Blogging with Alzheimer's

After spending some time now researching Alzheimer's and visiting sites dedicated to people suffering from AD and their caregivers, it has become more obvious to me that one of the principal ways that people with AD are coping is through blogging. There are many excellent blogs by people with AD including Chip Gerber who I posted a blog on earlier in the week, and Mary Lockhart.

In these blogs, or online journals, people suffering from AD use blogging as a way to tell their stories. These blogs are not only a place to discuss day to day activities, but also a place to reflect on their thoughts and feelings on living with Alzheimer's. This page has a link to several blogs from people living with Early Onset Alzheimer's.

According to this article many of these bloggers living with AD believe that blogging is not only helping them cope with the disease but may also be slowing the onset of their symptoms. Alice Young, one blogger with AD, believes that blogging is helping her keep her mind sharp and "exercise the cognitive powers."

While their is no known cure for AD, and there has been no research done to prove that blogging can help, bloggers say that their online journals have greatly improved their quality of life. Blogging has helped them remember things that have passed. They can look back at previous blogs and read about something that they did or an emotion that they felt at the time, that they may not have remembered otherwise.

Blogging is also known to have positive emotional affects on individuals with AD. People with AD who do not suffer from depression function better with day-to-day activities. Blogging is just one way that people with AD are preventing depression, and it seems to be working.

So while blogging can not cure Alzheimer's it seems that it is helping to greatly improve the quality of life of people living with AD, which is one step in the right direction to living proactively with Alzheimer's.