In 1983 President Ronald Regan declared November as “National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness and Family Caregivers Month.” With the upcoming holiday season, many families experience dementia related symptoms in loved ones that are far less than joyous. The Alzheimer’s Association has some tips that may reduce dementia related seasonal stress.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, just checking in with the person with dementia shows you care about their comfort. Asking what type of holiday celebration they are comfortable with is important. Plan their specific holiday plans around what makes them feel most comfortable.

Since the holidays are emotionally packed anyway, it is important to make everyone aware of the situation at hand. Give guests a heads-up of what behaviors they may expect to see out of the family member or friend who is affected by the disease. For ideas or tips on how to let other know about the changes you can visit http://www.ALZConnected.org.

If you are a caretaker, adding the stress of the holidays, along with the stress of caretaking can make for a bad combination. The Alzheimer’s Association suggests setting realistic expectations of yourself and being open to discussing your concerns and delegating tasks to others should help. Giving yourself permission to handle only what you can is important, even if this means changing up the tradition a bit.

But, keeping those traditions alive are important to everyone. So the association suggests focusing on the activities that are meaningful to the person with dementia. Such activities may be singing old holiday songs, watching holiday movies, preparing certain foods, decorating the house or reminiscing while looking at those old photo albums. Sticking to the person’s normal routine will also help with confusion.

If the person is residing in a care facility the association suggests taking time to visit the facility, and include some sort of holiday activity. Bring a favorite holiday food to share, sing carols with other residents or play a game that was favored. Just being there to celebrate the season shows you care.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, which is a “general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life,” according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Symptoms associated with dementia are memory loss, challenges in planning or problem solving, difficulty completing tasks, confusion in time and place, trouble understanding images or spatial relations, new problems in speaking or writing, misplacing items and inability to retrace steps, decreased or poor judgment, withdrawal from social activities, and changes in mood or personality.

In 1983 when President Regan addressed growing concern for the disease, fewer than 2 million people were affected. Currently, over 5.5 million Americans suffer from the disease. By the year 2050, it is estimated that number will rise to 16 million.

With no cure, or known way to slow its progress, Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in Montana and the nation, greater than breast and prostate cancers combined.

Ten percent of people over the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s, two-thirds are women.

Every 66 seconds someone in the U.S. will develop the disease; by 2050 this will decrease to every 33 seconds.

Since the year 2000, heart disease deaths have decreased by 14 percent, while deaths from Alzheimer’s have increased by 89 percent.

The year of 2017 hit an all-time payment high of $259 billion being spent caring for individuals suffering from dementia. Alzheimer’s Association states that Medicare and Medicaid are expected to cover $175 billion of this cost. With the projected growth of the disease, it is expected to that the disease will cost $1.1 trillion by the year 2050. The association stated that “this dramatic rise includes more than four-fold increases both in government spending under Medicare and Medicaid and out-of-pocket spending.”

The Alzheimer’s Association, the world’s largest voluntary organization devoted to providing care, support and research for dementia, is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, for anyone who needs assistance. It is a nation-wide organization, but has a Montana branch for local support. For more information, to receive caregiver support or to find a support group visit http://www.alz.org, or call 1-800-272-3900.