Dementia: Why It’s Important to Act Fast

Created By RISC | 2 years ago

Last modified date : 2 years ago

Did you know that over 12 million Thais—18% of the population—were over 60 in 2022?​

As Thailand becomes an aging society, Alzheimer's is set to have a rising impact.​

Alzheimer's sufferers can suffer a wide range of physical symptoms…​
• Concentration: less concentration and a tendency to forget what one is doing or has just done, such as losing one's glasses.
• Memory: forgetfulness, especially with short-term memory, such as forgetting someone visited yesterday, forgetting what is being discussed, getting lost in a familiar place, and frequently repeating questions or conversations. There are also communication and language use issues, such as an inability to choose the correct word or sentence, as well as an inability to speak, hear, and interpret the meaning of a conversation, whether communicating in sentences or words.​
• Abilities: frequently losing the ability to do everyday tasks like reading, listening, singing, dancing, or drawing.​
• Decision-making: poor and slow decision-making, or inability to make any decisions at all, including inability to think and solve complex problems.​
• Understanding abstract concepts: difficulties understanding the day, month, year, time, numbers and calculations, or perception of direction.​
• Behavioral: difficulty controlling emotions, have a bad temper or anxiety, getting depressed, irritable, and easily becoming angry at oneself and others.​

These symptoms are caused by brain malfunctions. There is currently no way to regain normality. But we can recognize the issue and get medical guidance by spotting the first signs such as forgetfulness, losing track of what one is doing, forgetting things, forgetting recent conversations or events, forgetting familiar faces or friends, forgetfulness when performing everyday tasks, inability to recall how to carry out those tasks, mood swings, such as feeling down or easily irritated for no apparent reason.​

Alzheimer’s sounds terrifying. But if we catch it early, we can take action to protect quality of life.​

Story by Nattapat Tanjariyaporn, Senior Researcher, Brain Computer Interface, RISC ​

Reference: Mayoclinic, What is Alzheimer's Disease, Alzheimer's Association.​