“How many families in Italy and Europe have people with a brain disease: Alzheimer’s, headaches, stroke, Parkinson’s. And how much suffering is there in families, because these people not only suffer, but are also an enormous economic burden for the public system. If instead we think about preventing these neurological diseases as much as possible”, we will have benefits not only for “people, but also for the whole of society”. the scientific community has the tools to do it, but not enough thought is given to it. This was stated by Elena Moro, neurologist at the University of Grenoble (France) and president of the European Academy of Neurology (Ean), a society that brings together the 45 thousand neurologists living in Europe, at Adnkronos Salute this morning in Ancona on the occasion of the event ‘Giving priority to brain health: a global imperative for public health’, organized in the Extra G7 Health calendar by Ean, in collaboration with Sin (Italian Society of Neurology) and with the Italian Strategy for Brain Health.
“We should start with children – explains Moro – We teach children how to brush their teeth to prevent cavities: in the same way, we should teach them that physical exercise, sleeping well, eating correctly can already do a lot for brain health. We need to also reduce the use of mobile phones and encourage other social activities that stimulate the brain in the right way. These – he adds – are fundamental aspects from childhood, but should also be maintained in adulthood. On a social level, promote physical exercise , adequate hours of sleep, good quality sleep and proper nutrition are all important factors for brain well-being. Furthermore, there is a significant connection between the gut and the brain, so nutrition plays a key role.”
In Europe, “we are also trying to obtain more funding for research on neurological diseases, both for prevention and for the treatment of those already suffering from these pathologies – underlines the Ean president – Every national neurological community is part of this campaign: we organize annual conferences and promote activities in collaboration with national societies, such as the Italian Neurological Society”. The main neurological diseases in Europe, on which research is focused, are “stroke and neurovascular pathologies, dementia, Parkinson’s, epilepsy and headaches – lists Moro – There are significant progress, because we understand better how these diseases develop and we can therefore create more effective drugs, both to prevent them and to manage them, and in some cases, to treat them. I am referring, for example, to the new drugs for migraines, which are also very promising drugs for Alzheimer’s that are making progress, albeit with some difficulty. Furthermore, for Parkinson’s, there are antibodies that could slow down the progression of the disease. But it is essential to focus on prevention, because the brain, once damaged, does it takes a lot of effort to regenerate. It doesn’t regenerate completely, and the scars that remain – he concludes – can have consequences that are not so much aesthetic, but functional.”
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