Update About COVID-19 & Your ARPF

As we all know, we’re in the midst of a very serious crisis. I hope that everyone is staying safe and is well. 

 

It’s a great time to call upon your personal power to stay positive and reach out to friends and loved ones as often as possible. That’ll be one good thing. Another is a sort of environmental pause. Many fewer cars and planes. That’s another very good thing.

 

It’s a rough time right now and I honor those healthcare workers, first responders, and especially nurses on the front lines.  

 

We want to let you know that even though we’re on “pause,” there are some interesting developments with ARPF.

 

The most recent failed Alzheimer’s drug trial has prompted our Chief Scientific Advisory Officer, George Perry, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease to remark:

 

“In view of the most recent drug failures, it is even more abundantly clear that the ARPF’s 4 Pillars of Alzheimer’s Prevention are the only proven way to slow cognitive decline and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.”   

 

Beyond that, our current research at UCLA called The Pink Brain Project, under the guidance of Helen Lavretsky, M.D., M.S., is ongoing, although being done differently and creatively due to COVID-19. Dr. Lavretsky is Professor of Psychiatry and Director Late-life Mood, Stress, and Wellness research at Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

 

This research is studying Kundalini Yoga and Kirtan Kriya (KK) meditation compared to Memory Training (the Gold Standard) in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease in high-risk women: one who is menopausal, has heart disease, and is suffering from early memory loss or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).

 

Here is what Dr. Lavrestky shared with me:

 

“We finished recruitment of 100 participants in February. They are going through the remainder of classes online– we do measurements by phone or Zoom; we will hopefully have all in-person follow up in June-July if the quarantine is over. In addition to memory tests and MRIs, we are assessing health-related quality of life and determine psychological well-being by a decrease in anxiety and depression.”

 

She also confirmed that all yoga classes are taking place via Zoom video conferencing, and that follow up appointments, scans and blood draws are postponed for now.

 

Dr. Lavretsky was also part of a great article in Yoga Journal on yoga, meditation and Alzheimer’s prevention in which she discussed our research.

I have been in contact with Miia Kivipelto, M.D., Ph.D, also on our Scientific Advisory Council, Director of Research, Development, Education and Innovation, as well as Director of Alzheimer Research at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

 

Dr. Kivipelto is the leader of the world-renowned FINGER study, of which we are a partner. The study is now in its 10th follow-up year, a terrific achievement for the prevention of Alzheimer’s.

 

We look forward to that.

 

Another paper was published about a small study in Spain, headed by our Scientific Advisory Council member Ma Gloria Borras-Boneu, M.D. It is entitled, “Emotional and Cognitive Improvement with Kirtan Kriya Meditation: A Pilot Study for Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients in a Catalan Community.” Click here to read the full article.

 

Three of our esteemed associates have books either in the works or recently published and I’d like to mention them:

 

1. Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D, director of the Women’s Brain Initiative and associate director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Cornell Medical College has a new best-seller called The XX Brain. It’s about preventing AD in women and shares our research on Kirtan Kriya as well as nutritional advice that is part of our 4 Pillars of Alzheimer’s Prevention. 

 

2. Annie Fenn, M.D. has a brain nutrition book in the works that will also include our work.

 

3. Chris Walling, PsyD, MBA, C-IAYT, and ARPF Vice President of Education and Outreach is working on a book as well.

 

So, you see, we are staying busy during these uncertain times and are thinking a lot about the RESET. Staying inside now is a great opportunity to go within and ask yourself how we can create the world we all want to see when this is finally over.

 

You can also ask yourself the following questions:

 

– Who am I?

– What do I want?

– What’s next?

 

It will help us all.

 

If you have anything you’d like to share or desire further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

 

We appreciate you and wish you the best.

 

Stay safe and be well.

 

If you’d like to support our work by donating to ARPF, we are most grateful. As you can imagine, our funding is taking a huge hit right now. Click here to donate or discover other ways to support your ARPF, such as donating a vehicle, donating through your workplace, and more.

 

 

 

 

Yours in Brain Health,

 

Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.

Founding President & Medical Director

Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation (ARPF)

 

Prevention Editor, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease