10 million baby boomers are expected to be affected by Alzheimers. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a chronic form of dementia that results in severe memory loss and eventually death. The average lifespan of someone with Alzheimer’s is about 8-20 years. Since the causes of AD are not clear, there is a correlation with thyroid hormone dysfunction, lack of exercise, diabetes, high sugar diets, heavy metal toxicity, cholesterol (lipid) lowering medication, long term smoking, high blood pressure (HBP) and improper posture (anterior head carriage - decreases blood flow to the brain). "One type of Alzheimer’s, called frontotemporal dementia, is characterized by cellular damage in the front and side regions of your brain. Researchers still have no idea what causes it—only that excess production of a tiny protein fragment called beta-amyloid starts jamming the signals between your brain synapses, blocking information flow, leading to a cascade of damaging events that end in cell death." (Dr. Mercola - 10 Million Baby Boomers Face Alzheimer's Epidemic)

        How is Alzheimer's really created? I wish the chiropractic profession had the money to do research on this observation that I learned from top neurologists in our profession. Over 90% of the population has anterior head carriage (AHD). This is when your ear is past your shoulder on a side view of your head to shoulder. If you have this condition for all of your life, it will slowly decrease the blood flow to the brain. When you decrease the blood flow to the brain, it deprives the brain of oxygen, sugar and so forth. Metabolites are not cleansed out of the brain since the brain does not have any lymphatic systems there. The ceberalspinofluid (CSF) is decreased due to abnormal posture in the spine that makes it harder to travel up to the brain. When you have these two affects occuring, it creates havoc to the brain and to the body. Since we are talking about AD, I will talk about the brain. As lack of blood flow and CSF occurs, over a period of time of years, it will start to have an affect on the brain. There are many other factor that take part of this process to accelerate it. I am not saying this is the only way but this is the most common contributor. As stated above, Alzheimer's disease is a state of chronic dementia. There are four types of dementia but most common is Alzheimer's disease. When you deprive the brain of blood and CSF fluid, it will decay, shrink and create plaque (beta amyloid).

What are ways to help prevent Alzheimer's disease?

1. Chiropractic care. Every time a person receives an adjustment, there are a million reactions that occur instantaneously that are all positive for the body but I will mention a couple here. After receiving an adjustment, your body increases the blood flow and oxygen to the brain. An adjustment will decrease oxidative stress in the body, spike your immune system for about 6-7 hours which increases microglia (cleans things in the brain) which may prevent plaque of the brain and fire a variety of neurons in the brain which helps give food to your brain.

2. Exercise is crucial! I call this Vitamin M for movement. The more movement you have in the body, the more nutrients for the brain as explained in number 1. Cross-crawl exercises are amazing for the brain and will help stimulate the neurons that will feed the brain. Exercise will help detoxify the body, lower blood pressure and 59 other benefits on how it helps your overall health. Meditation and yoga is a great benefit for the mind and the body!

3. Diet and Nutrition is huge. Average American consumes about 150lbs of sugar per year. This creates havoc not only on our bodies but our nervous system - specifically the brain. If we consume foods that are pro-inflammatory in our bodies, it will only increase our chances or effects of Alzheimer's disease. Some things to contain in your diet is a high quality fish oil, great source of anti-oxidants (blueberries, noni, goji berries, acai, mangosteen, blackberries, natural cacao powder - contains the highest orac level per cup), a great source of B-complex because when the body is always in a stress environment, these are one of the first to be depleted. This is why people who are stressed out, feel fatigued.

4. Mercury exposure. It can come from a flu vaccine or any type of vaccine that contains mercury or aluminum. Research shows, if you have taken the flu shot more than 8 times in the last 10 years you have an 80% chance of getting Alzheimer's. It also shows, a diet with aspartame (splenda, equal, nutrisweet) will increase your chances of Alzheimer's since this creates havoc for our nervous system and our body. If you have silver amalgams in your mouth, get rid of them for they leak mercury into your body and look up on youtube mercury fillings and see a video that shows you what happens when you have mercury in your mouth.

5. Vitamin D - a study that is only a theory at the moment shows that diabetes may be a cause of Alzheimer's and vitamin D acts like insulin. Vitamin D is known as a neuro-hormone more than a vitamin since it affects a vast amount of our bodies.

6. Cardiovascular heart nutrition - Garlic, CoQu10 (antioxidant) and folate have been shown to help reduce the chance

7. Relationships - as we age, we decline in relationships. People don't visit as often and today's society looks down upon the elderly rather than respect and learn from them. As they have less interaction with society and people, their brain loses out on the interaction from the millions of neuron activity that occurs with interacting with someone. I believe this to be a huge effect. Enough the elderly for you can learn a thing or two. Always remember, they have been on this planet longer than you and probably with their experience, can help you in one way or another. Next time you see an elderly person, just say hello and see how they are doing. If they are bitter, it is not because they are mean and don't like people. Most of the time, they are bitter because as much as they want company in their life, they don't get it.

Empower yourself to understand the benefits of health. If we have a clearly functioning nervous system, well maintained diet, adequate sleep (7-9hrs), long term exercise program (for life), positive mindset, healthy relationships, balanced financials and time management, life is amazing. Do not fall into the sick care model where they wait until you have something rather than creating health within your body. Just think about it. Go into a hospital and talk to a doctor and ask him how can I be healthy and live to have a optimal quality of life for the rest of my life? Is a medication or surgery going to do that for you? I didn't think so. Get informed and get adjusted...

Resources

1. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/10/03/Fruit-and-Vegetables-Increase-Cognitive-Performance.aspx

2. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/04/01/10-million-baby-boomers-face-alzheimer-s-epidemic.aspx

3. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/01/23/how-to-erase-your-phone-remotely-if-you-lose-it.aspx

4. http://www.chiroweb.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=44623

5. https://www.acatoday.org/content_css.cfm?CID=1247

6. http://www.altmd.com/Specialists/Upper-Cervical-St-Louis/Blog/An-Interesting-Correlation-Alzheimers-Chiropractic

7. http://www.livescience.com/health/081224-starvation-alzheimers.html