Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder Dr. John Oertle joins Bob Sansevere on The BS Show to discuss the important differences between Alzheimer’s and Dementia. During this informative interview, he also shares ways that one can prevent dementia, or delay the onset.

Interview Audio:

Bob Sansevere (00:00):

We are joined by Dr. John Oertle, the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer for Solidarity HealthShare at solidarityhealthshare.org. Now, doctor, I wanted to ask you about this. It is World Alzheimer’s month and a lot of people, and I’m one of them, we use the terms Alzheimer and dementia interchangeably, but there is a distinction, is there not?

Dr. John Oertle (00:25):

There is a distinction between Alzheimer’s and dementia. Dementia is kind of this overall broad mental disease that’s going on. Alzheimer’s is a specific disease that’s characterized by specific cling that’s going on within the actual brain.

Bob Sansevere (00:42):

Ok, but the good news is for both or is it just for, well, is it dementia and Alzheimer’s, that there is some of the Lancet came out with something new research there suggesting that with the proper resources people can take proactive measures to reduce the risk of developing dementia. At what age do you have to start taking these measures or can it be done even if there’s an early sign of it?

Dr. John Oertle (01:11):

Yeah, no, this data and this research, it just recently came on out and it was published last month in The Lancet, which is a very reputable journal, but again, it actually shows that if you’re able to actually take these diet and lifestyle modifications and if they’re very simple, we can go through those. But again, if you do it, you can actually reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 50% or close to 50%.

Bob Sansevere (01:34):

 That’s significant.

Dr. John Oertle (01:35):

Which is huge. This is huge because everybody, when you think about so many people are thinking about have come in contact with a loved one or maybe dealing with some memory issues themselves and they’re concerned, really legitimately concerned about what does life look like when I get into my older ages to be able to protect my brain. Again, there’s a dignity of all human people, but we also just want to make sure that we have our mental acuity when we get older. I mean that’s a huge thing for quality of life and so if you can reduce that risk, especially when you have family history of it by 50%, it’s very exciting and very encouraging for people when this data started coming on out and to get back to your question about can you begin it? Yeah, sooner the better. Begin this sooner because you’re going to have better outcomes if you can stop the disease progression, but even if you do start having the actual Alzheimer’s, you can actually show that if you start implementing this, it can actually slow down or start to protect it from progressing as well.

Bob Sansevere (02:39):

Well, let’s launch into it. What do people need to do?

Dr. John Oertle (02:42):

Okay, so this is great because it’s so, it’s actually pretty simple as far as this goes. One of ’em, one the things that was really new and unique was that being able to get your vision and hearing checked. Okay, so this is neat because it’s one of these areas where if you don’t use it, you lose it. And there’s a lot of people that are trying to understand why exactly vision and hearing actually affects Alzheimer’s development, so correlatively, but it does, and so this is where being able to have vision and hearing, I think it helps the brain. I also think it helps to stay socially engaged and involved as well because that’s a huge thing. So yes, if you are in a place, get your cataracts out if you have cataracts, being able to make sure that you’re getting proper vision and hearing checks to be able to ensure that your brain stays functioning at a high level and you get engaged in the actual community.

(03:36):

This is also where one of the other things that’s really recommended in this study is continuing with education and cognitive development and so being able to just engage, and I know there’s a lot of things and even your little word games or crossword puzzles or Sudoku and these different just word and number patterns that are keeping the brain cognitive or being able to do a new task or learn an instrument as you’re challenging yourself to be able to grow. I think this is a great quality of life thing too, that we don’t want to just plateau as we get older, that we want to find new ways to be able to engage and use our brain. And so the more we can do that, again, it’s building up these cognitive reserves, if you will, that again allows if you lose some of those neurons or have some dysfunctioning neurons in the brain that again, you have a greater story of these neurosynaptic connections within the actual brain to go and do well longer.

(04:37):

The other thing is cardiovascular health. So this is where getting into the doctor again, there’s a real strong correlation actually between cholesterol and high blood pressure and the development of dementia. And so being able to make sure that you’re able to keep your blood pressure in check, going to the doc and getting your cholesterol levels checked and being able to manage that appropriately. And another big one with the cardiovascular disease as well is being able to make sure that if you are smoking quick to reduce the smoking to be able to protect against the vascular damage. And so all of this is helpful to be able to really help with blood flow, getting good healthy blood flow, especially in those micro vessels that are getting to the central nervous system in the brain that they’re exchanging oxygen effectively. And then lastly, again, it goes through a lot of lifestyle choices, like even just losing weight and maintaining a proper BMI or being able to reduce the alcohol consumption. Exercise is essential and I always am a big proponent of 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day.

