♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet. ♪
- Hi folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Together we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion of course, Bob.
- Today we have 10 tips for preventing Alzheimer's.
This may be a little controversial, Brad.
- It is, I think you're right.
- But if you're in that boat,
I think it's worth giving you something for the holes
in the boat.
- Right. 'Cause we've just done some videos
with some pretty extensive research
saying you cannot prevent Alzheimer's.
However, there's also some evidence coming up
and actually had these two books
by Dr. Dale Bredesen.
- Bredesen. - Bredesen.
He has got some very interesting and positive information
to actually evidence, saying it could reverse
Alzheimer's symptoms.
- Especially if they're not too far along.
- Exactly. So we've got 10 different options.
We're gonna to talk about this and give you some good ideas.
If you have a loved one or a friend that has Alzheimer's,
some things that you can do to help them out.
- Right. It's pretty extensive actually, Brad.
- Yep, it is.
- By the way, we're always doing a giveaway on our channel.
And this week we're giving away an insert by North Sole.
Go to northsole.com.
And these inserts are not for arch support,
they're for comfort.
- Right.
- And they actually help with sticky feet.
(both laughing)
and they help wick away water.
So I got them in my shoes and they are very comfortable,
and they last a long time.
They last longer than normal ones,
which lasts only a month.
- Yeah. So if you got sore feet or if you walk on concrete,
lot of hard surfaces, it's an ideal thing
to put in your shoes.
- Yeah, this is supposed to last actually a year.
- A year, that's a good time.
All right, let's get started with this.
Now, this is something that is close to me
'cause my mother has not been diagnosed with Alzheimer's,
but as far as the stages, very consistent symptoms.
So it's important for-
- It's huge in my family, unfortunately.
Both grandparents had it and I've had a couple aunts
and uncles that have had.
- Memory is a very strong symptom or lack of memory.
So let's go to number one.
So what we can do is stay physically active,
have your loved one or the person
who has this diagnosis, up and walking around.
And not just walking-
- Exercise, really can make a difference.
And so walking is good if it's on a regular basis,
a certain amount.
- And of course, safety, you know,
if the person needs a cane or a walker,
that has to be something.
'Cause sometimes people either don't want to use a cane
or a walker for dignity issues, or they forget to use it
because memory is an issue with Alzheimer's.
So that needs to be very important.
- It's tough because as they get older,
it's difficult to stay physically active.
- Right. It is, it is.
And also things that keep you active, like maybe cleaning
or picking things up around the house,
going outside and working with your flowers
or whatever it may be.
Those things can get the mind working as well as the body.
And a lot of these do overlap, these 10.
So let's go to number two, stay connected socially.
Isolation can be one of the hardest things
on someone with Alzheimer's.
- Unfortunately with COVID, with the nursing homes
and assisted living environments.
And the people, from my understanding,
were declining rapidly because-
- Yes.
- Some of them had family that would visit everyday
and then couldn't visit at all.
- And then with Alzheimer's in the memory
and some confusion, I've heard that they actually think
that their family has shunned them and forgot-
- Right, right.
- They don't understand that-
- They can't come to them, right.
- Which gets more anxiety and compounds the problem.
So stay connected socially, playing cards.
I know of my mother, where she lives, they have games,
they have crafts that people get together
and they get this interaction with other people.
- That's one thing I probably read a thousand times, Brad,
is the social aspect of it.
- Right.
So number three, continue learning new things.
You know, this can be books, on TV, on the internet.
There's so many ways-
- Stay engaged.
- Yeah, sometimes it's challenging with older people,
they may not be accepting to working on a computer
or zooming or whatever.
- I'm gonna jump into this book a little bit, Brad.
He's got two books, actually, one's called
The End of Alzheimer's, and again,
it's Dr. Dale Bredesen.
And the other one is The First Survivors of Alzheimer's.
So he actually outlines, I think, believe 10 people
that tried his method and had success.
And one thing they talked about is when they were trying
to read and learn something, it just wouldn't stick.
It was like they were in a fog.
And what he does, he actually has you do a plethora,
a large amount of tests. - Okay.
- And they're testing for toxins,
they're testing for vitamin deficiencies,
they're testing for, let me see here,
we've got a list here.
They wanna make recommendations of certain vitamins
and such.
- So his approach is pretty much through diet,
exercise and natural things, not medication.
- Yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely.
So, and then he lays it all out.
And the people that, I mean,
these were stringent people that were willing to do this.
- Sure.
- And they were willing to give it a try
and all 10 had reverse effects, I believe,
well, nine out of 10 had reverse effects.
- Okay.
- And of course if you catch it right away
or the sooner you catch it, the better the results.
- And develop the habits that you know,
whether through diet and activity
and things we're talking about.
So anyways, learning new things is so important.
And this is where I think if someone like my mother lives
in an assisted living complex where there's a number
of people to actually get out and it falls into place,
they have activities.
- Right, right. - Things like-
- Daily activities that are scheduled.
- Yeah. And one of my sisters lives out of town
and she'll send kits that you can buy
on the internet, ship them directly to her.
