July 30, 2020: Four Pillars of a Healthy Mind

For my last three columns I have discussed my Three Pillars for a Healthy Life. This column discusses the ‘Mind’ – you know, the 3 lbs of matter that sits inside of the skull that sits on top of your spine.

I consider the mind and the brain to be synonymous. For the sake of this column, I am going to put dementia into the mental health category even though our local health team separates dementia from mental health. I consider both as ‘Mind’ issues.

Without the mind we don’t exist but, of course, the same can be said about the body. We, and our medical system, spend billions of dollars to keep the physical body operational. I don’t know how much we are spending on our mind (mental health and dementia and?) but my guess is that it is much less than what we spend on the body.

Yet, think of this: I have read that before the conavirus hit the UK, dementia was found to be the single most cause of death over such causes as cancer, heart attacks, diabetes, etc, etc.

As I have repeatedly stated, I have Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Alzheimer’s Disease (MCI due to AD). Participating in research at the Toronto Memory Program (TMP) indicates and confirms that a number of my ‘Mind’ issues are due to beta-protein amyloids that are contaminating my brain and the issues that have caused this are not inherited from my parents. I consider Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to be the worst of all the many dementias.

I know of two drugs that are in Stage 3 of clinical studies – aducanunab and levitiracetam (low dose). But, the CoVid19 pandemic has apparently delayed these drugs and their advance to an  available solution to my ‘Mind’ issues. So it is up to me and TMP to deal with my AD issues.

Therefore, I am concentrating on the ‘Four Pillars of a Healthy Mind’. These are: Awareness, Connection, Insight, and Purpose. Some detail follows;

1. Awareness: refers to my ability to be aware of my difficulties. My major ‘Mind’ issue is an increasing lack of short term memory. If my memory concerns worsen, as is the history of Alzheimer’s, I could end up in a 24/7 care nursing home. I am aware of this.

2. Connection: This refers to the need for me to stay connected to family, friends, neighbours, etc outside of my home. I play golf with 4 different golfers four times per week. I have a cochlear implant to assist in my hearing but still I cannot hear conversations in groups of more than four. But one-on-one conversations are good for me and I have these conversations whenever possible.

3. Insight: this refers to intuition or instinctive perception of what is right or wrong for me. Thus, over the years, many of my decisions have been based on feelings or gut instincts. Insight is opposite to decisions based on memory. In reality, I feel that my insight is better than my memory which is worsening due to age and beta-amyloids. FYI: I have a high intellect.

4. Purpose: this refers to ‘what is important to me’. My strength has always been an active brain. For example, golf is considered by many to be a ‘brain game’ – a poor game of golf is often blamed on a foggy brain – my scores have ranged from 83 to 107 in the last 2 months – not good. Currently, I try to keep my brain actively engaged by; focusing on concentrating when practicing golf, using my left hand often (I’m right handed), doing jigsaw puzzles, trying to learn to make music with my old saxophone, creating pleasing watercolour paintings and looking after myself without my wife’s (my caregiver) involvement. Keeping my ‘Mind’ busy is important!

I feel that one of the greatest assists that has enabled me to delay the progress of my MCI due to Alzheimer’s Disease is writing these columns – one every other week – this my 75th column. I hope that you, as my audience, find that my opinion columns regarding my experiences with Alzheimer’s interesting and helpful.

My columns “My Voyage with Dementia” will continue.

Bob Murray is retired from the printing industry and has been living in Seaforth since 2015. Murray was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment in 2013 and works hard to keep his brain healthy. 

Column 75 in My Voyage with Dementia