What it's REALLY like to live with dementia: Experts release five 'unwinnable' puzzles

A series of impossible puzzles has been created to demonstrate the frustration and confusion many people with dementia suffer every day.

The brain-destroying condition causes nerve connections to break down and vital mental faculties, like understanding language or storing memories, to stop working.

Experts say suffering from the condition, which affects around 850,000 people in the UK and 50million worldwide, is like being ‘tested to destruction’.

The puzzles all appear to be simple at first glance but there is a twist when you come to answer them. In this one the answer moves every time you click it, which is intended to mimic the frustration people feel when they repeatedly get things wrong

The quiz has been created by experts at Babylon Health, the company which runs the NHS’s online doctors’ appointment app, GP at Hand.

It takes users through five sets of questions which seem simple – but there’s a catch.

The answer may change each time you choose, symbols move from where you remember them to be, and sometimes the right answer just doesn’t work.

Each is followed by an explanation of how it resembles an aspect of dementia, in which people often can’t understand why they’re failing to do something.

Professor June Andrews, an author and renowned dementia expert at the charity Dementia UK, helped to develop the puzzles.

She said: ‘A “guaranteed to fail” puzzle will likely cause you to feel annoyed, angry, dismissive, paranoid, anxious, irritated, and depressed – and these are all feelings that make life harder for a person with dementia.

‘To avoid creating those emotions for a person with dementia: don’t ask questions if you can avoid it.

‘Don’t correct things that don’t matter. Do everything in your power to avoid bringing to the attention of the person with dementia that they are failing a mental challenge, as this only makes their life harder than it needs to be.’

 This puzzle requires you to remember where the watermelon is and match it with another piece, but every time you come back the melon has moved – people with dementia often forget where things are and become confused when they find their memories aren’t reliable

The possible answers for this question are all the names of cities – people with dementia lose their ability to understand language and communicate, which can be isolating and upsetting 

The text in this question changes too quickly to read and the question at the end is unanswerable – dementia slows down people’s thinking speed and can make them struggle to process what’s happening around them

At the end of the quiz you are finally presented with questions you can answer but they don’t lead anywhere or amount to anything – experts say living with dementia is like constantly being tested for no real reason

Among the quiz questions are one in which you have to click on a specific letter, and another in which you have to identify an animal.

Even simple tasks can become frustrating and dangerous for people with dementia, who may forget they put the oven on or get lost when walking somewhere.

The condition, which is most often caused by Alzheimer’s disease, can’t be cured and people’s health usually becomes worse over time until brain damage kills them. 

WHAT IS DEMENTIA? THE KILLER DISEASE THAT ROBS SUFFERERS OF THEIR MEMORIES

Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of neurological disorders

A GLOBAL CONCERN 

Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of progressive neurological disorders, that is, conditions affecting the brain.

There are many different types of dementia, of which Alzheimer’s disease is the most common.

Some people may have a combination of types of dementia.

Regardless of which type is diagnosed, each person will experience their dementia in their own unique way.

Dementia is a global concern but it is most often seen in wealthier countries, where people are likely to live into very old age.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE AFFECTED?

The Alzheimer’s Society reports there are more than 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK today, of which more than 500,000 have Alzheimer’s.

It is estimated that the number of people living with dementia in the UK by 2025 will rise to over 1 million.

In the US, it’s estimated there are 5.5 million Alzheimer’s sufferers. A similar percentage rise is expected in the coming years.

As a person’s age increases, so does the risk of them developing dementia.

Rates of diagnosis are improving but many people with dementia are thought to still be undiagnosed.

IS THERE A CURE?

Currently there is no cure for dementia.

But new drugs can slow down its progression and the earlier it is spotted the more effective treatments are.

Source: Dementia UK