AMAC urges seniors to enter into a ‘Fitness Protection Program”

You’ll feel better and it can improve your health, says the senior advocacy organization

WASHINGTON, DC, Sep 21 – Americans are living longer than ever before. The average lifespan in the U.S. has doubled over the past 100 years. In 1918, you were lucky if you made it past 40 years of age. Today we’re living into our 80s and the number of people living past 100 is at an all time high.

Fitness expert Jena Walther, Exercise Physiologist at the Scripps Center for Executive Health in La Jolla, CA, says more than half of us who are over 55 don’t even meet the minimum recommended guidelines for exercise. They lack confidence, are afraid they’ll hurt themselves or are just plain uninterested. And, it gets worse as they get older.

“In addition to making older folks feel better, the advantages of keeping fit include the ability to prevent some of the more serious diseases associated with aging, including Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even Alzheimer’s,” according to Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC].

Weber is encouraging AMAC’s membership to enter into what he calls a “Fitness Protection Program.”   He says, “As we get older we tend to seek ways to avoid activities that involve exertion. To quote one anonymous wag: the only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, sidestepping responsibility, and pushing their luck. We need to overcome inertia and find ways of improving our heart rates and blood sugar levels by developing good exercise habits. Of course, it is important to check with your doctor before beginning any regimen that involves strenuous activities.”

Exercise is particularly good at fending off Type 2 Diabetes and other chronic conditions. The World Health Organization says that a healthy diet, increased physical activity and avoiding tobacco use can prevent 80% of premature heart disease, 80% of type 2 diabetes cases and 40% of cancers. And, according to the Alzheimer’s Association: “”Exercise or regular physical activity might play a role in both protecting your brain from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and also living better with the disease if you have it.”

AMAC suggests that, ideally, your own Fitness Protection Program will include formal exercise routines – even if it is going for a walk around the block. But being active doesn’t have to be limited to your workout times. There are plenty of ways to become more active as you go about your day. For example:

• When you are out and about, always choose stairs over the elevator, park at the far end of the parking lot when arriving at appointments and meetings, walk down every isle of the grocery store while shopping, practice balancing skills while standing in line, do neck rolls while waiting at a stoplight.
• When you are at home, do a set of wall pushups while waiting for water to boil, vigorously vacuum, tend to the garden, sweep the sidewalk, rake leaves, lift weights while watching the news, try toe-raises while talking on the phone, do knee bends after sitting for a long period of time.

Says Weber, “you will feel better if you keep active. Guaranteed!”

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AMAC supports Congressional BOLD initiative to combat ‘the scourge’ of Alzheimer’s disease

Bi-partisan bill in both Houses of Congress may provide them

WASHINGTON, July 20 – The Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC] has endorsed bi-partisan legislation in Congress to focus attention and resources on “the scourge” of dementia and, in particular, Alzheimer’s, which is America’s most expensive disease.

The BOLD [Building Our Largest Dementia] Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act [S.2076] and the House version of the bill [H.R.4256] were both introduced last November with bi-partisan support. Susan Collins [R-ME], Chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, introduced the bill in the Senate. Rep. Brett Guthrie [R-KY] sponsored the House version. The measures would provide “research funding … needed to achieve our goal of preventing and treating Alzheimer’s by the year 2025,” according to an online post by Sen. Collins.

AMAC president Dan Weber sent letters of support to Senator Collins and her cosponsors in the Senate and to Representative Brett Guthrie and his cosponsors in the House. In his messages, Weber stated: “The BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act will empower those living with Alzheimer’s, and their caregivers, by increasing access to education and expanding necessary support services. The steps outlined in this bill will ensure both patients and caregivers are best positioned to deal with the effects of Alzheimer’s and preserve the financial integrity of our healthcare system by averting a potentially disastrous public health crisis.”

Weber has long been calling for a new focus on Alzheimer’s and says “it’s about time that one of the most devastating diseases afflicting older Americans receives the full attention of the U.S. government. It is destructive to the individuals who suffer from this malignant form of dementia and their families. But it also has the potential of overwhelming America’s healthcare infrastructure if it is not checked.”

Weber notes that AIDS, a disease that is in decline and afflicts 1.1 million Americans, receives some $32 billion in Federal funding. Meanwhile, he points out, the National Institutes of Health [NIH] says it will spend just $1.9 billion this year to fund research on Alzheimer’s – a disease that plagues the lives of more than 5.7 individuals in the U.S. and is expected to destroy the lives of as many as 14 million by the year 2050.”

