Dr Zoe says walking can reduce risk of dementia

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A recent survey, conducted by the Alzheimer’s society, reported that 91 percent of respondents benefitted from getting a dementia diagnosis. By addressing their health concerns, it opened doors to treatment and extra support. Speaking to Express.co.uk, Doctor Radha Modgil pointed out the earliest possible indicators of dementia.

“For someone with dementia, familiar tasks they’ve done all their lives may start to get difficult to do,” said Doctor Modgil.

This could show up in the way you cook pasta, for example.

Doctor Modgil elaborated: “[People with dementia] may lose the ability to carry out tasks in the proper order.

“Like trying to cook pasta on the stove before putting the water in.”

So if you find yourself or a loved one burning pasta in the pot, because water hasn’t been added in, it could be a warning sign.

Other familiar tasks that could become difficult include getting dressed properly or finding the soap they usually watch.

As expected, memory and thinking issues could also be an early sign of dementia.

“However, as life gets busier, it can also just be a sign of feeling stressed or getting older,” added Doctor Modgil.

So how can you differentiate between “normal” memory issues and dementia?

“For someone with dementia, problems with memory and thinking get worse much more quickly than they would normally do with age,” Doctor Modgil explained.

“With noticeable decline over a period of months as opposed to years.”

Doctor Modgil made clear that in order for a doctor to diagnose someone with dementia, the symptoms must be frequent and have a “significant impact on daily life”.

Making poor decisions could be another indication of the brain condition.

“Life is full of distractions and can get overwhelming, so we’ve all had moments when we’ve made a poor decision,” Doctor Modgil empathised.

“It could be about money or buying something we don’t need, or it could be more about people and our relationships with them.”

It’s when a person is “making a lot of poor decisions”, in a short amount of time, that a red flag should be waving in the air.

Doctor Modgil added that it could be because “they can’t process information like they used to”.

Or their personality “seems to have changed a lot over just a few months”.

“Dementia sometimes causes hallucinations or seeing, hearing or smelling things that aren’t there,” added Doctor Modgil.

If you are concerned at any point about developing dementia, do discuss your fears with your doctor.

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