Every Middle-Aged and Older Adult Should Read "Alzheimer's Disease"

China Health Media Group's China Medical Science Press has published the "Famous Doctors Talk with You About Diseases" series; one of the volumes is titled Alzheimer's Disease. I gained a great deal from reading this book and would particularly like to recommend it to middle-aged and older friends.

I believe every middle-aged and older adult should read this book, Alzheimer's Disease. Alzheimer's disease is a form of senile dementia first identified by the German physician Alois Alzheimer; it has now become the most prevalent type of senile dementia worldwide. Alzheimer's disease is a late-life mental disorder. Its incidence is higher in women than in men, and people who are easily emotionally volatile face a higher risk. Of all dementias, Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60-70%, and to date there has been no recorded case of a cure.

For patients with Alzheimer's disease, "memory turns to drifting sand, loved ones become strangers, the mind is like that of a child, and the world resets to zero." As the disease progresses, the symptoms grow ever more severe—from the initial decline in memory, to gradually becoming completely unable to care for themselves, with frequent emotional outbursts, hallucinations, delusions, agitation and aggressive behavior; the difficulty of caring for the patient keeps mounting. Even cancer can be cured, but at present Alzheimer's disease is completely incurable.

Peking University professor Hu Yong once wrote an article recounting the painful four-year experience of caring for his mother, who had Alzheimer's disease. The article went viral across the internet at the time, and Professor Hu gave countless netizens a basic understanding of Alzheimer's disease; in that sense, his contribution is enormous. Family caregivers of Alzheimer's patients bear a heavy financial and psychological burden, and most of them suffer, to varying degrees, from anxiety, depression and other psychological problems. China currently has about 20 million Alzheimer's patients, and by 2050 we will have about 40 million; this will place a tremendous burden on families and society.

This situation can be improved through our own efforts, because although Alzheimer's disease cannot be cured, it is a preventable illness. As long as appropriate measures are taken and medical intervention is introduced at the earliest signs, the onset of Alzheimer's can be delayed and its symptoms alleviated. Alzheimer's disease almost always begins with the loss of remote or recent memory; along with memory decline, the patient's emotional swings grow more frequent and sleep quality deteriorates. If we take measures at this stage to intervene, the risk of developing the disease can be reduced.

For middle-aged people, understanding Alzheimer's disease has two major benefits. First, it enables us to care for our aging parents—detecting the early stages of Alzheimer's in them and intervening effectively; second, it allows us, starting in midlife, to manage our own brain health so that we do not become Alzheimer's patients in old age and add to the burden on our children.

The book Alzheimer's Disease offers a detailed introduction to the causes and patterns of the disease and provides many excellent suggestions for its prevention. I therefore strongly recommend that every middle-aged friend set aside some time to read it.

Our lives inevitably contain all sorts of misfortunes, and some of them plunge us into an abyss of suffering. But as long as we master enough knowledge, many misfortunes can be avoided. Understanding Alzheimer's disease and preventing it allows us to manage our lives better and, for ourselves and our families, avoid a great deal of unnecessary trouble.