Hi, I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson, and welcome to episode 32 of the savvy psychologist.

I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

We'll use the best of psychology to help you be happy, healthy, and most importantly yourself.

So officially, Alzheimer's disease

is the sixth most common cause of death

among Americans. But a 2014 study in the journal

neurology re-examined cause of death entries on death certificates and medical

records which help generate those rankings and researchers found that the immediate cause of death

like pneumonia was often listed instead of the underlying cause like

Alzheimer's. The researchers estimated that the true numbers of

Alzheimer's related deaths are much closer to the first and second ranked

causes, heart disease and cancer. And if the numbers play out the true impact of Alzheimer's could be five or six times the current estimate.

So before we get into tips for prevention, first, what is Alzheimer's disease? So Alzheimer's is a kind of dementia.

dementia is a family of brain disorders that cause deterioration of memory,

decline in intellectual capacity, changes in personality, and loss of social skills, all of which are severe enough to rob someone of his or her independence.

And Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia.

It's responsible for about 60% of all dementia cases.

And Alzheimer's disease is progressive,

which means it worsens as it advances.

So the course of the illness is generally a slow, steady slide in functioning

as brain cells degenerate. The next most common dementia is vascular dementia, which accounts

for about 20% of all dementia cases. But the exact numbers are murky

...