alzheimers news-volunteering for the soul

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-VOLUNTEERING FOR THE SOUL

i feel like the soul is in the brain somewhere
so it was with interest i read this article on volunteering
volunteering benefits the brain

for new readers of this blog
heres a quick summary
while volunteering for a alzheimers research study as a
normal control subject it was discovered that i had
short term memory loss that was more than it should have
been for my age and degree of education
so
eventually i was labelled to have early mild cognitive impairment
felt to be due maybe to alzheimers disease
i retired because of this diagnosis
and
was placed on aricept (donepezil) to help slow down symptoms
remember
as of 2015 there is no treatment or cure for alzheimers disease
yet

so i did a lot of research on what i could do to slow this down

evidence shows these things may help to slow things down
and
over a lifetime to maybe prevent the disease
all of these i have done since my diagnosis

aggressive blood pressure control
aggressive cholesterol control
maintaining a normal weight
staying active physically-i do what i call ranch aerobics
staying active mentally
eating the mind diet
staying active socially
maintaining normal sleep habits-im always fighting the side effect
of donepeizil which interferes with my sleep
avoiding stressful situations-its actually hard to make me mad now
i take a handful-12-of vitamins and supplements a day all based on
the mend protocol

what i have noticed and what shows up on my memory tests
is that my memory has returned to normal over the last 5 years

so something in all of this that i am doing has helped
is it the donepezil
is it the healthy stuff im doing
is it the mend protocol
im not sure but i dont plan to stop any of it
although i would sure like to stop the donepezil since sometimes the
sleep problems it causes interferes with my day

something or maybe all of it together has made a difference

oh
the other thing i added was something i had not really been doing
volunteering
usually 2-3 days a week

volunteering at habitat for humanity
volunteering at meals on wheels
volunteering a lot at the alzheimers association in central texas
now officially called alzheimers texas
volunteering helping school gardens
volunteering doing presentations on alzheimers disease

so it was with interest that i read this article on the effect of
volunteering on folks based on memory tests and mri brain scans

two elderly groups
one who volunteered
another that did not volunteer

the volunteer group over time had either no change or an increase
 in the brain size overtime
and no worsening of memory

the non volunteer group over time had a decrease in brain size
and worsening of memory all age related changes

so i guess all that volunteering may have contributed to my memory
stabilization and improvement


so since i believe the soul is in the brain
volunteering is good for the soul
ok its also good for the heart

try it

the organicgreen doctor