American Dementia: Brain Health in an Unhealthy Society

Social safety nets, environmental protections, and policies to redress wealth and income inequality enacted after World War II have contributed to declining rates of dementia today. New research suggests that dementia rates have declined in the US and Western Europe over the last decade, linked to mid-twentieth century policies that reduced inequality, provided widespread access to education and healthcare, and brought about cleaner air, soil, and water. Alzheimer's disease is the hallmark illness of our current hyper-capitalist era, and soaring inequalities are reversing the gains of the twentieth century and damaging our brains. Policies like single-payer healthcare, a living wage, and universal access to free higher education and technical training programs will build collective resilience to dementia.

Format: Hardback
Length: 424 pages
Publication date: 14 September 2021
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

The social safety nets, environmental protections, and policies enacted after World War II have contributed to declining rates of dementia today. Researchers have been searching for a pharmaceutical cure for memory loss for decades, but no disease-modifying biotech treatments have emerged. However, new research suggests that dementia rates have declined in the United States and Western Europe over the last decade. In American Dementia, Daniel R. George, PhD, MSc, and Peter J. Whitehouse, MD, PhD, argue that the current decline of dementia may be strongly linked to mid-twentieth-century policies that reduced inequality, provided widespread access to education and healthcare, and brought about cleaner air, soil, and water.

They also explain why Alzheimer's disease, an obscure clinical label until the 1970s, is the hallmark illness of our current hyper-capitalist era. The soaring inequalities of the twenty-first century are reversing the gains of the twentieth century and damaging our brains. The ageist tendencies in our culture disadvantage both vulnerable youth and elders. The authors make an evidence-based argument that policies like single-payer healthcare, a living wage, and universal access to free higher education and technical training programs will build collective resili.

The decline in dementia rates is a positive development for brain health in the future. By reducing inequality, providing access to education and healthcare, and improving environmental conditions, we can help to protect our brains from the damaging effects of poverty, barriers to healthcare and education, loneliness, lack of sleep, stressful life events, environmental exposures, and climate change. It is important to continue to invest in research and policies that promote brain health and well-being for all individuals, regardless of age or socioeconomic status.

Weight: 762g
Dimension: 165 x 243 x 35 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781421440477