What can you do to prevent dementia?

It’s a condition that could strike any one of us, and there is still no cure. But evidence suggests that changing your lifestyle can help to reduce your risk

The longer we live, the more likely we are to develop dementia. Of all the myriad conditions that accompany old age, it is the one that tends to terrify us most. One in six people over 80 have the condition, with impaired cognitive function (usually memory loss) and at least one other significant problem with language, spatial awareness or function. Treatments exist, but they often have little or no effect and, despite reports last week that US researchers have found a possible cause, there is still no cure.

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Dementia signage and visual aids are crucial within care homes

For adults experiencing memory loss, the ability of the brain to remain visually engaged with interior surroundings is well documented as being crucial for enhancing daily living potential.

As outlined by University of Stirling research, “The care environment can be made more supportive and enabling with quite simple additions. The first is to make sure that what is important is highly visible.”

Nostalgic advertising

Inspired to make such an impact by drawing upon their strong company heritage, the worldwide-recognised food brand Nestlé has produced a range of reminiscence packs as an example of how care environments can be enhanced to inspire memory and nostalgia.

Compelled by voices within the care sector, the company has teamed up with the Alzheimer’s Society and produced a range of prints that will remind many older people of past decades.

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Training in care homes reduces prescription of harmful anti-psychotics to people with dementia by a third

An innovative training programme for care home staff has cut the use of inappropriate anti-psychotic drugs, which double the risk of death in people with dementia, by a third.

This is according to research commissioned by Alzheimer's Society and launched today (Thursday 3 July 2014).

Over 100 care homes were recruited to receive the Focused Intervention Training and Support (FITS) programme – which equips staff to understand complex behaviours in people with dementia and to deliver person-centred care as an alternative to harmfulantipsychotics. When medication was reviewed, residents were more alert, communicative and active, with improvements in mobility, eating, sleeping and in achieving personal goals.

Around 90 per cent of people with dementia will experience behavioural and psychological symptoms at some point. Often, people in care homes experiencing these symptoms are prescribed antipsychotic drugs as a first resort. For someone with dementia, antipsychotic drugs can worsen dementia symptoms, double the risk of death, treble the risk of stroke and can leave people unable to walk and talk.

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There has been much news about the NHS and the need to improve care for their elderly patients so far no one is addressing the fact that the majority of care for those who require it in the latter years of life takes place in Care Homes across the UK, much needs to be done to improve the commission of care by both the new Clinical Commissioning Groups and Local Authorities who general purchase care at the lowest cost without regard to quality.

Stanfield Nursing Home