Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, Revised and Updated: A guide for people with dementia and those who care for them

by Jonathon Graff-Radford M.D., Angela Lunde M.A.

Overview

Dementia is a serious health challenge, and by some estimates the number of people living with dementia could more than double by 2050. While Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, other types also affect adults worldwide, causing loss of cognitive functions such as memory, reasoning and judgment. The diseases that cause dementia have long been considered difficult and unrelenting, but recent advances offer hope.

Are there ways you can lower your risk of Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias? Can they be prevented? Can you live well with dementia? If so, how? This fully revised and updated third edition of Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias provides answers to these important questions and more:  

• How do sleeplessness, hearing loss, social isolation, and other risk factors contribute to cognitive decline?
• How can exercise and healthy foods preserve brain function?
• What are the neurological changes that can occur in the brain, and how is normal aging different from aging with dementia?
• How are blood and genetic biomarker tests breaking new ground in diagnosing dementia?
• Why is it increasingly important to identify dementia in its early stages?
• What are the unique signs and symptoms of Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal degeneration, vascular cognitive impairment, and other dementias?
• What are the stages of Alzheimer’s disease?
• Can new and emerging medications slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease?
• What day-to-day coping strategies can help people live well with dementia?
• How can caregivers care for themselves?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798887702841
Publisher:	Mayo Clinic Press
Publication date:	08/26/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272

About the Author

Jonathan Graff-Radford, M.D., is a behavioral neurologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he evaluates and treats patients with cognitive disorders, including dementia. A professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Dr. Graff-Radford also serves as a co-investigator in the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. He is the site principal investigator for the Mayo Clinic, Rochester Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium. Dr. Graff-Radford has published more than 200 articles and written chapters for books on cognition, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. He was awarded the Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging for his research. During his training at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Graff-Radford received the Woltman Award for Excellence in Clinical Neurology and the Mayo Brothers Distinguished Fellowship Award.
 
Angela M. Lunde, M.A. is an associate in neurology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. For more than 20 years she has worked alongside persons living with dementia and caregivers, who have provided her an empathetic understanding of life with the disease and the role of caregiving. Ms. Lunde also serves as a co-investigator in the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Her scientific contributions focus on dementia care and research, including cognitive rehabilitation and psychosocial interventions that can optimize quality of life.  She has co-authored numerous articles, authored a book and several book chapters, and maintained an expert blog on dementia caregiving. Ms. Lunde is a faculty member of The Presence Care Project, offering mindfulness-based programs for individuals living with mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
 
Introduction
 
Part 1: Brain health
 
Chapter 1: Aging and your brain
Chapter 2: Keeping your brain healthy
 
Part 2:  Cognitive decline
 
Chapter 3: Mild cognitive impairment
Chapter 4: Dementia
           
Part 3: Alzheimer’s disease  
 
Chapter 5: What’s happening in the brain?
Chapter 6: Are you at risk?
Chapter 7: Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease
Chapter 8: Alzheimer’s stages and progression
Chapter 9: Atypical Alzheimer’s disease
Chapter 10: Treating Alzheimer’s disease
Chapter 11: Advances and research
 
Part 4: Other forms of dementia
 
Chapter 12: Frontotemporal degeneration
Chapter 13: Lewy body dementia
Chapter 14: Other dementias
           
Part 5: Living a full life
 
Chapter 15: Coming to terms with your disease      
Chapter 16: Finding and enjoying well-being
 
Part 6: Caregiving
 
Chapter 17: Life as a care partner
Chapter 18: Managing common care challenges
Chapter 19: Navigating later stages
 
Additional resources