Former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, who also served as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Alzheimer’s is the most under-recognized threat to public health in the 21st century.”

In an appeal for support of the BOLD Act, Satcher said that the legislation would create a “public health infrastructure across the country to implement effective Alzheimer’s interventions.” It would:

• Establish Alzheimer’s Centers of Excellence that would increase early detection and diagnosis, reducing risk, preventing avoidable hospitalizations, reducing health disparities, supporting the needs of caregivers and supporting care planning for people living with the disease.
• Provide funding to help public health departments implement effective Alzheimer’s interventions.
• Make available funding for the Increased data collection, analysis and timely reporting needed to support research aimed at controlling and controlling the disease.

“The BOLD Act provides a new, sorely needed perspective on Alzheimer’s disease and much needed, substantive support in the quest for a cure. Along the way it will help researchers to come up with new, more effective ways of managing this insidious form of dementia. Meanwhile, the more we learn about the pathways of Alzheimer’s with help from the public sector, the more effective medical researchers in the private sector can be in checking the progress of the disease among older Americans,” Weber said.

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Alzheimer’s can devastate healthcare in the U.S.

WASHINGTON, DC, July 6 – A cure for Alzheimer’s disease does not exist and treatments are hit and miss. However, researchers are working overtime to find new ways to deal with the menace of dementia, according to senior advocate Dan Weber.

Dementia, most notably Alzheimer’s, is a leading cause of death among the elderly. According to the Alzheimer’s Association it kills one out of three seniors. In fact, the Alzheimer’s Association says that between 2000 and 2015, deaths from heart disease decreased 11% while deaths from Alzheimer’s disease increased 123%.

Weber, who is president of the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC], says that the statistics paint a bleak picture. But, he says, researchers are making progress in finding ways of dealing with the illness. He cites recent news that Temple University scientists successfully used a 22-year-old asthma drug to reverse some of the most damaging effects of dementia in mice.

Dr. Domenico Praticò, Director of the Alzheimer’s Center at Temple and the study’s lead investigator, told the Philadelphia Inquirer “for the first time, we are showing that we can do something after the disease is established.”

It will take some time to determine whether such a treatment could be effective in humans, says Weber. “But, it provides a modicum of hope as do other such research reports, including work being done by researchers at Colorado University’s Anschutz Medical Campus in Denver. Researchers there have been testing two drugs that hold promise—Aducanumab and Leukine.”

Aducanumab appears to be effective in eliminating plaque that builds up in the brain, which is a key factor in the development of Alzheimer’s. The Aducanumab study has been ongoing for years and remarkably is currently undergoing field trials in some 360 locations. Leukine, meanwhile, is clinical trials to see if it can be effective in “slowing or even stopping the progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” according to CU Anschutz.

Weber says that “it is imperative that scientists to find an efficient way to deal with Alzheimer’s because of the speed with which this particularly damaging form of dementia is claiming new victims. Left unchecked, the scourge of Alzheimer’s will have devastating consequences on healthcare in the U.S.”

He cites these additional statistics courtesy of the Alzheimer’s Association:

• There are more than 5.7 million Americans who are currently afflicted with the disease and that number will grow to 14 million by the year 2050
• Every 65 second a new case of the disease is diagnosed
• The disease kills more people than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined and is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States
• 1 million Americans provide unpaid care for people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias
• These caregivers provided an estimated 18.4 billion hours of care valued at over $232 billion
• This year, Alzheimer’s and other dementias will cost the nation $277 billion and by 2050, these costs could rise as high as $1.1 trillion

“While we might worry about the prospect of a loved one falling victim to the disease, we need to accept the fact that any of us might need to assume the role of principal caregiver to a mother, father or other relative or friend in their later years. And so, it is important to remember that you are not alone. Friends and relations might not understand the nightmare of looking after an Alzheimer’s patient 24/7. But, it is comforting to know that there are people who understand your plight. And, they can provide comforting answer answers that can ease your frustrations as the illness progresses and imposes new, unthinkable burdens on you. They may not have all the answers, but they can let you know what to expect and provide ways of dealing with day-to-day situations,” concludes Weber.

Here’s a link to practical advice from individuals who have first hand knowledge of the consequences of the disease and stories about how they dealt with them: the Alzheimer’s Reading Room.