The problem with Dementia, or its most common type, Alzheimer's Disease is that it is already in its advanced state before it is detected. This makes it scarier, right? Right.
The best way, as in any other type of disease, is early detection and treatment before serious impairment digs in. You see, later stages of dementia are mostly untreatable. The good news is, scientists are on the fast track in developing ways of improving diagnosis and treatments for this disease.
One of these researchers is a group at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), lead by Liza Vizer. Vizer and her colleagues are developing a technology that aims at detecting early signs of age-related cognitive impairment through a subject's typing strokes on a keyboard. Just type away and a software would detect changes in your otherwise established typing rhythm. If it does, a software will determine if the changes in your typing patterns are just a result of a temporary stress (have you just climbed five flights of stairs on your way to your office, or have you just got off the phone after a fight with your girlfriend?) or your typing style has indeed deteriorated over a long period of time. If it is the latter, and the software detects it, it may recommend you to go have a chat with your doctor. Read about the experiment at NewScientist.
But the UMBC group is still on the experimental stage.
While the question may be asked, about the likelihood of 65-year-olds (and above) using computers long enough to determine their typing rhythm, and long enough to detect changes; Microsoft may have the answer in its website: the average age of computer users is rising.
While this dementia-detecting keyboard technology may still not be available for the 65-year-olds today, going back to the first paragraph above - the first (and the only) person you may know to have dementia in the future is you! The success of this experiment, and the resulting technology, could come in handy. (Shivers!)
Now, if you've got the shivers, you can prevent this degeneration by keeping your brain sharp. Stimulate it... always.
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