Thread: Dementia hits clever people harder, study finds

The neurodegenerative disease is the leading cause of death in the UK and is caused by certain proteins clumping together in the brain

Dementia claims the lives of smarter people sooner, scientists have discovered.


People who spend more years at school or in education are likely to deteriorate from the neurodegenerative disease faster, according to the biggest study of its kind.


Scientists have dubbed the phenomenon the “cognitive reserve paradigm”.


A person’s cognitive reserve is their brain’s ability to cope and keep working, including in the face of diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.


It can be bolstered through learning and mental stimulation such as education and doing brain puzzles.


But the research found that, paradoxically, these patients go downhill faster if they do get a diagnosis.

Research published in the BMJ, which analysed 261 studies including 36 relating to educational attainment, found life expectancy after a dementia diagnosis decreased for every extra year of education a person had received.


The average survival time was 10.5 years, but the scientists calculated that for every extra year of study a person had undertaken, they lived for 0.2 years less – equivalent to about two and a half months.


It would mean someone who had finished an undergraduate degree aged 21 would live for a year less than someone who left school after their GCSEs or O-Levels.


Experts believe it is because people of higher intelligence are more resilient to cognitive decline and able to function for longer without signs or symptoms of the disease onsetting.


This often means they are diagnosed with dementia at a more advanced stage, making it harder to treat or slow down. As a result, they are likely to have fewer years to live compared to those diagnosed earlier.


‘More resilient to brain injury’


Authors from the Erasmus University Medical Centre, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, said: “This paradigm postulates that people with higher education are more resilient to brain injury before functional declines.


“Once this reserve has been used up and dementia is diagnosed, however, these people are already at a more advanced stage of the underlying disease and clinical progression will be faster.”


Dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK and there are various types with differing symptoms, impact and rates of decline.


The condition is caused by certain proteins clumping together in the brain, including amyloid and tau, which new drugs are trying to stop from occurring.

Many brilliant minds have been hit by dementia, although there is limited information on affected individuals in the public domain.


Among them, however, was Sir Terry Pratchett, the British author, who passed away at 66 after being diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer’s disease called posterior cortical atrophy.


Dame Iris Murdoch, the novelist and winner of the Booker Prize and Whitbread Prize, died in 1999 aged 79. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the mid-1990s.


Robin Williams, the Oscar-winning actor, died by suicide after the rapid onset of Lewy body dementia, which significantly affected the quality of his life and was only diagnosed after his death.


This week award-winning BBC musician Lorna Spode died aged 98 after a battle with dementia that had only onset since the pandemic.

Despite the BMJ findings, research has found that the more education a person has the less likely it is they will be diagnosed with dementia at all.


Alzheimer’s Research UK encourages people to keep “mentally active” throughout life to boost their brain health.


“Regularly challenging our brain and staying mentally active can help protect our brain health as we age, lowering our risk of memory and thinking problems and dementia,” it says.

The BMJ study also revealed the impact of a dementia diagnosis on life expectancy by age and sex in one of the largest analyses to have been undertaken.


It found that men lived for an average of 5.7 years when they were diagnosed at age 65, and 2.2 years when diagnosed at 85. The figures ranged from 8.0 to 4.5 years respectively for women.


It also found that survival was longer among Asian populations than other ethnic groups, and among people with Alzheimer’s disease compared to other forms of dementia.


On average people spend about one third of their life after diagnosis in a nursing home, with more than half of people moving to a nursing home within five years.

Access Denied

Great news. I can finally feel good about growing old.

Much of dementia could be preventable – these 12 steps can help reboot your brain

As we head into midlife, memory issues can become more frequent. We “lose” words and misplace keys, but tend to shrug this off as normal.


But now a new study, conducted by neuroscientists at Trinity College Dublin’s School of Psychology, has found for the first time that self-assessing your own memory as poor (known as subjective memory problems) correlates more strongly with dementia risk factors (such as hypertension or loneliness) than performance on objective cognitive tests.


The study, which gathered data from 3,327 participants aged 18-84 through the smartphone app Neureka, developed by the scientists at Trinity, asked members of the public to participate in neuroscience research at home by playing games and tracking their mood and behaviour over time.

