Weather’s Affect on Alzheimer’s Patients
Weather is a constantly changing phenomenon. Dry or rainy, hot or cold, cold fronts and snow to hot and desiccated. As citizens of Earth, we are always unsure what the weather will bring with it tomorrow, and are always trying to be prepared to protect ourselves.
Weather certainly has external effects upon us: causing us to feel hot or cold, be wet or dry, safe or injured. However, people always question if weather also have internal effects upon us too. Some say experiencing a headache will tell them whether the weather will be shifting from cool and dry to hot and muggy. They will even claim that the severity of their headache tells them how severe the shift will be.
The same is claimed by many with joint injuries or arthritis. Multiple friends, family members, and co-workers will lament the aches felt in their joints as they curse the coming change in weather and yammer for relief. I always laugh at the lamentation, believing it was all in the minds.
That is until I began to experience much the same. In my younger years as a teen, I decided to zip down a steep hill upon my new skateboard. Oh, what a nifty feeling it was. Unfortunately, I had failed to take into account my surroundings, missing three important factors. Not half an hour previously is had rained, tar had recently been poured to seal pavement cracks, and new tar is quite slippery when wet!
Rapidly wheeling downhill and turning onto a connecting street the skateboard slipped on the wet tar. I went tumbling along the pavement, ending up in the hospital with a severely broken arm. Since then, I vow my arm bellows at approaching rain.
More serious health risks caused by cold weather have been documented. Common illnesses include the cold, flu, heart attack, hypothermia. Loss of balance on an icy sidewalk may cause scrapes, bruises, broken bones, and worse. The dry air will cause skin to lose moisture, making it become dry, brittle, cracked and bleeding. If cracked skin is not treated, infection could readily become a serious issue.
Other impacts of weather include seasonal asthma and bronchitis, chronic sinus and throat irritation, and infections and illnesses of the upper respiratory tract. The affect of weather upon our body’s health is certainly apparent.
Are there affects upon more serious diseases, such as Alzheimer’s? Are patients with dementia impacted by cold weather? Medical research has found there is.
“Nobody had ever asked the question whether our brains, at a deep molecular level, are different in the winter than in the summer. It isn’t that we merely feel different; our brains are fundamentally different at different times of the year, and at different times of the day,” says Andrew Lim who is an Assistant Professor of the Institute of Medical Science at University of Toronto, and Neurologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
Several steps you can taken to help Alzheimer’s patients be comfortable and safe from harm. Keep them warm, without letting them over-heat. Avoid using electric blankets and space heaters as patients will not be able to turn them off before sleeping. Ensure they are bundled up when venturing outside. Prevent falling as this can lead to debilitating injuries. Engage patients in regular exercise, games, and group events. Help put a smile on their face.
I have been diagnosed by a Board Certified Neurologist to have short term Memory deficit. I’m a retired Board Certified Pediatrician age 69. The Neurologist has given me a medication like Aricept but it is called Donepezil HCL ( generic) 10 mg once daily. It is inexpensive! The Aricept is extremely expensive even with Medicare and supplemental insurance.
It has been beneficiary to my memory issue.
I have no side effects. They said to take at bedtime but I do morning. I take Thyroid hormone pill which I have been taking for many years. The other is Levocetirizine 5 mg 1 tablet daily ( antihistamine with no sedation).
The most important is to keep active and socialize with others. During this pandemic I have only associated by computer “ Zoom with my son’s family in California or locally with my friends.