Understanding Millennials & Decision Paralysis as it Relates 2 Dating & Generation Gaps

It is becoming more evident that as the Baby Boomer and Generation X populations outlive their predecessors neurodegenerative diseases (Dementia, and Alzheimers) are becoming more prevalent.  The research presents that bad habits and unhealthy lifestyles have an effect on the brain.  After reading Kevin Loria’s Business Insider’s article The scariest thing about bad sleep could be what it means for your brain one recognizes not only that Alzheimer’s symptomologies are present 20 years before
the first significant traumatic onset (walking out of a hotel room with your underwear not knowing where you are; routinely jogging around the neighborhood and forgetting where you are); but, that there is a link between sleep deprivation and Dementia.

The chances of people living to become 100 years of age is not an ambitious goal but realistic due to a healthy lifestyle and a positive genetic profile.  What world-renowned neurosurgeon Keith Black, M.D., promotes is that medical trends have ultimately improved interventions and future treatments to support and ultimately manage dementia and Alzheimer’s.  

What we can assert is that a positive nurturing environment, a healthy lifestyle, a reduction of stress, and a healthy diet (a mediterranean diet, for example) become the gateway to minimizing Dementia and increasing healthy brain functionality.  Perhaps what is most often overlooked is sleep and its relationship to cognition.  As earlier stated, with a more active engagement with Alzheimer's and Dementia within the Baby Boomer population we are now seeing high profiled media awareness which will increase dialogue and normalize, or destigmatize, this mental illness so that it becomes an easier part of our culture.  

There is a normalizing of dementia already happening in our culture evidenced by Rachel Becker’s review of Coco.  With the blockbuster animation juggernaut Coco selling tickets even in the underworld it is apparent that the creative forces are connecting to the collective unconscious and Psyche of not just Los Angeles and Mexican culture but to family, universal themes and generational relations.  What is developing is a new normal.  There is a new dialogue for the ease and acceptance and normalcy of dementia.  As a therapist in Los Angeles this new awareness of dementia is refreshing.  Whether working as a marriage counselor or family therapist mediums, such as film, that reach a larger audience and presents a discussion in a positive engaging way makes my work and and the process of life easier.  

Of note, journalist, news anchor, and former First Lady of California Maria Shriver has also been engaged with the education and awareness of Alzheimer's.

Please note previous blog on Glen Campbell and his illness with Alzheimer's.

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