Forgetting the world: Other impacts on story
According to Dr Karl Kruzelnicki, by 2100 50% of the world’s population will have some signs of Alzheimer’s Disease. That single statement, uttered as part of setting the background to respond to a question from the audience at a session at the Brisbane Writers’ Festival, completely captured my attention and imagination.
This time my questions take a completely different track. Instead of wondering what the world will be like with that sort of reality, I started to wonder what things we could do to prevent it happening, or at least minimise it.
So, what can we do to prevent the onset of something like Alzheimer’s disease?
Firstly, eat well. Eat food that looks like food, not cardboard and melted plastic. Eat fresh and mostly plants.
Secondly, use your brain. Make the brain work actively every day. Do crosswords and Sudoku puzzles, learn a different language or a musical instrument, meditate.
Thirdly, exercise your body: regular exercise that raises your heart-rate, even if it’s only for a few minutes.
It sounds easy doesn’t it? If it was so easy, though, everybody would be doing it already and the expected percentage wouldn’t be so high.
On a personal level: So far I've managed to do at least one Sudoku puzzle every day. I've increased my plant intake but need to reduce my processed sugar intake more. I've thought about exercising every day and have managed to do that more often than I usually do, but still not every day yet. I'm working on it. Basically I'm lazy and complacent and relying on writing fiction to help - it's one of the few activities that uses both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously.
For the story: How would that change society? We already have a society where healthy eating and regular exercise is promoted, but the advent of so many people suffering from a disease such as Alzheimer's would have a significant influence. Government structures would change focus dramatically, and if that focus changed, does that mean other things, such as budgeting controls and other transparencies in operations fade into the background. Would it be easier for leaders to be corrupt or more difficult? Would there be companies created that would help people in power hide the fact they have Alzheimer's. Who then would have control over those people, the figureheads.
This could be an apocalyptic story without a violent catalyst. The changes would be made insidiously, like the writing on the wall in Animal Farm.
This time my questions take a completely different track. Instead of wondering what the world will be like with that sort of reality, I started to wonder what things we could do to prevent it happening, or at least minimise it.
So, what can we do to prevent the onset of something like Alzheimer’s disease?
Firstly, eat well. Eat food that looks like food, not cardboard and melted plastic. Eat fresh and mostly plants.
Secondly, use your brain. Make the brain work actively every day. Do crosswords and Sudoku puzzles, learn a different language or a musical instrument, meditate.
Thirdly, exercise your body: regular exercise that raises your heart-rate, even if it’s only for a few minutes.
It sounds easy doesn’t it? If it was so easy, though, everybody would be doing it already and the expected percentage wouldn’t be so high.
On a personal level: So far I've managed to do at least one Sudoku puzzle every day. I've increased my plant intake but need to reduce my processed sugar intake more. I've thought about exercising every day and have managed to do that more often than I usually do, but still not every day yet. I'm working on it. Basically I'm lazy and complacent and relying on writing fiction to help - it's one of the few activities that uses both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously.
For the story: How would that change society? We already have a society where healthy eating and regular exercise is promoted, but the advent of so many people suffering from a disease such as Alzheimer's would have a significant influence. Government structures would change focus dramatically, and if that focus changed, does that mean other things, such as budgeting controls and other transparencies in operations fade into the background. Would it be easier for leaders to be corrupt or more difficult? Would there be companies created that would help people in power hide the fact they have Alzheimer's. Who then would have control over those people, the figureheads.
This could be an apocalyptic story without a violent catalyst. The changes would be made insidiously, like the writing on the wall in Animal Farm.
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