Our morning speaker was Dr. Arnold Bresky, MD. He pointed out that about one in four families in the United States are affected by dementia problems. His mission to train care givers, and his website is www.mybraintuneup.com. He has a program every Saturday from noon to
1:00 P.M. on KVTA 1520. He considers himself a memory doctor. Memory works through the five senses. Smell is the most important for memory. He has been in the field for twelve years. He was an ob/gyn doctor for 35 years and delivered 10,000 babies. On the west coast he was the one to start using the Bradley Method of childbirth which brought fathers into the delivery room. The babies he delivered will live to 90 to 100 years of age. It is not how long you live, but how well you live. To age gracefully you must keep healthy your –

1. Brain
2. Immune system

If everyone lives to 120 years of age, everyone will get Alzheimers. Alzheimers is a form of severe brain aging. Myelin (the insulation around the nerve cells) degradation causes Alzheimers. You need to clear the plaque. Alzheimers start at the age of 50. Senior moments tell you that you are losing myelin. Forty percent of caregivers die before the person they are caring for. We still need 200,000 new caregivers starting today. There is a dementia diagnoses every six seconds, and a person dies of Alzheimers every six minutes. There are 1.5 million people with Alzheimers, and this figure will double every five years. There are 10,000 Baby Boomers who turn 65 every day. Fourteen million Baby Boomers will die of Alzheimers. One in 1,000 will have Alzheimers before age 65, one in 20 will have it at age 65, one in five will have it at age 80 and one in two will have it at age 85. The risks for Alzheimers are –  

1. Age and genetics – There is a gene for Alzheimers. If a person’s mother or father or sibling have Alzheimers, a person’s risk for Alzheimers doubles.  
2. Obesity – The obesity rate is going up. One in five children is obese.
   
3. High blood pressure
4. Diabetes
5. High cholesterol.

The solution is WORK. You can grow new brain cells up to age 120. Neural plasticity means the brain can compensate for loses by rewiring the brain. He does cognitive behavioral therapy. Medicare covers his service. It is cheaper to keep people at home than in a nursing home. What is needed?

1. Physical activity
2. Mental activity
3. Social activity
4. Good cardiovascular health

Memory is life. You want to protect your brain. You want to start growing new brain cells at age 50. Every day you must do new, exciting, stimulating work. It is body, mind and soul. He started his wellness program with others in 1978. You need to walk 30 minutes a day, lift weights every day, do flexibility and stretching (e.g. Tai Chi) and have meaning and purpose in life. Depression kills brain cells. Do not be under stress. Financial wellness helps with eliminating stress. He has people knit caps, etc. for Rotary to deliver to hospitals. The whole person is the key. You must do every one of the following nine points –

1. Have fun and laugh – if you laugh, you cannot be depressed.
2. Relax, meditate and pray
3. Have music therapy – he claimed that Mozart Piano Concerto #21 is best for this. On his website, he plays this.
4. Sleep – the brain heals itself between 11:00 P.M. and 7:00 A.M. in sleep. Do not take sleeping pills.
5. Do physical exercise
6. Eat the brave tune-up way – we are what we eat. Eat the Mediterranean Diet. This diet lowers the risk of Alzheimers by 40 percent. If you do this and exercise four hours a week, you lower the risk by 67 percent.
7. Keep hydrated – drink six, eight ounce glasses of water a day. The sense of thirst ends at age 50.
8. Do brain exercises – numbers and pattern exercises help the brain. After a person retires, the brain goes downhill. You must stay engaged with life. Creativity goes up as we age so he has dementia patients draw. He showed us a couple of pictures that they had drawn which were very detailed and great.
9. Perform an act of kindness – you must do one act of kindness a day without expecting anything in return.

He said that these nine points have been proven.--Linda Wilson