ARABDES
(Age Related Attitude and Brain Degeneration Syndrome)
More understanding about brain health and aging process from perspective of lifestyle and environment
ARABDES (A) is a well needed but earlier unused name for a very common syndrome.
Naming it, and describing its nature and symptoms, makes it easier for us to comprehend, prevent or even reverse this unwanted phenomenon.
Different types of memory illnesses have become the third largest cause of death (proportionately 25 times more common since early 1970´s) and they should be taken very seriously by optimizing prevention at the latest with the early signs.
ARABDES is usually a pathway to actual memory illnesses, Alzheimer etc. If A starts early, brain health habits are most likely poor and declining brain health process is to be expected.
Symptoms of ARABDES in a person are among the following categories:
Mild:
- Ability to make friends with new people, weaken. Loneliness and self-isolation take over.
- Ability to start and finish more complicated new projects weakens.
- Ability to take care of the personal hygiene, weakens.
- Body weight grows.
- Names are forgotten much more often.
- Clumsiness grows and motoric skills weaken.
- Coordination and reaction time weaken.
- One does not learn or take new exercise or sport skills anymore.
- Physical exercises become rarer.
- Going to the point in commenting and discussions becomes slower.
- Keeping order in one´s home weakens. There are more and more unfinished “projects”.
- Stress about unfinished projects and jobs grows.
- One can react on new suggestions or ideas but cannot take actions or execute them.
- One gets more and more cautious, timid, protective and avoids risks.
- One likes to be speaking more than before.
- One starts to lose awareness of the social situation and behaves irrationally.
- Patience is shorter.
- Quality of the sleep becomes poorer and / or sleep shortens.
- Telling stories of old happenings is more dominant.
- Speech is less accurate and focused, more comment stretching words are being used.
- Old exercise habits tend to disappear.
Moderate:
- Ability really to listen other people´s opinions without interrupting, weaken.
- Ability to change priorities weaken.
- Small easy routines take over and consume more time.
- Counter arguments become sharper or even aggressive.
- Mind is often occupied by memories of the past.
- Movements and walking become slower, and the steps become shorter.
- New ideas come more seldom and finally stop.
- One gets worried about routine things or even panic easily.
- Reaction time in fast situations grows much longer.
- One can “panic” in situations that require fast motions.
- Temporary memory failures become more frequent which starts with names.
- One keeps the mouth open more and more.
- One cuts off connections with relatives or friends for intolerance or other minor reasons.
Advanced:
- Lack of understanding of the demands of each situation weaken and gradually gets lost.
- Learning and adopting new things (gadgets, machinery…) disappears, routines take over.
- Melancholy and depression increases, morning mind set is not positive and forward looking.
- Overall energy diminishes, and tiredness becomes more frequent.
We all get older, also by the brain, sooner or later. The brain capacity, thinking, making conclusions, rationing, learning and everyday life intellectual actions weaken unavoidably. This is natural.
ARABDES means that this all happens needlessly too early and too fast, because of harmful environmental and lifestyle factors. In very early and obvious cases we can even speak about EARABDES meaning Early Age Related…. Then we mean the early middle age group of 40 – 50 years of age getting these symptoms.
It does not mean that the person has fallen ill to any of the old age brain illnesses, yet. They may come later.
A does, however, mean lower working and brain function capacities. During their last 10 – 20 years of working before retirement, A means unavoidable drop in the productivity and even more so, in the capacity to innovate.
The amount of A and brain ill people is growing fast due to historically exceptional conditions. There are factors that make this process start earlier and become more severe than in earlier decades.
We can easily find several factors that likely or surely degenerate the brain health and provoke ARABDESH:
- Active use of brain has declined. Reading simple texts or watching some screen does not really activate the brain and maintain brain health. We are wealthy and more and more people are just cruising with very small efforts by the brain. The number of intellectual hobbies is degreasing as “screen time” is increasing. “Use it or lose it” – stands here too.
- The number of heavy metals and other toxins are growing in the environment. They have proven to have effect with the brain health and old age brain illnesses.
- Heavy use of medication, which is very fashionable nowadays, has generally very poor effect on the brain health.
- High blood sugar level. Most of us are overweight. Past 50 years of age, almost everybody is overweight. The same high blood sugar level that increases body weight also degenerate the brains. It is a physiological fact. Low and steady blood sugar level is very brain healthy. LCH (Low Carbone Hydrate) eating is suggested as best.
- In more and more common urban lifestyle, life becomes physically very passive, sitting type of life. Typical farm environment jobs with animals, field, household, and garden, even among seniors, have not really found a substitute in the urban environment.
- Intake of nutrients is declining due to chemical farming, food processing and poorer nutrient quality in foods. Brain would need large number of nutrients, good fats especially, to keep maximum capacity in the long run.
- Modern science has also revealed that the bacteria that drifts out from the ground in the air into our lungs, is supporting our good mood and intellect. Degreasing time for outdoor and in the nature, activities also eliminate this recourse.
- One strong stress factor, smart phones with its large number of interrupting message signals and SOME addiction, are intruding into our lives with a ground shaking power, and clearly degenerate our brain health.
- Physical exercise or physical work is declining in general and particularly among some social groups. this speeds up the negative brain health situation. Physical activity increases blood flow and amount of oxygen in the brain, which slows down aging too. Leg and pelvic muscles are too weak, which seem to have strong correlation to the brain health.
- Sitting in slouched posture (90/90 position) tenses the neck muscles blocking some of the brain circulation and thus speeding up the brain degeneration. Long term sitting is also increasing among the children and youngsters which is significant in terms of the development of ARABDESH. Sitting in normal/poor posture bothers the lung movements and prevents the natural abdomen breathing and thus on the oxygen level in the blood.
- Sleeping habits are becoming worse. Sleeping time is creeping to be later and later and amount of sleep is shortening and quality of sleep worsening. Both effect the brain health negatively.
- Stress increases in the modern society because of numerous reasons. Life causes too much stress for many which, in turn, has effect on the brain. Noise, hurry, insecurity, uncontrolled electric entertainment increase stress. The best stress revealer, unhurried moving in the nature is becoming an unknown method to growing proportion of people.
- The amount of omega 3 fat acids (which is the biggest portion of the brain dry weight) has been declining for decades. Fish caught from nearby lake, game meat, have been replaced with fast/trash food. Some people eat supplements and omega 3 fats or fish several times a week, but they also distinguish themselves from the rest, health wise.
- Use of alcohol and narcotics is on totally different level than some decades ago with poor effect on the brain health.
How to prevent and reverse brain degeneration and ARABDESH is simply doing opposite than in the list above.
For example, in Finland there is more than 1 milj. brain ill (ARABDES, other old age brain degeneration conditions, depression, ADHD, epilepsies, other mental illnesses) people which is a shocking number out of 5.3 million. The ill care of all brain disorders and loss of productivity and innovation cost astronomically to the individuals, employers, and national economy.
Good brain health and preventing ARABDESH too has strong base in awareness to recognize and observe the problem. It also takes even more firmness, focusing and courage to make development in prevention in individual and national health policies.
See Vessi´s Happy Brain Home article / development program for better brain health and avoiding ARABDES.
Veli-Jussi Jalkanen
Preventive health specialist
vessi.eu
