Running: A Fever

Welcome to the 12th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. Prevention is really what this series is all about. Nobody wants to know a bunch of stuff about a disease for which there is no hope. And there are a lot of people saying that, and I want to contradict them as much as I can here. So here is another episode in which I'll talk about concrete steps you can take to prevent dementia. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/235  

Welcome to the 11th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. For the first few chapters of the series, we talked about dementia itself, the different types, symptoms, and a little about prevention. We have switched to some more fundamental concepts about the brain. In the last episode, we talked about how memory works. Today we'll focus specifically on how aging affects the brain. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/234

Welcome to the 10th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. Thus far in the series we have talked about dementia itself, the different types, symptoms, and a little about prevention. Now I want to get into some more fundamental concepts about the brain itself. So for the next two episodes we'll talk about this amazing organ, and today we'll focus specifically on memory, which is affected deeply by dementia. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/233  

Welcome to the 9th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. By now, if you've been with me, you know what dementia is, and you know some of the different types. Today we're going to talk about preventing dementia, which is the whole point, right? As you might expect, this is where my main interest lies in this series. I mean, you need to know something about the enemy before you set about fighting him, but the fight is the thing, and like Sun Tsu said in the art of war, "The greatest victory is that which requires no battle." So that's what we're going to do. We're going to defeat dementia before we have to fight it. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/232  

Welcome to the 8th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. In part 3 I went through the many types of dementia, and we're going to have separate episodes on the most common of these. This is the 5th and final of that series-within-a-series, and it's about Mixed Dementia. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/231 Get more Running:AFEVER articles on Medium: http://RunningAFEVER.com/Medium  

Welcome to the 7th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. In part 3 I went through the many types of dementia, and we're going to have separate episodes on the most common of these. This is the fourth of that series-within-a-series, and it's about Lewy Body Dementia (LBD). Read the full article on Medium https://medium.com/@michaeldavismedia/lewy-body-dementia-affects-over-one-million-americans-over-50-82a334d13c86

I guess I have a musical mind, I always get music in my head when something comes up in conversation or otherwise. I was thinking of a couple famous 80's songs, but did you know there are over 1000 songs with the title "Rumors"? Seems like a popular topic, and almost always very problematic. It implies something less reliable than information, or news, or data, or even story. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/238  

Welcome to the 6th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. In part 3 I went through the many types of dementia, and we're going to have separate episodes on the most common of these. This is the third of that series-within-a-series. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/229  

Welcome to the 5th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. In part 3 I went through the many types of dementia, and we're going to have separate episodes on the most common of these. This is the second of that series-within-a-series. Read the full post: https://medium.com/running-a-fever/vascular-dementia-is-the-most-preventable-form-of-dementia-2bb4f64bd328

I'm doing a whole series on dementia, and this is part 4. In part 3 I went through the many types of dementia, and we're going to have separate episodes on the most common of these. This is the first of that series-within-a-series. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/227  

Welcome to the 3rd in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable. So I've set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/226

There is a group of brain disorders in which the patient experiences a loss of cognitive function. The name used for this group is "Dementia". So it's not one particular ailment. But a group of them that have certain things in common. The cause of these disorders is thought to be the deterioration of brain cells. This is a natural process that occurs throughout our lives, but in people with dementia the loss of these nerve cells (neurons) is far greater. A normal adult brain has about 100 billion neurons. Also some sources indicated that at least one type of dementia shows no significant loss of neurons, indicating that other factors are at play. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/225  

I'm sorry to interrupt our fascinating study of dementia, but this new article about COVID-19 is somewhat related and very timely, so I thought I should bring it to your attention. Last week a report was released of a study conducted by Dr. Adam Hampshire of Imperial College London. This has been widely reported, I have some links in the show notes at http://RunningAFEVER.com/245.  The results are new, so they have not been peer-reviewed. 84,000 people who had recovered from COVID-19 were studied and found to perform worse on cognitive performance tests than demographics would normally predict. The difference was found to be equivalent to a 10-year decline or an 8.5-point difference in IQ. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/245  

This episode is the beginning of a major series. I have planned 17 episodes in the series, so this will take us a few weeks into 2021. The subject is dementia. I think it's important. It affects 50 million people worldwide. But this wouldn't necessarily convince me to spend so much time on this disease. The fact is, some pretty reliable sources of medical information say that dementia is a preventable disease. And since we want to be healthy as long as possible here on Running: A FEVER, we definitely want to do whatever we can to prevent dementia. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/224  

An annual physical is essential to optimal health management. If you are fortunate enough to not have any medical problems throughout the year, or any chronic disorders that need to be managed, it at least gives you one meeting with your doctor, in which you can ask any of those nagging questions you have. He might also have some good ones for you. This time my doc asked me if I had any skin rashes. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/243

Believe it or not, I like going in to see my doctor. For someone who cares enough about health to do a podcast episode every week on it, it's a chance to get some professional insight and real-life point of view on medicine. Plus he's just a nice guy. I'll have a separate episode on how my annual physical went and what you can learn from it. But today I'll share with you how a primary care physician is handling the pandemic. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/242  

Medical Dept. I wanted to emphasize hydration in a couple of episodes. This is especially important in hot weather, but really it is something that is important year-round. Running: A FEVER interviewed pro wrestler and bodybuilder David Hernandez. In this episode he talks about hydration and its importance in terms of performance, health, and safety. We talk about "cutting" in preparation for a bodybuilding show and how hydration affects vascularity, and about heat- and hydration-related illnesses and how they can be especially dangerous to athletes. http://RunningAFEVER.com/223  

Medical Dept. This episode I'm joined by my friend, who just happens to be a dialasis nurse. I wanted to emphasize hydration in a couple of episodes. This is especially important in hot weather, but really it is something that is important year-round. It is technically possible to drink too much water, but this would be extremely rare. Your body is going to tell you you need to stop long before you drink too much. Insufficient hydration can cause kidney failure even though it is not common. And anything that reduces circulation can also increase the risk for kidney disease. The main thing to remember about blood supply to the kidneys is, as in all organs, it is affected by cardiovascular disease, the number one cause of death. Avoiding this is paramount. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER/222 Episode #222

Well, I love my coffee. I don't think about it much though. I mean usually I don't pay attention to it, it's more of a comforting morning ritual. But the other day I noticed how flavorful my coffee was. Turns out it was Rwandan. Rwandans make a mighty mean bean, that's for sure. I get the whole beans. I have a coffee maker with a built-in grinder. I just fill it up with water, a filter, and the beans, then I have one button to push and everything else is done. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/218

I love honey, especially our local Mountainburg honey and other local honeys around here. Hmm . . . local honeys . . . Uh, anyway Mountainburg honey has a nice buttery flavor. I eat it on toast with Smart Balance, but I preobably use more of it making homemade granola. And it seems to taste even better when I think that it's good for me. But is it? Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/217