blood pressure, oxygen, and heart rate 24/7. With my lung issues, it’s always a good
thing to see my oxygen at the optimum level. I weigh myself regularly and that keeps
me from piling on the pounds and not noticing until my clothes don’t fit.

3. Nutrition. I could improve my eating habits, but I buy whole grain bread, eat salads
(except during lettuce recalls), I use olive oil, and I love grapes, cherries, and other
fresh fruits and vegetables. I suppose the biscuits and gravy I made this morning was
a definite no-no, but it was the first time I had made that breakfast in almost two
years. 

4. Cognitive Exercise. I feel like I’ve aced this one. I am task oriented when it comes to
Quick Books, updating our club’s WordPress site, blogging, volunteer work, and
practicing my guitar. I work Sudoku puzzles and spend time daily reading fiction and
non-fiction. My mind is so busy that I am distracted at times. Yesterday, I carefully
measured the cat food and then proceeded to dump it in the dog’s bowl. Yeah, I do
that kind of stuff on a daily basis too. 

 By laying it out on this blog post, I can easily see areas for improvement, but optimistically, I
think I’m in pretty good shape for the shape I’m in. As my mom used to say, “Every day you
wake up in the morning is a good day.” I’ve never had APOE genetic testing, but I just hope I
inherited the genetic makeup that my mom had. Even more, I hope that I inherited her love of
life, her empathy for others, her wisdom, and a mustard seed’s worth of her faith. 

 Copyright © July 2026 by L. S. Fisher 

 https://earlyonset.blogspot.com