Before I met Lynn Posluns at Queen’s Park last month, I was unaware that 70 per cent of new Alzheimer’s sufferers will be women. When I repeat this statistic, men and women alike are startled.
Posluns has launched the Women’s Brain Health Initiative to raise awareness about the inequality in brain-aging research funding for women. Medical researchers often assume that men and women only differ in the area below what is termed the “bikini line.” A dynamo who brings her fundraising experience at Baycrest Foundation to this new cause, Posluns is on a mission to raise awareness of gender differences in brain health.
Apart from exercise and a healthy diet, experts warn us to get adequate sleep and improve our stress coping mechanisms. Youth should also be aware that maintaining a healthy lifestyle in their 20s is a significant indicator of future brain health.
York Region residents affected by dementia are fortunate to have local support through the Alzheimer Society of York Region. Executive director Loren Freid visited me at Queen’s Park to raise awareness of the struggles faced by family members caring for loved ones. Joining Freid were two gentlemen from our community — one caring for his wife, the other his mother. We agreed that more could be done to help those who struggle emotionally and often financially while caring for their loved ones. Both men rely on day programming provided by the society’s nine locations in York Region. Although age and genetics — significant risk factors in the onset of Alzheimer’s — can not be altered, we can all do much more to protect our brains.