@tee and @Autumn07, it is so good to have both of you weighing in. As I spent time with this article, I was definitely thinking about how the research would strike a personal cord for many of us in this group. Thank you for being willing to share your personal experience and insights, and I’m sorry for your loses to this disease.
You both bring up points that I really wanted to discuss further from the research. Building cognitive reserve and exercise are topics that come up in our discussion of other neurodegenerative disease, such as Huntington’s and Parkinson’s. While, neither exercise or cognitive reserve are a cure-all, they definitely hold promise in maintaining quality of life for as long as possible. And, based on the research I’m seeing, helping our patients build a habit of both should be a top priority. (Our patients probably aren’t going to get enough exercise or cognitive stimulation in our therapy sessions alone, so our focus should really be on helping them build life-long habits.)
Along the same lines helping our patients find opportunities for social interaction on a regular basis should also be a top priority. Again, we simply can’t provide enough in therapy alone, it needs to be integrated into their daily lives.