01 Introduction

As practitioners of life cultivation, we learn to revitalize our bodies as carefully as we tend to our plants. Hence, the term “cultivation.” We know we are going to die, but we want to die the right way.

As we grow older, we notice our vision, memory, and reaction abilities deteriorating. Some of our friends are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. In this article, we will explore what Alzheimer’s Disease is and how to prevent it.

02 Is Alzheimer’s Disease Inevitable?

Is Alzheimer’s Disease inevitable for the elderly? The answer is definitely no. Many people in their eighties and nineties still have good vision, hearing, and a sharp mind.
For example, Mr. Zhang Xueliang, a military general in China, lived to be 101 years old. At 99, he was interviewed by newspaper reporters and was still quick-witted, joking with others. He remained conscious and healthy until his death, truly dying of natural causes.

There are longevity villages in China, such as Rugao in Jiangsu, Bama in Guangxi, and Aksu in Xinjiang, where the average life expectancy is over eighty years old, and many centenarians live. The elderly in these villages are generally very healthy, with good eyesight and hearing, and are free from high blood pressure and diabetes.

Bama, a town of over sixteen thousand people, has nearly two hundred elderly residents. Here, people in their eighties and nineties still work in the fields and herd cattle. Over one hundred-year-old residents operate old-fashioned looms, which require technical skill and close coordination of hands, eyes, and brains.

However, for most of us, the question still lingers: Why do our hearing, memory, and reaction abilities worsen as we age?

03 The Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease

Loss of hearing and vision is related to the vital yuanqi in our body. If these symptoms appear, it means our supply of vital yuanqi is insufficient for our body’s operation.

Traditional herbal medicine maintains that there is a relationship between the five internal organs and the five sensory organs. The eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and tongue correspond to the five internal organs in specific ways.

Think of the human body as a building, with the five internal organs as rooms and the five sensory organs as doorbells at the entrance. If the doorbell downstairs is broken, the room upstairs will be affected.

According to the Wuxing Operating Rules by Huang Yuanyu, the relationships are:

• The spleen-stomach is connected to the mouth.
• The liver is connected to the eyes.
• The heart is connected to the tongue.
• The lungs are connected to the nose.
• The kidneys are connected to the ears.

Additionally, the intelligence of the brain is related to the kidneys.

The Huangdi Neijing states: “The kidneys govern bones and produce marrow, from which skills come.” Here, “skills” refers to wit and cleverness, meaning intelligence.

An interesting phenomenon about children is that before the ages of fourteen or fifteen, most high-scoring students are girls. In high school and college, high-scoring students are mostly boys. As adults, males are often more intelligent, while females are emotionally richer. This is because girls’ kidney yuanqi develops earlier than boys’, at seven for girls and eight for boys, so their intelligence develops one year earlier.

As we age, we tend to remember things from our childhood but easily forget recent events. According to Western medicine, this is a decline in memory, leading us to distrust our memory. For example, we might forget if we locked the door after going to the grocery store or whether we added salt while cooking. We might even hold our mobile phones and ask, “Where is my mobile phone?”

Young people may experience this occasionally, but if it happens frequently, it could be a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease.

04 What to Do About Memory Loss

This precursor must be taken seriously. From the onset of symptoms, we should start nourishing the kidneys early. We should replenish our vital yuanqi to revitalize our kidneys and not wait until the symptoms become severe.

In addition to frequently getting lost, we may not know when we are hungry or full. Memory loss is not only a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease but also increases the risk of diseases like Parkinson’s.

(To be continued into part two.)