Can't Sleep - Thinking about Dementia

It is 4 am again. I am awake.

So, what have I been thinking about? I have been thinking about memory lately. I don't know if I have mentioned it before but I work with people who have dementia.

The condition of dementia is rising rapidly and it is a very real possibilty that I may get it at some point later on in life...and so could you for that matter.

This has to be the best reason for writing down my thoughts, my memories and my connections to things, because one day I may lose them and then they will probably never be known.

The statistics below are taken from a page on the Alzheimers Society website...

There are currently 750,000 people with dementia in the UK.

There are over 16,000 younger people with dementia in the UK.

There are over 11,500 people with dementia from black and minority ethnic groups in the UK.

There will be over a million people with dementia by 2021.

Two thirds of people with dementia are women.

The proportion of people with dementia doubles for every 5 year age group.

One third of people over 95 have dementia.

60,000 deaths a year are directly attributable to dementia.

Delaying the onset of dementia by 5 years would reduce deaths directly attributable to dementia by 30,000 a year.

The financial cost of dementia to the UK is over £20 billion a year.

Family carers of people with dementia save the UK over £6 billion a year.

64% of people living in care homes have a form of dementia.

Two thirds of people with dementia live in the community while one third live in a care home.