Memories Matter

Sir Michael Parkinson, Tony Robinson and Sir Terry Pratchett are among the celebrities joining party leaders Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg in launching the Alzheimer’s Research Trust campaign, Memories Matter.

Members of the public are invited to share their unforgettable moments – good, bad or otherwise – at the Alzheimer’s Research Trust website www.memories-matter.org or on Twitter using the #memoriesmatter tag. Memories from the public will be placed on the Alzheimer’s Research Trust’s Memory Wall, which will tour the country from September.

The Alzheimer’s Research Trust’s major new campaign draws attention to the memory loss experienced by the 700,000 people in the UK who live with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, and how we could halt this: through research into new treatments, preventions and cures.

Here at in my prime we are constantly drawing attention to the many issues which are facing us all as we grow older and how they are intricately woven together but not yet fully understood. Life expectancy is increasing dramatically but that does not mean that the quality of our lives in later years will be all that we would wish. We need help in finding ways to overcome such debilitating conditions as Alzheimer’s and dementia whether it is through medical intervention or the continued mental stimulation that work, hobbies or our social interactions provide.

Check onto the websites included here and see if you can do your bit.

www.memories-matter.org

www.alzheimers-research.org.uk

Longer life or living death?

A neat summary of the predicament that we humans find ourselves in was provided yesterday by Karen Dunnell, chief of the Office of National Statistics (ONS):-
“Medicine hasn’t been good at preventing things happening to you, but it has been very good at stopping you dying” she commented in a launch of a new report on increased longevity.

No doubt she didn’t really intend it to come out that way, but the thought of living in a state where we are stripped of free will and relegated to a state of eternal longevity is scary and bizarre. The implication - longer life in a state of impaired health and ability –  isn’t great either.

Bearing in mind that by 2032 more than three million people are expected to live to at least 85 – more than double the 1.3m today, it’s obvious that even without preventative medicine we’re all lasting longer. Yet surely quality of life has got to be a greater concern than simply more years – and that being the case, as Ms Dunnell says, it has to be down to all of us individually to take responsibility for doing all we can to “prevent things happening to us.”

Pass me another broccoli and fish oil smoothie.