Protect Brains With Board Games!



A teeny sample of the hundreds of board games available for checkout at the 2022 Board Game Geek Convention library in Dallas, Texas.

A couple weeks ago, I met a woman in her mid-20s (will call her "Dawn") whose mother died this year from Early Onset Alzheimer's (before age 65). Her demise was fast, merciless, and nonsensical. And yet, Dawn has faith that there will be a reason for such suffering beyond any faulty genes that we cannot control (yet)? Am glad to know this provides her with some comfort; however, I cannot offer any evidence that a higher being rolls the dice with our lives. After all, this would be a "bored" game with own family as seven-time losers (at least).

Generally, Dawn's own genetic risk to inherit the disease is significant (about 50-50 if these genes are inherited from either parent). In contrast, the inherited risk for late-onset Alzheimer's (at age 65 or later) is about 30 percent (if one copy of the Apoe-4 gene is inherited) or 90 percent risk if two copies of Apoe-4 are inherited (one from each parent).

I will always be grateful to have met Dawn during a recent board game flea market in which she shared that she was gathering gently used games to offer at area care facilities to help people keep their minds active as this activity appears beneficial to help lower dementia risk by 15 percent compared to non-players! Have offered that am hopeful she may benefit from following the Bredesen protocol to perhaps prevent future disease (even with no known dementia cures). Unfortunately, within our five-minute convo, I may have sounded like a lunatic when sharing this heartfelt wisdom without any facts.

If you would like to learn more about every board game ever made (literally!) then visit Board Game Geek or Rahdo (to watch excellent playthroughs and review ratings) along with hundreds more YouTubers (including 3 Minute Boardgames or the often-hilarious Shut Up and Sit Down) by searching for any specific game you may want to find!

Brain on!