“When I first asked my mother to move her answer was a definite ‘No!’” Lynn D. remembers. “To her leaving her home meant abandoning her life, including the memory of her time with my father. Even though I believe the change was absolutely for the best, I couldn’t force her to leave that memory....

“Will I forget my family members and loved ones as I grow older?” “Is there a way to stop the memory loss—forgetting names or why I went to the grocery store—that I’ve begun to experience?” “Am I destined to lose memory as I age?” These questions strike at the heart of the most terrifying...

Some change in memory is normal as we grow older, but the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are more than simple lapses in memory. People with Alzheimer’s experience difficulties communicating, learning, thinking and reasoning — problems severe enough to have an impact on an individual’s work,...

Charlie Powell feels like he lost his dad a long time ago. His dad, who has Alzheimer’s disease, doesn’t just forget who Powell is—he sometimes becomes violent. “Once, me and mom disabled his car so that he couldn’t drive it, and he soon realized what we’d done,” Powell, 50, says. “He...

Alzheimer’s disease is a slow disease, starting with mild memory problems and ending with severe brain damage. The course the disease takes and how fast changes occur vary from person to person. On average, AD patients live from 8 to 10 years after they are diagnosed, though some people may live with...

Alzheimer’s disease begins slowly. At first, the only symptom may be mild forgetfulness, which can be confused with age-related memory change. Most people with mild forgetfulness do not have AD. In the early stage of AD, people may have trouble remembering recent events, activities, or the names of...

Scientists do not yet fully understand what causes AD. There probably is not one single cause, but several factors that affect each person differently. Age is the most important known risk factor for AD. The number of people with the disease doubles every 5 years beyond age 65. Family history is another...

Large numbers of senior citizens need to spend more time outdoors to boost their levels of vitamin D and lower their risk of chronic disease, researchers from Warwick University have warned. “As we get older our skin is less efficient at forming vitamin D and our diet may also become less varied,...