Eat right. Exercise. Get plenty of sleep. This used to be the prescription we were given by our parents and physicians. It’s time we add at least two other items to our health list, that being (1) Make it a point to visit your loved ones and TALK to them face to face, and (2) don’t depend on the cell phone or other technology to remember everything for you.
Early onset dementia aka alzheimers is steadily robbing families of many years of happiness. It is not easy to witness the slipping away of reality, as our loved ones start acting differently. Usually, in the beginning we laugh it off as just having “senior moments”. Before you know it, it advances to showing up late or not at all to appointments and dinners, and maybe even forgetting the way home and ending up in another state altogether.
In regards to staying connected, the people we love are usually the last ones we think about as we live our busy lives. We work, go to school, shuttle our children to and from activities, eat fast food on the run, and do what makes us happy. We sometimes squeeze in time to visit the parents (unless they are our babysitters), put the granparents on the holiday list for visits, and rarely engage with other extended family unless its for special occaision dinners or funerals.
We use our personal technology devices (cellphones, tablets, etc.) to remember our important telephone numbers, and send us reminders for appointments and birthdays. Back in the day, if we needed to call someone we actually knew the number “by heart” and dialed the individual numbers. Today we either search our contact list or just speak to our devices and it will call whoever we need automatically. We spend our best moments (dinner at home, walking for exercise, or even driving with the kids in the back seat) with plugs in our ears and eyes on our phones.
Especially in this era, it’s important that we take the time to unplug from technology and reconnect with our family. In my home we have a policy of no phones at the dinner table. We sit and talk to each other face-to-face. The television is not on all day to babysit whomever is in the house. When company comes over, we turn the TV off. Many times during gatherings there is always a divide between those who watch sports, movies or work in the kitchen. Turn off the TV, put up the PTD and get to know the family or friend that you are sitting with.
I am not a doctor, never went to medical school and don’t profess to know everything, but I do have common sense that tells me that the more I am sociable and engaged with those around me, the more likely it is that I will be healthier longer. Common sense also tells me that the more I am detatched from society and plugged into technology, the more likey I am to be alone and forgetful.
The stimulation of having face-to-face conversations with people is a dynamic we are losing. Politics, religion, sexual identity, and racism has driven such a wedge between families and society, that most tend to stay in their own corner. We need to learn to art of talking to and not at each other. We should be able to “agree that we can disagree” and still be friends.
I have digressed somewhat from my opening paragraph. Getting back on point. Use your mind as often as you can and please, please, please, take the time to stay connected personally with those that you care about. Time is too precious to lose.