4 Ways to Overcome Alzheimer’s: Recent Advancements in Science: Until recently, Alzheimer’s has remained one of the most mysterious illnesses with no known medical cure. With no reversal plan, modern science could only offer drugs to slow down the disease, a method that came with a host of unpleasant side effects.
As modern science evolves, our understanding of Alzheimer’s is transforming, and finally, we see advancements to prevent and cure this neurological disorder.
Today we’re exploring four key ways to support brain health to prevent and reverse Alzheimer’s. We are also introducing an upcoming summit of scientific evidence compiled by 12 of the world’s leading experts on brain health. The summit covers Alzheimer’s, dementia, and cognitive decline—that you can halt, reverse, and prevent this deadly disease.
Alzheimer’s: The Disease With No Cure
Roughly every minute of every day, another adult is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. And the pace of diagnosis is accelerating at an alarming rate. By 2050, experts believe the number of people living with Alzheimer’s will quadruple — affecting 16 million American adults.
For much of history, the cause of Alzheimer’s has remained in a cloud of mystery with no cure. According to The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, between 2002 and 2012, 99.6% of Alzheimer’s drug trials were total failures. In other words, over the last decade and a half, mainstream medicine has made almost no progress in fighting this seemingly hopeless disease.
Until recently, modern medicine could only slow down the disease only slightly, with drugs that cost about $400 a month. These pharmaceutical drugs do not work for everyone, and they come with side effects ranging from nausea, vomiting, and dizziness to convulsions, liver damage, and intestinal bleeding. That’s a hefty price to pay with very little hope of slowing the disease, let alone halting or reversing it!
Advancements in Science
Thankfully groundbreaking scientific advancements led by open-minded functional medicine-minded practitioners, doctors, and scientists are finally yielding results in the field of Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline. Many of these tools to prevent and even reverse Alzheimer’s are rooted in whole-body healing, natural medicine, and the implementation of healthy habits that benefit health and longevity in general. These tools are accessible by all, giving back the power to the people and yielding positive results.
Four Ways To Naturally Overcome Alzheimer’s
The world of Alzheimer’s remains complicated, and emerging science suggests that different types of Alzheimer’s are rooted in various causes that require different treatment plans. These four tips are broad foundational tools to support brain health, which may benefit all those looking to mitigate their neurological damage and disease risks.
1. Overcome Alzheimer’s: Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is proving to be one of the most powerful ways to overcome Alzheimer’s. This fasting trend is sweeping the nation, and indeed eating within a 12-hour window is enough to reap the brain-health powers of a daily fasting window.
One of the main reasons is the groundbreaking discovery of the Glymphatic System– a term given to the self-cleaning mechanism within the brain and central nervous system (CSN). Every night, the brain undergoes a self-cleaning process that (when given the opportunity) focuses its resources on ridding any build-up of various harmful substances in the CSN. The build-up of these multiple substances, including soluble amyloid-beta plaques, is closely linked to the development of Alzheimer’s.
Along with the 12-hour daily fasting window, experts suggest having your last meal at least 3 hours before bedtime. Fasting ensures that you give your body that nightly opportunity to activate the self-cleaning Glymphatic System. Fasting lowers insulin levels and activates autophagy. Autophagy is a self-cleaning cellular mechanism that induces cell death in weak or damaged cells. Autophagy has various benefits, including cancer prevention and visceral fat loss. Giving your body a minimum of 12 hours per day without food gives it time to rest and digest, heal, and cleanse.
2. Overcome Alzheimer’s With a Flexible Ketogenic Diet
The Ketogenic Diet is all the rage at the moment, and the benefits of this low-carb movement are powerful. However, evidence shows that a cyclical ketogenic diet is even more beneficial to health than a strict long-term low-carb diet.
The benefits of mild ketosis are well documented to boost cognitive health. This high-fat, moderate-protein, and low-carb diet promotes the use of ketone bodies instead of glucose, which hi connected to a wide range of health benefits, including more energy, less brain fog, fat loss, improved sleep, autophagy, and stem-cell production.
Instead of strict ketosis, a cyclical ketogenic diet forces adaptation, improving metabolic flexibility. A flexible keto diet can look like a weekly cycle, whereby you introduce a higher carb day (and possibly a day of fasting) once or twice per week. A monthly cycle works well for women, particularly with a full week of higher-carb refeed (generally around the menstrual cycle). A seasonal ketogenic diet was typical of our early ancestors. More carbohydrates were available during the summer months in the form of fruit. Finding a sustainable cycle that fits into your life is the optimal way to eat so that the diet is maintained long-term.
3. Overcome Alzheimer’s: Healing Leaky Gut
Gut health is paramount to overall health, especially when it comes to brain health. Having a leaky gut essentially means the tight junctions of the gut lining are compromised, allowing particles that shouldn’t penetrate the gut to enter the bloodstream. This results in a highly inflammatory response, ultimately impacting various inflammatory diseases, including arthritis and cognitive decline.
Key things to heal and maintain a healthy gut include:
- Avoid pesticides and herbicides (go organic)
- Avoid toxic body care and household cleaning products
- Eat a cyclical ketogenic diet
- Spend time in nature
- Eat a probiotic-rich diet (fermented foods)
- Avoid anti-bacterial soaps and overuse of antibiotic medications
- Drink clean water (avoid chlorinated tap water)
4. Overcome Alzheimer’s Get in The Sauna
One of the most powerful habits to overcome Alzheimer’s is heat therapy, explicitly getting in the sauna regularly. The sauna has been a critical player in ancestral cleansing in various cultures across the globe. From Finnish saunas to Native American sweat lodges, and Russian banyas, this heat therapy is well-known among ancient cultures.
Recent research from Finland demonstrated a 65% reduction in Alzheimer’s with frequent sauna use (four to seven times per week). The protocol showed that these sauna sessions effectively eliminated metals like aluminum, cadmium, cobalt, and lead. All of these metals are linked to cognitive decline in diseases like Alzheimer’s. Regular sauna is also one of the strongest predictors of longevity and substantially reduces the rate of all-cause mortality.
With cognitive decline, sauna use has been shown to boost blood flow to the brain and nervous system. Reduced cerebral blood flow is linked to accelerated development of Alzheimer’s; thus, blood flow has an inverse correlation with the disease.
References
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