The new research adds to our understanding of very early changes to brain health in otherwise healthy adults. It enabled scientists to confirm the role physical health factors have in the ageing of our brain, including heart health, hearing and vision loss and high cholesterol, says Claire Gillan, a professor at the School of Psychology and Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity, who oversaw the research. But it also helped the scientists to understand the activities that people can do to improve their memory.


“People think a lot about physical longevity, and it’s time to think about the longevity of our brains. Not just in terms of dementia, but our ability to think quickly and confidently. There’s a lot we can do practically to make sure we stay sharp for longer.”


The evidence suggests more than 40 per cent of dementia is preventable. So what steps can we take to de-age our memory and reduce dementia risk?


Meet a friend for lunch once a week


Loneliness is associated with more than double the risk of developing late-life dementia. In contrast, having well-established supportive social networks contributes to “cognitive reserve” (how resistant the mind is to brain damage or deterioration), says Prof Kieran Clarke, 73, emeritus professor of physiological biochemistry at the University of Oxford, whose research interests include physical and cognitive function.

“We need to keep laughing. It releases endorphins, hormones that are good for us like dopamine and serotonin. It helps to protect your brain. Humans are social animals and need other humans to stay happy and content – daily social contact is best.


“Reading groups and bridge clubs are great because they encourage you to think (and you are more likely to go to a regular meeting). However, it doesn’t really matter what you do so long as it’s with someone you like.”


As we age it is particularly important to preserve our brain cells. “They can only come back a certain number of times, and each time the telomeres get shorter. And after you’ve lost a certain number of cells, they stop regenerating altogether. If you look at people with dementia, especially Alzheimer’s, much of their brain is dead.” Which is why the Trinity research is so important. “We know some people develop cognitive problems decades before they develop full-blown dementia,” says Anna M Rosická, who led the study. “So they could, for example, tell us: ‘Oh, I think that my memory might be getting worse’ before any objective test could pick it up.”


Stop arguing with your partner


A harmonious relationship is essential to happiness and health, says Prof James Goodwin, the director of science at the Brain Health Network and the author of Supercharge Your Brain. “There’s nothing more destructive to brain health in the long term than having a negative or poor relationship with someone.


“It activates stress-related hormones and adverse biochemistry in the brain pathways. These changes accelerate brain ageing and work against natural anti-ageing processes in the brain.


“For example, the formation of new brain cells (neurogenesis) is slowed down or inhibited. Most people know a bad relationship is stressful and probably bad for long-term health, but what is not known is that it can physically damage the brain and worsen age-related changes, such as impaired working memory (eg I can’t remember her name).


Get a dog or cat


“Studies have shown that you increase levels of the happy hormone, serotonin, when you pat your dog,” says Prof Clarke. In addition, pet owners experience less decline in verbal memory and verbal fluency than people without a pet because they are talking to it all the time.


In a study of nearly 8,000 older adults, published in JAMA Network Open in January, researchers found that among those living alone, having a pet was associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline (specifically composite verbal cognition, verbal memory and verbal fluency). Though arguably dog owners are more likely to have a regular exercise habit as a result of walking their pet, which may also help to create connections and reduce loneliness. Also, looking after a dog engenders a sense of responsibility and care for another being who, in turn, loves you unreservedly.


Play memory games


Doing daily crossword puzzles and sudoku, along with playing board games, may protect against cognitive decline. Ditto learning another language where the brain is forced to focus and recall the correct words. This process – called cognitive inhibition – is linked to better executive functioning. By improving these types of processes, the brain becomes more resilient to the impairments caused by diseases such as dementia.


“Puzzles keep the connections up and the electrics going,” says Prof Clarke. “You’re concentrating all the time and the synaptic connections between neurones are functioning properly.


“When you’re passively sitting in front of the television, not much is going on in there. You can tell when you’re really concentrating because you don’t notice things, like the time or somebody knocking on the door.”


She also recommends we make shopping or to-do lists. “Concentrating is really good for your brain.”


Start the day with scrambled eggs


A protein breakfast (eggs, cheese, a protein shake) keeps our blood sugar and energy levels constant. Research published in May 2023 in the journal JCI Insight found elevated blood glucose and increased sugar intake over time can lead to the proliferation of amyloid plaques in the brain.


