Dementia & Alzheimer’s Disease
Objective 11-3
Paulina Guzman
Tracy Nguyen
Sara Piecukonics Stella Chang
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Dementia: What is it?
 Cause:
the extreme loss of brain cells
 Symptoms: difficulty in learning,
communicating, and remembering
– Sometimes, an individual may not be aware
of the symptoms because of mood and
personality changes.
Stages of Dementia:

3 Stages:
– Individual has problems with minor memory relapse but is
able to cover the gaps.
– Short term memory is extremely impaired and obvious. The
individual may become messier.
– There is severe impairment to the brain and the individual
may not be able to understand what is being said to them or
communicate back.
Types of Dementia
Cortical Dementia
•Problems with memory, language, thinking, and social behavior.
Subcortical Dementia
•Changes in movement, emotions, and memory
Progressive Dementia
•Problems with cognitive abilities
Primary Dementia
•Doesn’t result from other disease
Secondary Dementia
•Caused by other physical disease
Alzheimer’s Disease
 What
is Alzheimer’s?
– A disease that usually associates with people that are older.
– Symptoms include inability to retain new memory, a gradual relapse on
memory, reasoning, language, and physical functioning.
– It strikes 3% of the world’s population by the age of 75
 Causes:
– Series of small strokes, a brain tumor, or alcohol uses can damage the brain
little by little.
– The primary symptoms of Alzheimer’s is a the loss of brain cells and the
declining of neurons that produce Ach (acetylcholine). Since Ach’s function is
to enable muscle action, learning, and memory, without this vital chemical
messenger, your memory and thinking suffer.
Video on Dementia
 http://vodpod.com/watch/2638977-going-
home-a-short-film-on-dementia
Health

For people growing older, there are both bad
news and good news:
– Bad News: The body’s disease-fighting immune
system weakens, making the elderly more
susceptible to life-threatening ailments such as
cancer and pneumonia.
– Good News: Older people less often suffer shortterm ailments, such as common flu and cold
viruses, thanks partly to a lifetime’s accumulation
of antibodies.
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Health (Cont)


Aging levies a tax on the brain by slowing our neural processing
causing older people to take a bit more time to react, to solve
perceptual puzzles, and even remember names.
Aging may proceed more slowly in women than men.
– Women worldwide live four years longer.
– Women’s brains shrink more slowly than men’s

Physical exercise enhances muscles, bones, and energy. It helps
prevent obesity and heart disease, and feeds the brain, which
stimulates brain cell development and connections. This may explain
why active older adults tend to be mentally quick older adults.
 - Study: Sedentary older adults randomly assigned to aerobic exercise
programs have exhibited enhanced memory and sharpened judgment.
 “Use it or lose it”
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