In this episode I talk with Dr James Beauregard, a neuropsychologist, about brain health. We talk about normal brain development and the components of developing and maintaining a healthy brain.

Those components are:

• Social interaction
• Exercise
• Diet
• Sleep
• Avoiding head trauma

We also talked about normal brain aging, and that as people get older, they may lose the speed and accuracy of recalling specific names or words. However, losing the ability to perform activities of daily living like managing our finances is not part of normal aging.

When we see concerning signs in our loved ones, we should not ignore them or write them off as things that happen when people get older. Dr Beauregard described a stepwise approach to getting to the bottom of things which begins with an appointment with the primary care doctor to look for treatable causes like urinary tract infection, dehydration or vitamin deficiency. 

Once these causes are ruled out, there are other steps such as MRI or neuropsychological testing that may better explain what is happening. According to Dr Beauregard, there are now some medications which may slow down the cognitive manifestations of Alzheimer’s dementia. 

If you are interested, please discuss with your or your loved one’s physician.

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