She can open up and put together things-
- Sure.
- To hang on the wall and decorate are things
that my mother appreciates.
Good sleep habits. I think that just makes sense.
- It does.
- If you can sleep normal.
- The brain needs the rest time and needs recovery time.
- I know some people will watch TV into the evening
and then they get their night and their days mixed up
and watch TV till two or three in the morning,
sleep till noon.
Those are bad things.
- They call them day-timers our night hammers,
I believe, it's what they're called.
- When you get your days mixed up?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Right, exactly.
So make sure that people stay on good normal sleep habits.
Particularly if everyone else in the home
in the area, and they're out of sync
with the social activities.
Again, healthy diet and drink.
We had mentioned that.
- This book talks about it a lot about.
For foods they recommend.
And it is a strict diet to recommend.
And really to avoid alcohol to a large extent.
- Sure.
- I know some of the people said they'd have a drink
once in a while, but nothing much beyond that, so.
- And I think it's one of those basic things
that anybody with a healthy diet is going to stay
away from the process foods, the sugars,
which is a lot of things. - Right.
- If you just go to the store,
you will have to be cognizant.
Yep. Exactly.
Berries, nuts, colorful foods like that,
good, healthy things. - Yep.
- Next, number six. Safety habits.
So reminders, if you're in a car,
make sure the seatbelt is put on.
If you're walking and you're not walking stable,
make sure again, we mentioned this before,
using a walker, using the cane.
- This is when the people around gotta help you.
- Yes. Reminders.
- Intervene.
- Continue with your healthy hygiene habits.
Brushing your teeth daily, make sure you clean yourself
appropriately and daily.
'Cause those things you forget about.
- Yeah. Often a sign of that is a cognitive decline,
is that, you know, those things go to pot.
- Right.
(both chuckling)
No pun intended.
But yeah, I think that the person may have done
their whole life very-
- Rigidly.
- Rigidly, and then it starts to fall apart.
And there you go, we're gonna eliminate that.
Fall prevention, no throw rugs, keep those throw rugs.
That's probably one of the biggest reasons that we've worked
with people with broken hips and et cetera,
because a throw rug flipped over, caught on their feet,
down you go, and the person is there with a broken hip.
- Let me just mention too, when you get together
with a family member and it's a lot of people,
if there's a lot of people. - Yeah.
- Somebody should keep track of that person
because they're gonna be so distracted by so many things.
My mom has fallen in that occasion.
I've seen so many people fall when they're
like at Christmas and such, because somebody comes up
to him and they turn and they fall.
- Startle them.
- Yeah, they startle them.
- And you lose your balance.
- Well, my mother-in-law and mother had fallen at Christmas.
- Oh really? - Yes.
- So keep them in the chair.
- Yeah, keep them in the chair.
(Brad laughing)
Everybody comes to them.
- Right, exactly.
- Treat them like the queen or the king.
- Right.
Grab bars, is really important getting into the house,
in the bathroom.
You know, the more grab bars you can have in the bathroom.
- Down the hallway if you need to.
- And then avoiding steps,
that's a big one. - Yeah.
- I know with my mother as far as where are we gonna go,
steps there? We're not gonna go there, we're gonna-
- She didn't have steps at her apartment, right?
- No, no. It's all on the flat.
- Sure.
- No smoking. I don't think we need to cover that,
but that's important.
Consistent and annual doctor visits.
So make sure they get to those doctor visits
to check their numbers and make sure
everything is going good.
I know my mother has high blood pressure,
so we wanna make sure that's intact
and it's not creeping up and getting away.
So this is a big one.
If they have medications they need to take everyday,
this is number 10, the last one.
My mother had a medication box with everyday and whatnot,
but she would forget to take them or take-
- Right.
- There was AM and PM ones, so then there's a part
of the dispenser that automatically,
and it talks to you, but we realized
that wasn't gonna work either
because you got someone talking to you.
- And you might not be around.
- Right. Or I don't think she would.
We didn't think she would respond well
to a box talking to her.
- It gets to a point where they had to be
at an assisted living for that reason.
- Yeah. That's what happened with her.
- That's quite often.
- She was taking it, we had to go in there
at least once or twice a week to make sure
just for that reason.
And now they give them to her and it's much more,
it's more relaxing for us.
- Right, right.
- We don't have to worry about it.
- You don't have to worry about it as much.
- Exactly.
- So, this book has, if you go through it,
it's quite intensive.
- Right.
- And it'll go through all the tests
they recommend you have done, which is a lot of testing.
- So how did you look at the test?
Are the tests in the book or a few-
- The tests are listed in the book.
- So you can pull them up online or something?
- Well, you gotta go to a doctor.
- Oh, so these tests are done professionally.
- Absolutely.
- Okay. So again, yeah, if you wanna get more detail
and look at this option, these two books could be-
- We're hoping we can get him on our podcast,
Dr. Bredesen.
- Oh yeah. That would be very, very nice.
- It's really busy guy though, so.
- Yep, for sure. - All right.
- All right, very good and good luck
with your family members. - Good luck to you.
(gentle music)