Experts Warn These Early Dementia Signs Often Get Missed — But Early Detection Makes A Big Difference

Dementia is common, but there are things you can do to reduce your risk or slow the progression of the disease.

While it can be hard to manage age-related changes of any kind, it can feel extra tough when those changes impact your memory and cognition. But it’s especially important to pay attention to brain-related changes as you get older.

While all cognitive changes are not dementia, some are. Dr. Gregory Day, a behavioral neurologist and dementia specialist at Mayo Clinic in Florida, defines dementia as a “change in memory and thinking. So, something that’s different from before — and for me to consider it as dementia, it needs to interfere with daily life.”

Dementia is only expected to become more common in this country; recent research predicts 42% of American adults over 55 will have dementia in their lifetime.

By understanding the signs of the disease and getting an early diagnosis, individuals and caretakers can better plan and prepare for the future, and potentially make decisions about care and treatment.

Early diagnosis can also help folks potentially get access to treatments that can help slow the progression of certain forms of dementia, experts told HuffPost. (Dementia is an umbrella term that describes multiple forms of cognitive impairment, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common type.)