Mental Degradation and Aging

Getting older generally isn’t something which people look forward to, there are all sorts of health concerns which can come hand in hand with aging and perhaps the worst of these is the decline of our mental capabilities. Obviously people don’t want to lose their mobility but if given the choice most people would rather lose that than their ability to think. There’s very little worse than the prospect of losing who we are and experiencing a slow fade to black, possibility the only thing which could possibly be worse is watching someone you love experiencing the same thing.

It’s become a much greater fear for people in the last several decades as lifespans have increased. As people live longer now there’s more time for mental weakness to take hold, there’s more time for a slow decay to seep in. These generally come in one of two forms; these are Alzheimer’s and a general decline in sharpness.

Alzheimer’s is almost a regression; it’s a slow march backwards in time. By that I mean, you’ll lose everything that you are, you’ll lose memories and abilities you once had, you’ll slowly slip away. You might notice the degradation to start with but eventually you’ll forget and about it and small patches of lucidity you experience will be the only glimpses loved ones will have of the person you once were.

The problem with conditions like these is that there’s not a cure, nor is there really any effective treatment. There are certain diets and foods which can be tried to help slow the pace of the disease but none of these are going to completely halt it in the long run.