A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is frightening. The cognitive impairment, memory loss, and inevitable cognitive decline can seem like a death sentence to both patients and loved ones.
Most modern medicine is looking for a single silver bullet cure found in monotherapeutic treatment (translation: one medication that will cure Alzheimer’s).
In other words, there is no single drug that can treat Alzheimer’s… But perhaps a protocol that addresses the many factors that lead to Alzheimer’s can make a difference.
The Bredesen Protocol is a personalized approach to prevent and reverse cognitive decline, providing a health practitioner to customize a treatment plan for better brain health.
The overall goal of the Bredesen Protocol is to remove exposure triggers that lead to cognitive decline, optimize health support, and rebuild the neural network.
When the lifestyle changes and treatment plan are implemented at the onset of symptoms, the Bredesen Protocol may work to slow the progression of the disease.
There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. However, Dr. Dale Bredesen’s research has culminated in the first program to prevent and reverse some cognitive decline for many participants following the treatment plan’s rigorous lifestyle, nutrition, and health/environmental changes.
Some key lifestyle factors include:
1. Fat Burning
- Eating a low carbohydrate diet, high in healthy fats
- Fasting overnight for at least 12 hours
- Exercising regularly, ideally for 30 minutes, 5 times weekly
2. Addressing Insulin Sensitivity
- Combining diet and lifestyle
- Optimizing essential nutrients
- Exercising regularly
- Reducing stress
- Sleep health
- Supplements
3. Optimize all nutrient, hormone, and trophic (growth factor) support. This support means we can create resilience, optimize our immune systems, support our mitochondria, and begin to rebuild our brains’ synaptic networks. Low levels of trophic factors (growth factors) such as vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B12, vitamin D, testosterone, estrogen, and nerve growth factor are all associated with cognitive decline.
4. Reducing Inflammation
It’s important to allow the body to increase inflammation when it’s actually necessary, but also to resolve inflammation when it’s no longer needed.
5. Treating Pathogens
Chronic undiagnosed infection can be a contributing factor in cognitive decline. We all live with more than a thousand different species of microbes.
6.
Addressing Toxin Exposure
Metals such as mercury, organics like toluene and benzene, and biotoxins like mold toxins (mycotoxins) can lead directly or indirectly to cognitive decline.
7.
Optimizing Sleep
The amount of oxygen saturation in our blood as we sleep can plummet, which affects our brain’s optimum functioning. Oxygen saturation can be a significant contributor to cognitive decline.