(05:44):

It just does a lot of good for so many things. And then like I was sharing too, engagement with the community, being able to stay engaged with relationships and not isolate yourself. Again, that kind of goes back to the vision and hearing, but even this is that I think we should be engaging in our church communities and making sure that we’re engaging with our families and not staying isolated, especially in our long age because again, that can be very difficult. And it’s one of these areas too that it’s motivating and it’s encouraging and the data shows that if you are engaged in relationships, you have better longevity, life expectancy and better quality of life here in this study to be able to protect yourself against dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Bob Sansevere (06:25):

Now, you had mentioned, because it’s interesting about smokers because of what it could do to you in terms of vascularly, is there any study showing that smokers get dementia or Alzheimer’s more than people who don’t smoke?

Dr. John Oertle (06:36):

Yes. Yes, there is. And again, so smoking increases, the mechanism is clear, it creates vessel damage, and so that’s why with increased smoking you’re going to get, obviously it’s going to hit the lungs again, and so that’s a concern. But when you look at smokers, the cardiovascular elements it has, you have an increased risk of heart attacks. It has an increased risk of strokes, it has an increased risk of dementia, and so that’s one of those reasons. It’s the vascular damage that comes from smoking, those little particles they get and they come into the actual vasculature and they damage the lining. That being said, if you do have it, again, you can take proactive steps with quitting, but also being able to make sure that you’re getting proper antioxidants and proper support to the healing of the actual your vessels as well. It’s, it’s not a doomsday if you have it. You need to make sure that you’re proactively working on no cardiovascular health that you have smoked in the past.

Bob Sansevere (07:36):

Great to know that. Now, you also sent something from the National Institute of Aging, which I find I want to share this. I find it interesting. Normal aging, there’s five things for normal aging. Number one, making a bad decision once in a while. That’s normal as you’re aging, missing a monthly payment, normal forgetting which day it is and remembering it late or later, that’s normal aging. Sometimes forgetting which word to use, normal aging, losing things from time to time, normal aging. Now here’s where dementia can come in. Number one, making poor judgements and decisions a lot of the time. Two, problems taking care of monthly bills. Three, losing track of the date or time of year. Four, trouble having a conversation and five, misplacing things often and being unable to find them. I would say mean the one most glaring is if you’re not just losing track of time, but the time of the year, that would be a major sign. But all of it.

Dr. John Oertle (08:30):

Yeah, I think this is helpful because sometimes, again, it’s very normal to be able to misplace your keys or being able to find, just being able to miss something, miss that payment like you were sharing that I was writing on. But again, when you’re actually having a strong concern that needs to be evaluated, get into your primary care doctor or your neurologist to be able to do some further examinations. This is where you really, it is a disease process where you are really affecting your life the way that in which you are not able to remember or have those cognitive understanding. And so if you do, it’s not, I want to make sure people are thinking, well, I lose my keys often, or I misplace a word that I need to be able to speak in a normal conversation. That’s totally fine, and that’s just a part of the actual human experience and everybody goes through that and it may get a little bit worse as we age, but again, specifically when it comes to something that needs doctor evaluation and further oversight of, it’s when you’re actually, as you were speaking, missing the folk, what is the time of year or being able to miss complete taking care of your bills?

Bob Sansevere (09:43):

Well see, doctor, my biggest concern is my family members, my wife and children lose my keys for me. I have two sets of keys and I put ’em both on basically the whole sets together. Well, they keep breaking them up. They don’t think they should have to carry around a big set of keys. Anyway, that’s my cross to bear.

Dr. John Oertle (10:02):

I see that that is a big problem, that there may be some technology fixes on that one for you.

Bob Sansevere (10:07):

Yeah, I got to work on that.

(10:09):

But thank you. Alright, doctor, thank you so much. Solidarity, HealthShare, you are the, well, you’re the Chief Medical Officer and it is a great alternative to traditional healthcare, so check it out at solidarityhealthshare.org. Doctor, thanks so much. We’ll talk to you again soon.

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