Who's There?

The way I explain it to my patients is that our neurons don’t regenerate. They make connections with each other and that’s it. If you don’t use your brain, they make fewer connections and, if one of them dies, you’re gonna miss it, because that was the only one that knew how to do X. Now, if each one of them has many, many connections, you won’t notice the difference when one of them dies. The others pick up the slack.

As of 2024, 45% of dementia risk factors are modifiable. Relevant to this conversation, 5% for less education and 5% for social isolation.

We absolutely are going to see the reflection of this, but it’s gonna take decades and it’ll be too late. So, for the love of your brain, pretend that it’s a muscle and make it work. People complain about “when am I ever gonna use this maths formula in my life?” You’re not. You’re teaching your brain to think logically. Those sinapses will be there for when you need to figure out your week’s schedule. English classes taught me how to interpret data and how to convey it in this text so it’s clear and you understand what I’m saying, not because I needed to justify why the curtain is blue.

Make your brain know how to do different things. Logic games, puzzles, taking care of a garden even if small, planning a church’s event or birthday, learn a new instrument, learn a few words in another language, look at a calendar every day, do some manual labor if possible. Do not, I repeat, do not let your brain get rid of sinapses by letting AI do everything. Your brain uses 20% of your body’s energy — do you really think it’s going to maintain connexions that aren’t in use?

Most cases of Alzheimer’s are sporadic, meaning no family history. Family history of a first-degree relative with Alzheimer’s starting before they were 80yo increases your risk in 2-3x on average.

It’s that time of year! 🌈

Updated COVID vaccines are mostly for preventing severe acute illness, but it modestly reduces your chances of getting COVID at all! (54% less symptomatic illness in the following 4 months, in this recent MMWR report.) Best paired with a respirator! People who always wore N95 masks in indoor public settings had *83%* reduced risk of testing positive for COVID, in this 2022 MMWR report.

COVID is still a threat. Getting sick sucks, plus your risk of long-lasting symptoms—aka long COVID—gets higher each time you're infected. Fortunately, there's a lot you can do to lower the risk of transmission! Protect your ability to party—and protest—this Pride!

Get a Booster. Like Drag Race spinoffs, new COVID variants are dropping all the time. Antibodies from your latest vax or infection wane after a few months. Get a booster matched to the latest variants, and your resistance will peak in a couple weeks!

Mask up! COVID virus spreads through the air like the smoke from a fag [British]. A well-fitting N95 mask gives great protection! More reasons to mask up: sexy and mysterious, shows community care, avoid all the other airborne diseases!

Take it outside. The more fresh air to disperse the virus, the better! Transmission is still possible, especially in a crowd, but going outdoors is a major safety update!

【Rippi/リッピ】

fuzzy bugs series

w140×h130xd90mm