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Life in the Years is a joint initiative of Musicians for a Cause and the Moore Center |
Life in the Years - On Campus |
Why Should I Care? Although it may not seem so, Alzheimer's - and other forms of dementia - are an important issue facing our generation. It's one of the most devastating diseases in the world today and there's no cure and no effective treatment. If we don't help fight it now we'll all be affected by it sooner or later, either directly or as a caregiver. It's currently the 6th leading cause of death for all adults and accounts for 34% of all Medicare spending (the 2005 number was $91 billion (1), which equates to 5.6 million years of college tuition, room, and board! You may not care about Medicare funding but think of what else could be done with that money! |
Fighting Alzheimer's With Music! |
Helping is as easy as sharing tunes with others... and you could get an iPad! It took me about 10 minutes to create my personal page and become a Life in the Years - On Campus Champion. Here's all you have to do: Create a personal page and send it to your friends Either start or join a team at your school and create a page where you can share the music. Email your page to your family and friends and encourage them to support the Life in the Years initiative. That's it! The music helps create awareness about Alzheimer's and other issues the elderly face. And don't forget to check out each artist's touching inspiration notes! We also encourage you to have conversations that create awareness. If you haven't yet been personally affected by Alzheimer's, turn to your roomate right now and ask if their life has been affected by Alzheimer's. There's a good chance it has. We're encouraging all schools to set a goal of selling 1,000 CDs and/or album downloads (for example, 100 students at 10 each), and as an incentive we're offering an iPad to the top fundraiser at each school. As long as the goal is met we'll send an iPad to the team captain to be awarded to the top performer, so encourage others to participate too! If you're interested and want more information or have any questions you can email me through this website. If you're ready to get started just click here to create a team page for your school and become a Life in the Years Champion! |
Hi, I'm Kate Sullivan, the Life in the Years - On Campus Program Ambassador. I'm a student at Denison University in Ohio and I'm working to engage colleges, universities and high schools across the country to help me Fight Alzheimer's With Music! Our generation will be significantly impacted by this disease if we don't act now, so my goal is to have 50 campuses join our campaign and I need your help! All I'm asking is that you volunteer 1 hour of your time - there's no cost other than that! Just become a Life in the Years Champion, create a personal page and send it to your family and friends. One hour - or less - and you can really make a difference! You can also read my story and hear from other students who are involved. |
1. Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics. 2. 2010 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures, Alzheimer's Association |
To show our appreciation we're offering an Apple iPad to the top supporter at each school! (see details below) |
Kate Sullivan Denison University '12 |
A Few Facts: Look around your class... could it be you? More than 1 in 7 people are at risk for having Alzheimer's disease in their lifetime - nearly one in five for women and one in 10 for men. That's a 15% chance!(2) And remember, there's no cure or effective treatment. If the odds were that great on the lottery we'd all be playing! Remember this when you can't remember what happened last night! Contrary to popular belief, alcohol (in moderation!) doesn't destroy brain cells, although heavier drinking does accelerate brain shrinkage (see images) over time. You should know that excessive drinking can also cause alcohol related dementia. Watch your noggin! A "noggin" is actually a unit of measure (4 oz -bet you didn't know that!) but it's also slang for your head. Anyway, it's hard to measure the long term impact of a bonk on your noggin, but research with NFL players showed a 37% higher risk of Alzheimer's among players who reported having at least one concussion during their career. So, although exercise is great for fighting Alzheimer's - it can lower your risk by 40% - be careful if you engage in sports where there's a chance for head injury. You can't change your genes (not those anyway!) Genetics are a key factor in getting Alzheimer's, but you you can't change your genes. You CAN help gene researchers though! It takes money to help those who are working on fighting Alzheimer's disease so please create a personal page and join our Life in the Years - On Campus team! Studying is good for you - can you believe it! People with fewer years of education appear to be at higher risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias than those with more years of education, so break out the books! Maybe even go for that Ph.D.! People who stay mentally engaged have a 47% reduced risk of developing dementia. Those are some smokin' numbers! Smoking - you knew it was bad for you but here's just one more reason to stop. Think of it this way... every time you light up a cigartette your actually lighting a fuse! Smoking raises your risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease by 50 percent! Researchers tracked thousands of smokers and nonsmokers over age 55 for seven years and found a significant increased risk in those who didn't even have the Alzheimer's gene! Also, smokers are 10 times more likely to become alcoholics than nonsmokers. The Dining Hall Diet ;-) I know there are many great dining halls out there, but the fact is they tend to cater to what students want. Our cultural habit of eating high-fat foods is not conducive to our cultural longevity. When it comes to Alzheimer's they say "what's good for the heart is good for the brain" - how's that for a 2 for 1! Studies show that the right diet can reduce your risk of Alzheimer's by 40%! Go for more olive oil, nuts, fish, poultry and certain fruits and vegetables - the Mediterranean diet! They say that old habits die hard, so now's the time to create good ones! |
You can also read my story and hear from other students who are involved. |
More Info |
"I Care About the Elderly!" |
Join our group on |
Higher Education American Psycological Asso |
Our 'On campus' initiative will be officially launched later this fall. We're finalizing our pilot program and we'll keep you posted! Please send us a note if you're interested in participating. |