World Alzheimer’s Day 2021: Date, significance and early warning signs of disease

Alzheimer’s disease can be one of the most brutal and heartbreaking diseases to experience for an individual and their loved ones. To raise awareness about the downfalls of the disease and motivate those who suffer from it, World Alzheimer’s Day is celebrated every year across the globe.

World Alzheimer’s Day 2021 is celebrated across the globe on September 21 every year. It is celebrated to commemorate and raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, which are degenerative brain diseases that destroy the memory and other brain functions of a person.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurologic disorder that causes acute memory loss in patients as the brain shrinks in size and brain cells start to degenerate. If the disease keeps escalating, it eventually leads to dementia and loss of major brain functions.

World Alzheimer’s Day 2021: Date and significance

World Alzheimer’s Day 2021 is being observed across the world today, September 21. A German psychiatrist by the name of Alois Alzheimer first diagnosed the disease in 1901 in a 50-year-old woman, and thus, the degenerative disease got named after him.

World Alzheimer’s Day is significant to a lot of people across the world. As per reports, there are a total of over 24 million patients who suffer from this disease. Over 10 lakh cases of Alzheimer’s disease are reported in India every year, making it pretty common.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most frequent cause of dementia in the older population. This day is observed across the world to make people aware of the disease and how it can affect the daily life of a human being. The theme of World Alzheimer’s Day 2021 is “Know Dementia, Know Alzheimer’s.”

World Alzheimer’s Day 2021: Early warning signs

Here are some of the major symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in individuals-

• The earlier and most evident sign of Alzheimer’s disease is frequent memory loss incidents that can disrupt the workings of daily life.
• People who suffer through planning and problem-solving difficulties might also be detected with Alzheimer’s disease.
• Usually, people with Alzheimer’s disease have a problem completing tasks that they have been doing daily all their lives.
• People might also get confused easily when it comes to the passage of time and their locations throughout the day.
• Some patients may also face problems in a speech in day-to-day life. They might also face problems understanding new words.
• They might also face problems understanding visual images and reading books and other types of text.