“Alzheimer’s is not called Type 3 diabetes without a reason,” says Prof Clarke, who recommends we aim for a BMI of under 23. She never eats potatoes, pasta, bread or rice.


“If you’ve got diabetes, or even if you’re obese, you’ve got three times the chance of developing dementia, and it’s a metabolic thing.”


Take Vitamin D


Prof Clarke takes vitamin D (with vitamin K to help its absorption). “I think everybody in England should be taking it every day because we just don’t get enough sun. If you look at people who have dementia, they often have abnormally low vitamin D levels.”


A study published last year in the Journal of Alzheimer’s and Dementia assessed the effects of vitamin D incidence on 12,388 participants with Alzheimer’s and found that vitamin D exposure was associated with a 40 per cent lower incidence of dementia compared to those with no exposure.


Manage stress


“Only worry about things you can do something about. Don’t worry about anything you can’t do anything about,” counsels Prof Clarke. “I also avoid social media because of the high stress it can cause.”


Dealing with stress is essential for preventing cognitive decline. Having high levels of adrenalin starves the brain of glucose. Catecholamines are a group of stress hormones that play an essential part in our “fight or flight” responses and they include dopamine and adrenaline. Chronically high levels affect sleep, blood pressure and many other functions essential for brain health.


Read hard-copy books, magazines and newspapers


Prof Clarke reads a book instead of looking at her phone before bed. She also advocates listening to Radio 4 and the World Service. “It helps the cells regenerate, it keeps you stimulated. It’s like exercising the brain. Studies have shown you can’t take in the same amount of information when you’re reading on a Kindle, or online. I watch films but I don’t watch television.”


Watching four or more hours of TV daily may increase your risk of developing brain-based disorders such as dementia, depression and Parkinson’s disease.


Get a hobby


“Reading the obituaries of famous people, you may have noticed they’re often really quite old because they had an intense interest,” says Prof Clarke.


“Frank Auerbach, for example, has just died, aged 93, and he was obsessed with painting, and that focus is why he lived so long. It doesn’t matter whether people go back to do a maths degree at university, or they’re a photographer – you need something you want to be doing all the time.


“It comes back to the right formula of hormone levels in the brain. As soon as you get out of bed, your catecholamine levels go up, you’ve slept well, and now you’re going to do something you really enjoy.”


Part of it is an issue of tailoring to people’s interests and passions, rather than prescribing the same intervention to everybody, stresses Prof Gillan. “A loneliness intervention or a group support might not be everybody’s thing. So it’s important to find those passions.”


Wear socks in bed


A good night’s sleep is important for brain health in helping prevent toxins accumulating in the brain – clearing problematic debris and flushing away many of the proteins and metabolites thought to be involved in the development of Alzheimer’s, says Prof Clarke.


It also helps us maintain a healthy weight and blood pressure, essential to prevent cognitive decline.


“Your body doesn’t heal during the day when you’re running around because the catecholamine levels are too high. It heals at night when you rest because injured cells recover when the catecholamine levels are lower.”


She recommends keeping your feet warm if you want to go to sleep as soon as your head hits the pillow. “Cold feet keep you awake because you haven’t been able to relax enough for your brain to turn off.


“Which is why you shouldn’t do emails, or look at your phone or computer several hours before you go to bed. You also want to eat early in the evening: you won’t sleep well on a full stomach.”


Declutter


A physical activity such as tidying can clear brain toxins, while acting as a “fertiliser” that stimulates new neurones and connections. A house with too much clutter can be overstimulating and make it hard to locate a desired item, focus on an activity or remember a sequence of tasks. Mess can also increase confusion because the person isn’t sure exactly what to pay attention to, says Prof Clarke.


“Organising is actually a way of thinking. People hoard because they don’t stop and say: ‘Alright, I’m going to concentrate on sorting out my wardrobe or the kitchen cupboard.’


“When you hoard you’re just throwing everything on the pile, and hoping that when you die somebody will come and throw it in the bin.”


Start gardening


Six minutes of high-intensity exercise boosts the blood level of a protein involved in learning and memory formation, according to a 2023 study by the University of Otago.


Brain boosting BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), also known as “Miracle-Gro for the brain,” increases blood flow to the brain, promotes growth of new neurones and enhances connections between brain cells. Plus, exercise can help combat depression. But don’t stress if you hate burpees.


“A lot of the work the Global Brain Health Institute does is trying to explore alternative interventions for people, like learning to play a musical instrument or sing in a choir,” says Prof Gillan. “There’s work on dance interventions and interventions to help people find other ways to get exercise that might be more appealing than the treadmill.”


Earlier this year, a study by The University of Edinburgh found those who spent time gardening had better brain function in later life. “You’re building up cognitive reserve in your brain by building better connections and stronger synapses, and that tends to offset the symptoms of cognitive ageing or dementia,” says Prof Clarke, a passionate gardener.

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^ Good stuff Misskit!

A very early sign of Alzheimers is loss of the sense of smell, even partial.

It was disappointing to learn reading hard copy is better than online. Took me ages to break the habit and switch to Kindle!

Originally Posted by misskit

It was disappointing to learn reading hard copy is better than online. Took me ages to break the habit and switch to Kindle!

I figure a kindle is as good as hard copy. It’s different to a phone in that you’re not tempted to check social media or games or start scrolling.

Yes, you should be fine, willy.

Oh ho ho. That’s funny.

Saw the headline - I'm fucked!



Article didn't include boozing

Hates Kindle

Loves dogs

Wears socks in bed

Plays memory games (A TEFL life)

Gonna live forever!

Originally Posted by hallelujah

Saw the headline - I'm fucked!

No Hal, you're going to live a very long time.

Dementia claims the lives of smarter people sooner

Originally Posted by hallelujah

Article didn't include boozing

Hates Kindle

Loves dogs

Wears socks in bed

Plays memory games (A TEFL life)

Gonna live forever!

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

No Hal, you're going to live a very long time.

not so sure, he FORGOT to mention he can't drive

Originally Posted by malmomike77

not so sure, he FORGOT to mention he can't drive

That's not a bad thing for an alcoholic.

Why a big belly is bad for your brain health

A wider waist increases your risk of dementia – but there are simple ways to offset the damage

Most of us are aware that excess weight around the belly in middle age raises our risk of developing a long list of health issues later in life – heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes. However, the link between belly fat and brain health is less well-known. There is mounting evidence that the “middle-age spread” significantly impacts cognitive function and long-term likelihood of neurodegenerative disease, including dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.


Studies that have followed people over decades have identified a raised risk of dementia in those with wider mid-life waist circumference. One study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, found that women aged 50 or over with a waist size more than 34 inches had a 39 per cent raised risk of dementia within 15 years compared with women who were a normal size (defined as a body mass index, or BMI, between 18.5-24.9). Another, from the Korean University in Seoul, suggested that even in men with a healthy BMI, rates of dementia were higher in those with a waist size of 35.5 or larger.

A Harvard Medical School study, which measured brain volume in 10,000 healthy adults, with an average age of 53, found that those with most belly fat already had less brain tissue than their slimmer counterparts, particularly in the regions involved in thinking, memory, and performing everyday tasks. (This link was particularly pronounced in women.) So how does a thickening middle alter brain function? And if so, how can we stop it?


Why is waist size so important?
Firstly, all excess weight seems bad for the brain – a high mid-life BMI is also associated with a raised risk of dementia. However, the weight around our waist is especially damaging.


Dr Scott Chiesa, a senior research fellow at Alzheimer’s Research UK, is currently researching the link between weight and brain health at University College London. “Your waist fat is a good proxy for visceral fat,” he says. “It indicates the fat that is probably around your organs because that is where your organs are. The fat around the outside of your body is more of a passive store. The fat around your organs is basically like an endocrine organ – it secretes hormones and inflammatory measures, it’s much more active, pumping out things that your body doesn’t need.”

Visceral fat is putting all the organs under strain, disrupting metabolism (the process of converting food to energy on a cellular level) and raising the risk of metabolic disease. Symptoms include high triglycerides (a type of blood fat), high blood pressure and high blood sugar levels. It’s only in recent years that we are beginning to understand that metabolic disease damages the brain too.

Why midlife?
The link between excess weight and poor brain health is most pronounced at the midlife stage. In fact, in older age, it actually reverses – people who are obese seem to have a lower risk of dementia, although that’s probably not causal. “It’s more likely to be because people who actually have dementia often lose weight as they don’t eat, they also lose a lot of muscle,” says Chiesa. “In addition, people who are obese are more likely to die sooner so may not live long enough to get dementia.”


For all these reasons, the association is easiest to see at the midlife point – which is also when the brain begins to show signs of damage. “If you look at the brains of a thousand 20-year-olds, they will look relatively the same,” says Chiesa. “If you take the brains of a thousand 60-year-olds, you start to see a much bigger spread in size and shape.” The less healthy brains will be smaller with more spaces in the middle. They’ll show more bright spots (known as white matter hyperintensities) which indicate damage to blood vessels. Although it might take years or decades to notice the cognitive decline, it’s believed that midlife is when the damage sets in.


Insulin resistance
Perhaps the key to understanding how visceral fat and metabolic disease could damage the brain is the fact that the brain is one of our most highly perfused organs, receiving 15 to 20 per cent of cardiac output. “Compared to any other organ, the brain needs huge blood flow,” says Chiesa. “It’s so active, it needs more blood, more nutrients, more oxygen. It has the big blood vessels but also the tiny ones, the delicate capillaries for micro circulation.” When these are damaged, the blood can no longer reach all areas and the brain tends to atrophy.


Insulin resistance – which is strongly associated with high levels of visceral fat – is one way this could happen. “Insulin is released when you have high blood sugar levels, to bring them down and keep them steady,” says Chiesa. “With insulin resistance, the body still produces insulin but the cells can’t react in the same way so there is too much glucose circulating around the blood vessels. Essentially, what that glucose does is damage the walls of the blood vessels, especially the small ones and they stop working properly.”

Inflammation
Visceral fat, obesity and insulin resistance also drive inflammation – not the good kind that kicks in as part of our immune system to fight infection then returns to normal, but chronic, sustained inflammation. Neuroinflammation has been closely linked to the build-up and tangles of harmful, abnormal proteins in the brain in a range of diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and frontotemporal dementia. “We know that inflammatory chemicals damage cells in the brain, and damage blood vessels and we know that dementia is very much an inflammatory linked condition,” says Chiesa.


Blood pressure
“Any obesity is a big risk for high blood pressure but, again, abdominal fat is an especially big contributor,” says Chiesa. “If you think of the brain with its tiny, tiny blood vessels, one cell thick, diffusing every part. When blood pressure gets higher, that pulsatility creates a stress on them and they are very vulnerable to damage.”


How to improve brain health in midlife and beyond
Dr Sabine Donnai, a longevity doctor with a special interest in brain health at viavi.com, sees all the above as good news. “For a long time, we’ve thought that dementia and brain health was genetic and there was nothing we could do about it,” she says. “It’s only really in the last five years that we’ve begun to understand these mechanisms and the massive influence of weight. This is something we can control.”


1. Exercise
One study, from the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, and published in the Neurology journal, used MRI scans to show that people with high levels of physical activity in midlife – more than 150 minutes per week – have better brain health, with fewer cerebrovascular lesions and less shrinkage in later life. All exercise is beneficial but most important is swapping fat for muscle. “To save your brain, build your muscle mass, and for that you need weight training,” says Dr Donnai. “Weight training balances insulin resistance, increases testosterone which is such a positive hormone and reduces cortisol which is strongly associated with inflammation.


“To give the message to your muscles, you need weight training three times a week. It doesn’t have to be hours – just half an hour is enough.”


2. Diet and weight
Household scales might not be the most accurate guide to healthy weight loss since muscle is heavier than fat. “Scales that measure body composition and that’s a better guide,” says Dr Donnai. “Ideally, your fat percentage should be below 32.” Waist-to-hip ratio can also be helpful. “As a rough guide, a woman’s waist-to-hip ratio should be 0.8 and for men, 0.9.”


What should we be eating? “The brain is a fatty organ so it needs fat, but you want to feed it good fats,” says Dr Donnai. “That’s your olive oils, avocados, coconut oils, eggs.” Eat plenty of anti-inflammatories – leafy green vegetables, tomatoes, nuts and fish and stay off sugar and refined carbohydrates “The brain doesn’t like them at all,” says Dr Donnia. “It raises glucose levels and pushes up insulin resistance.”


