By Dr. Ferrell Miller
JC Breakfast Optimists
At the Hampton Inn on April 16, the JC Breakfast Optimist Club members heard from Trase McQueen who is the Resource Lab Manager for Memory and Aging at Kansas State University. Trase stated that as “as we age there are two proteins that over produce and kill neurons in the brain, which can cause dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease and others. The goal is to disrupt those proteins and slow them down.”
He went on to say that “chronic stress, food choices, behavior habits, lack of quality sleep, high blood pressure, circulator issues in the body and genetics are some of the contributors” that may cause memory loss and related diseases.
The good news is that in a study done on a group of nuns who had been living to the age of 100. Researchers found that the nuns in the study who donated their brains after death had common traits. The study of 325 Roman Catholic nuns were members of the School of Sisters of Notre Dame in the U.S. found that 69% of the nuns who spoke a language in addition to English did not have dementia. The nuns also had a common lifestyle of social interaction, grew their own vegetables, had a belief and hope in a higher power, continued to be lifelong learners and regularly did low grade exercises. Their lifestyles and eating habits contributed to curbing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease.