An Early Sign Of Dementia You May Not Know
The thought of Dementia let alone the diminishing of our cognitive abilities is daunting to the point that I welcome a frail body in comparison. A frail body is inevitable whereas dementia looks like the flip of a coin. My uncle was active with his food choices mostly organic and sugar being avoided. He has Parkinson's. My dad and uncle are roughly the same age although my uncle takes better care of himself than my dad who worked long hours including night shifts for more than 20 years not having time for meal planning and exercise. He is sharp as he’s ever been. Funny enough, he’s quick to point that out when I am on him about his choices and trying to encourage him to be active now that he works part-time. The comparison between the 2 is one of the reasons why I think about this and the factors that make up the equation, one of them being the signs.
One of those signs could be a change in the pace of our walking. A September 2019 study published in the Alzheimer Association’s journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia set out to determine if there was a possible connection between a person’s manner of walking and the onset of either Lewy body disease (LBD) or Alzheimer’s disease. Despite both being forms of dementia, Alzheimer’s is commonly categorized by memory issues, while LBD is more related to movement problems such as stiffness or issues with balance. The researchers assembled 110 participants, comprised of 45 people diagnosed with LBD, 36 diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and 29 adults over 65 without either condition. Each participant from the control group would walk across a mat outfitted with sensors to measure everything about their walk, including their pace, the distance between each step, and the difference between how much time each foot spent on the ground. The results found that both groups of participants with dementia walked differently than those without the condition, showing shorter steps at a slower pace with each foot spending more time on the ground. Its important to note that there was a difference between how participants with Alzheimer’s walked versus participants with LBD. The latter group showed even more changes in space and timing in their steps noted by Dr. Riona McArdle, the study’s lead author and a post-doctoral researcher with the Brain and Movement Group at Newcastle University. The research is made consequential by the fact that it could prove to be helpful in detecting the disease in its earliest phases in its earliest phases since most current methods, e.g. brain scans and memory tests, require more noticeable symptoms to be already present. Its also helpful when giving us an idea into which type of dementia patients are experiencing for appropriate treatment. A misdiagnosis in this case would see antipsychotics prescribed to patients with dementia with LBD bodies which is harmful to say the least.
Other studies have been conducted that established a relationship between dementia and the way someone walks. When considering the slower walking speeds, it’s simple to see why its a strong indicator for someone with dementia at the early stages considering how their mind is slowing down which translates to slower reaction times. The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), a UK based charity has stated, “Changes in a person in the early stages of dementia can be so gradual they can often be mistaken for normal ageing. Because dementia affects people in different ways, symptoms may not always be obvious.” They have provided 3 indicators:
- Struggling to remember a name
- Struggling to follow a conversation
- Struggling to recall what they did yesterday.
Its important to mention that there is a difference between memory lapses and dementia. Whether it is misplacing the remote control or forgetting the name of an acquaintance, memory lapses are prominent in that case if we are feeling stressed or in a low mood. Someone with dementia will begin to have a failing short-term memory affecting their work, social, or home life. Instead of forgetting where the remote control is, a person with dementia may forget what it’s used for. While they would forget recent events, their memory recall of what happened many years prior could be extremely sharp. This will happen as their speech and comprehension diminishes which makes communicating with them essential to avoid isolating them and accelerating dementia’s progression. I hope I have given you something to think about for your next walk.
