I've always been curious about the Alzheimers/ Dementia debate. I've known personally (Including my stepfather) several seniors with those problems. While I'm no doctor I think the biggest part is that once they retire or lose husbands/wifes, friends etc. a large part of their daily routine is lost to them. My ex-sister in law's father is a perfect example he was well respected in his field, first his wife of 50 years dies then a year latter he retires little by little as his former life disappeared his thought process started to falter. Once the familiar faces and his job responsibilities weren't there any more he started to forget things became confused, however if you started a conversation regarding his former job he appeared perfectly normal. My mom on the other hand never lost her curiosity she taught herself how to use a computer, she loves to e-mail local & federal officials to express her opinion and her next project is to start a blog. I not saying it's not a sreious disease but I'd be intrestesting to see if keeping those people alert & intrested in the events around them would help them deal with the problem better.