Question: How do you think the problem of dementia could be solved? What would be your next goal after you have solved the problem of dementia

Nadine Mirza answered on 7 Nov 2018:

Very interesting question!!! And I’ll admit- a tough one to answer. I’ll try and answer it in two parts? I’m sorry it’s so long! Wanted to do your question justice.
1) The problem of dementia is probably going to be solved by undoing the brain cell damage. Dementia can happen in lots of different ways. Parts of the brain shrink sometimes, or nerve cells in the brain start breaking up. Sometime plaques form in the brain that stop the nerve cells from communicating to each other or sometimes enough blood doesn’t reach the brain. Undoing these things might be the key eg. helping nerve cells regenerate faster than they’re breaking up or helping the brain receive more blood.
Another option is looking into our genes. Scientists who work in genetics have found a lot of problems that exist in certain genes that can cause dementia and are trying to manipulate those genes now, to undo the problems.
For now, the only way we can solve the problem of dementia is by diagnosing it as soon as possible in a person so we can get them other kinds of help, like medicine that can slow down the symptoms (maybe a cure would stop the symptoms?). We can also try our best to prevent it by maintaining healthy habits like diet, good sleep, exercise, doing things that improves our logic like playing chess or reading. Basically, keeping both our brain and body active.
2) I don’t think it’ll be possible for me to solve the problem of dementia by finding a cure- that’ll be down to the geneticists and neuroscientists! But! I can solve the problem of people not getting diagnosed properly- cause if you don’t get diagnosed you cant get any help (even a cure in future!). That’s what I’m working on right now. If I accomplish this (I hope I do) I think my next goal would be to work on becoming a full clinical neuropsychologist. This is a fancy long name for a psychologist who specifically works with people experiencing mental health difficulties, with a special focus on brain based problems like learning disabilities, dementia and the effects of strokes. I’d like to be both working with patients and working with an institution to teach and do research.