3. Sleep and stress control
Good sleep hygiene is vital for the brain; during sleep, it is busy processing information, storing memories, removing dangerous toxins, repairing tissues, regulating hormones and rebuilding metabolic pathways. Poor sleep has been linked to insulin resistances as well as the build-up of waste products associated with neurodegenerative disease.


“Stress is also key,” says Dr Donnai. “High levels of the ‘stress hormone’ cortisol raise inflammation, insulin resistance and obesity.” Yoga, meditation, mindfulness and healthy, positive friendships all help here. Social interaction and strong social ties are also crucial for stimulating attention and memory and strengthening neural networks.


Can weight loss drugs boost brain health?
If carrying excess fat on the body is detrimental to the brain, it stands to reason that drugs which aid weight loss will lead to better brain health – but new research suggests they might have a separate, positive, direct influence on the brain too. One study tracking US veterans taking Ozempic and other, similar drugs for diabetes for three and half years, found a 12 per cent reduction in Alzheimer’s disease.


In separate research by Imperial College London, regular injections of the weight loss and diabetes drug liraglutide in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease appeared to reduce cognitive decline by as much as 18 per cent after one year compared to a placebo. Dr Chiesa says the early signs of the drugs are promising but it is still too early to know of their long-term effect. “These drugs were initially developed for diabetes so we know it helps prevent insulin resistance,” he says. “We think that the brain has receptors that this drug will attach to and make blood vessels easier to dilate so less vulnerable to damage.”

Access Denied

The headline is a bit misleading, it's not that dementia hits smart, well educated people harder, those people have better coping mechanisms that can hide short term memory loss unit it is significant enough to really impact their lives. My father retired early - at 63 or 64 - and turned down an Emeritus position because he felt that his memory was not as good as it used to be. He had a very active retirement and did some very profitable day-trading on the side until he was finally diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of 81. He finally passed on after being institutionalized at the age of 91.

Originally Posted by qwerty

T those people have better coping mechanisms that can hide short term memory loss unit it is significant enough to really impact their lives.

They call it cognitive reserve. My mother had an almost photographic memory, a good intellect, and at age 85 was able to score very well in MMSIs (mini mental state exams). But at the hospital, the examining doctor's

report said "I think this lady has significant dementia'...which was right; it was just hidden. She went downhill fairly rapidly soon after.

these wax lure tests are utter bow lock

Your IQ is: 160
Standard Deviation: 15
Percentile: 99.996831397%
Rarity: 1/31560

Your age adjusted IQ score is 160 and the average score for all test takers is 98.45.

Your Grade ** Genius **

Nothing quite like an internet quiz to prove you're a genius..

Originally Posted by hallelujah

Saw the headline - I'm fucked!



Article didn't include boozing

Hates Kindle

Loves dogs

Wears socks in bed

Plays memory games (A TEFL life)

Gonna live forever!

wearing socks in bed is acceptable in cold countries but is a no no and passion killer in Oz

^ The women are a passion killer in Oz, mate.

Socks may liven it up a bit.

After my Yogi incident I wore a sock on my right foot in bed for a couple of months, to hold the bandage together and help stop blood and fluids leaking onto the sheets during the night. I didn't notice the sock killing any passion.

I got nothing before, got nothing while wearing the sock, and still get nothing after I took off the damn thing and burnt it.

Originally Posted by BLD

wearing socks in bed is acceptable in cold countries but is a no no and passion killer in Oz

It's not been above -5 here for about 2 weeks.

I shagged an aussie once and she had the biggest pension knickers on that I've ever seen.

I reckon they would have given Chitty the right horn though.

^^That does ​seem fairly conclusive.

Originally Posted by Mendip

^ The women are a passion killer in Oz, mate.

Socks may liven it up a bit.

After my Yogi incident I wore a sock on my right foot in bed for a couple of months, to hold the bandage together and help stop blood and fluids leaking onto the sheets during the night. I didn't notice the sock killing any passion.

I got nothing before, got nothing while wearing the sock, and still get nothing after I took off the damn thing and burnt it.

didnt you marry one you met in Aus?

Thanks for reminding me...

But she's definitely not an Aussie. Naturalised, nothing more.

She may have picked up the brashness and tightness that many associate with Australians but those Isaan traits still shine through.

FFS...