But regardless of the volume of information we have access to, there are still many misconceptions about one disease in particular: dementia. In fact, the number one question asked to Google about the disease is “how do I know if I have Dementia?” yielding about 741,000,000 results alone.
According to the World Health Organization, dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide. Currently, more than 55 million people have it, and every year, there are nearly 10 million new cases.
Michell Clionsky, PHD
Yet, according to clinical neuropsychologist Michell Clionsky, we have the capability to reduce cases of dementia in America by 50%, meaning 1 in 2 cases are preventable. And yet, we do very little as a nation to help it.
“We try too hard to find an elusive cure and fund our caregivers, both of which are essential, but they’re both chasing down the horse that got out of the barn, rather than keeping the horse in the barn. I’m an in-the-barn kind of guy. I want to deal with dementia before it becomes a problem,” Dr. Clionsky says.
Dr. Emily Clionsky, MD
The lack of education on preventing the disease was one of two primary driving factors for him and his wife, Dr. Emily Clionsky, to publish their own book on the topic: “Dementia Prevention: Using Your Head to Save Your Brain”. The second reason being because he lost his mother to the very same disease he encourages others to learn more about.
With 40 years of experience in his field and an incredible book published by Johns Hopkins University Press, we decided to pull some interesting dementia myths off of forums across the web for Dr. Clionsky to debunk for you all.
MYTH #1: Memory loss, like losing your car keys, is an immediate sign of dementia.
Dr. Clionsky: Everybody forgets. When we’re preoccupied, we forget! If we haven’t paid very good attention, the information we’re trying to grasp does not get in as effectively. We’ll assume we forgot it, when in fact it just never got encoded. It never got into our file cabinet of memories because we dropped it or left it on the table. And so we’re furiously looking in the file cabinet thinking my memory sucks! But then, moments later, we have our “Aha!” moment and remember.
Dementia is a slowly progressive condition, and you won’t get it immediately after forgetting where you put your keys. Under the age of about 60, your chances of having dementia are extremely low, unless you have very high levels of genetic dementia, which can be early-onset in rare cases. In your 60s, your chances are about 10%. In your 70s, it gets up to about 20%. It isn’t until you’re in your late 70s or early 80s that the risk becomes substantial enough that your cloudy memory is cause for concern.
MYTH #2: Select vitamins & supplements can make you immune to dementia.
Dr. Clionsky: Unfortunately, no. Over the counter supplements don’t really do anything — the billions of dollars spent on them are genuinely wasted. If you look closely at whatever research is behind the drug, it is underwhelming. It is usually a subset of one study only, the major problem with their results being all due to chance. The studies aren’t well controlled, and yet it still allows the Federal Communications Commission to let them say in their advertising that their drug enhances and/or supports memory health.
In my experience, I’ve come to understand that we in America in particular are looking for “just add water”. We want the quickest, easiest, most effective drugs/supplements on the market. And that just doesn’t exist in memory disorders.
I wish it did though, it would make my job a whole lot easier! I wouldn’t need to take walks, do activities to keep my mind active, nurture my social connections, or follow a strict diet — all things that have been proven to decrease chances of dementia at my age.
MYTH #3: Constant singing off-key is a sign of dementia.
Dr. Clionsky: It can be, just very rarely. One of the things we doctors and researchers see in dementia is a steep decline in the frontal parts of the brain: the inhibitory centers. They’re the parts that keep the inside in — gatekeeping our internal thoughts, insulting or otherwise, and our impulses.
The singing is a breakdown of habit. It used to be something you did repeatedly when you were on your own, but now with dementia, it’s a problem you can’t control.
When my mom was demented, she used to hum persistently. I remember telling her to stop, and she’d say “I’m so sorry! I don’t mean to do it.” It’s a small percentage of people who this can happen to, whether they’re humming, whistling or singing (on or off-key).
MYTH #4: Someone with no sense of humor is more at risk for dementia.
Dr. Clionsky: This is not exactly true. Other than having no sense of humor or “losing” your sense of humor being a tragedy in itself, it’s not a risk for dementia.
What can be, however, is the lack of finding things humorous. It comes with the feeling of apathy associated with dementia. The feeling itself is best described as living life like someone chewed your food for you: it loses all its flavor.
However, it could be that the person is also not able to pick up on certain subtleties, or possibly that they’re losing their hearing, causing them to miss the joke or feel unable to grasp it.
Early on, it’s hard to tell whether this can be a sign for dementia, because it is also a sign for depression in most people. As a doctor, I’d think is this person depressed? Are they exhibiting mild cognitive impairment, which borders into dementia? Or is it simply just hearing loss from age? Again, it’s hard to tell from lack of humor alone.
Rarely do people get a better sense of humor. Though sometimes, as people get more demented they can lose their inhibitions, making some really uptight patients find everything way funnier than they used to. Interesting, huh?
MYTH #5: Eating a square of dark chocolate every day will improve cognition and negate dementia.
Dr. Clionsky: This makes for a great headline. It reminds me of one I read about eating a cup of strawberries per day. I remember thinking: I love strawberries, this will be great! Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work. Neither will this one, but I’m sure it’ll be a tasty snack.
MYTH #6: Dementia makes people want to attack others.
Dr. Clionsky: Dementia actually makes very few people violent and/or aggressive. This is one of the more widespread myths, coming from people you’d think to trust, such as ex-Presidents Barack Obama or Donald Trump, who in the past have called mass murderers “demented killers”. This is an extreme misuse of the term.
Dementia is a neurological disease, it rarely causes aggression in a purposeful way. People who become very demented, late in the process, could become very agitated and overwhelmed with their symptoms which leads to them possibly being aggressive. In both my experience and studies, they act this way because they feel attacked and overwhelmed and need to put some distance between them and others.
Here at Old Cow, we have the saying “it’s not over until it’s over”. One of the biggest myths about dementia is that once you get it, your life is over. Well, not if Dr. Mitchell Clionsky has anything to say about it. Or the multitudes of patients at his practice who have been living with the disease for 15 years. He and Emily make every effort to see their patients make their lives meaningful.
“Many of my patients are able to live on their own, drive themselves places, and keep an active social life — it’s even encouraged that they do these things regularly.” Dr. Clionsky states.
Dementia is not a death sentence. If your symptoms are caught early, and you’re treated properly, you can live the rest of your days fruitfully. And if you’re determined, and lucky, you’ll avoid being diagnosed in the first place.
Dr. Mitchell Clionsky has been a practicing clinical neuropsychologist for 40 years, with his primary studies and patient care in dementia, ADHD, concussion, Multiple Sclerosis, and strokes. He was one of the first neuropsychologists in Western Massachusetts, he and his wife are working there to this day.
This is a HUGE subject and by no means will every question you have be answered in this brief introduction on dementia and prevention so please feel free to send any questions you still have for the Drson this subject to us here or at info@old-cow.com and we will answer them in a future article or on our Old Cow podcast where, by the way, the Clionsky’s have been guests! You can find their interview here: https://open.spotify.
You can also delve deeper into this subject by reading their book, Preventing Dementia. You can purchase it here: https://amzn.to/4bsWKWV
