S3 E3 Susan Saunders

From the website:

My determination to reduce my dementia risk grew out of my personal story.

I spent 12 years caring for my mum, who had severe dementia. When she was diagnosed, I was 36 years old with a toddler, new born and a full-time job. My world was turned upside down – not only was I mum, wife, boss, I was now a carer too. What made this even harder to bear was that, as a teenager, I’d watched my mum going through the same thing with her mother. Now, I have two teenage daughters myself and I do everything I can to reduce the chance that they will have to look after me.

I started researching everything I could about ageing well. I read a PhD paper, claiming that a healthy lifestyle at 50 reduces the risk of dementia, by up to 90%. This research is controversial – that’s a huge reduction – but at the time it felt like the sun bursting through some very dark clouds. Most importantly, it gave me a sense of purpose: an idea that I could change the way I age.  

So I spent years studying scientific data on healthy ageing, Qualifying as a health coach and overhauling my own health. And guess what? I’ve found that as I’ve worked to do all I can to prevent dementia, I feel better than ever right now. And I want to share that with you.

Key Points of the episode:

• How the greatest relationship you can have is with your brain.
• How to interpret the information without the hype...
• And how it can be applied to your life (especially as a busy working mum!)
• How her Mum was diagnosed with dementia at when Susan was 36.
• How suspected dementia is not always accurate and needs addressing differently.
• How she helps people with the 6 pillars of brain health.
• (eg bright coloured and crufiferous veg have been shown to lower dementia risk)
• ...and strength training...
• How novelty and difficulty are really helpful.

www.agewellproject.com

http://www.susansaundershealth.com

See her 3 books available here.

More group coaching coming soon.