Healthy Habits: Why Buddha Never Had Alzheimer's

Today, a diagnosis of Alzheimer's is a death sentence since there is no known cure. While the prognosis is bleak for the patient, this disease also takes a toll on family members who have to watch the slow decline of their loved one. New research indicates there are comprehensive benefits to the mind when yoga and meditation are introduced in a person's life—and multiple award-winning author Dr. Shuvendu Sen believes it can help reverse the course of this disease … and maybe stop it altogether! In his new book, Why Buddha Never Had Alzheimer's: A Holistic Treatment Approach through Meditation, Yoga and the Arts, he explains how this change happens.

I had a chance to interview Dr. Sen to learn more.

Why did you decide to write this book?

 My introduction to Alzheimer’s disease took place through my grandmother years before I joined medical school. My grandmother was an extraordinary lady who possessed an intellect that was at once seeking and profound. The family was in a state of shock when she wandered away one silent midnight and lost her way back. When she was eventually rescued forty eight hours later, she had no recollection and no recognition of anyone. It struck me as odd and out of place that a woman of such scholarly integrity would turn into a functional ruin overnight. Thirty years down the road we are grappling with the same concerns.

Alzheimer’s as a disease carries limitless repertoire in terms of its varied presentations and outcomes. It’s a disease that destroys relationships, affects caregivers, and is relentless in its scope to damage the brain. Truth be told, despite tremendous advances in research, we are still scratching the surface. And to think that a single line prescription would address this beast of a disease is being myopic.

Meditation and yoga with its profound and yet granular effects come as strong viable ways to prevent or delay the onset of this whimsical disease. Blessed by modern technologies like functional MRI, PET Scans and EEG scientists have been able to unravel the deep effects of these holistic ways. With the ability to create neuroplasticity (formation of new neuronal connections), introduce tranquil alpha waves and bring down stress hormones like cortisol, meditation has been shown to have increased our brain reserves when challenged by such disorders.

I come from India, a country where meditation is a part of a culture…taught in schools, fostered in scholarly circles, played like a sport. Its effects on cognition has been immense. Meditation and yoga at a very fundamental level is a mindset that would take time to be imbibed and sought. The book is an attempt to spread these profound effects globally.

What role does stress play in dementia and other similar diseases?

Beneath and behind the major diseases that make us finite, like stroke, heart attacks and cancer, stress as the quintessential king maker, has been our inescapable companion. We are one bunch of homo-sapiens who are condemned to be stressed out. Professional stress, emotional stress, financial stress; the list is endless and still growing. Recently, scientists have been able to find out that stress affects exactly those areas of the brain, namely the left hippocampus and the pre frontal cortex that are responsible for memory, cognition and awareness.

Indeed stress as a point of entry has been formalized as one of the major risk factors for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and allied cognitive disorders. More importantly it releases and raises the cortisol level, a hormone held responsible for all the damaging effects that it causes.

What are some holistic approaches to preventing Alzheimer's?

While we cannot and should not disregard the tremendous benefits of pharmaceutically driven medicines that address our various diseases, we would do good to remind ourselves that o drugs is exactly as angel in the sky. All drugs used for therapeutic purposes have their own sweet side effects and eventually develop tolerance. And as mentioned before, when it comes to a disease as colossal and fine as Alzheimer’s drugs may not be the only line of cure. It is here where holistic principles hog the limelight.

Be it meditation, yoga, music, T'ai chi ch'üan or other related approaches, these non-drug interventions are lab tested proven examples of remedies in various cognitive disorders that can be more  complete and more profound that many pharmaceutically produced chemical compound.