With what we know about reducing dementia risk, it is essential for us to control the risk factors we can. Start making your brain’s health a priority with lifestyle changes and healthy habits.
Many of us begin to notice changes in our health as we age – new aches and pains, stiffness in the mornings, and sometimes a forgetful moment. Dementia is a broad term for cognitive decline that affects daily functioning, but it is not an inevitable part of aging. Recent studies show that there are several steps we can take to proactively care for our brains and reduce our risk for dementia as we age.
Learn more about dementia and the lifestyle choices you can make today to improve your brain health as you age.
What Is Dementia?
Dementia is a general term for loss of memory, language, problem-solving, and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily life. Dementia is not just a forgetful moment here and there. For example, forgetting where you put your car key is normal. Forgetting how to use the key can be a possible sign of dementia. Often, someone with dementia does not realize they have a problem. Instead, family or friends recognize something is wrong.
There are many types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and mixed dementia, and each one has a different cause. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and accounts for 60-80% of all dementia cases.
Signs and symptoms of dementia vary greatly and can include problems with short-term memory, difficulty paying bills, keeping track of things, remembering appointments, making everyday decisions, and more. Symptoms are progressive, which means they gradually get worse over time.
Treatment of dementia depends on its cause. In the case of most progressive dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease, there is no cure, but treatments can reduce cognitive and functional decline and improve a person’s quality of life.
If you or someone you love is experiencing memory difficulties or changes in thinking ability, make an appointment with your healthcare provider to determine the cause.
Is Dementia Preventable?
Some risk factors for
dementia, such as age and genetics, cannot be changed. You cannot stop yourself from getting older, and you can’t control whether a parent or sibling has been diagnosed with dementia. But research, like this from Alzheimer’s.gov, shows that modifying lifestyle habits can play a role in improving your brain health and decreasing your risk for dementia. In fact, a major 2024 report called the Lancet Commission on dementia found that up to about 45% of dementia cases might be prevented or delayed by managing certain health and lifestyle risk factors. Taking action in mid-life (around ages 40 to 65) appears especially helpful.
What Steps Can I Take to Reduce My Risk for Developing Dementia?
Although there is no proven way to prevent Alzheimer’s and related dementias, there are steps you can take to help reduce your risk. The 2024 update of the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, as well as research from the Alzheimer’s Association on brain health, represent significant progress in our understanding of improving and maintaining brain health across all ages. Suggestions for reducing your risk of dementia include:
- Move more. There are so many health benefits associated with getting regular exercise. It helps to prevent obesity, heart disease, and high blood pressure, all of which can contribute to your risk for developing dementia. Adults should aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week.
- Manage and treat your health conditions. When high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol aren’t controlled, they can damage your brain through too much sugar in your bloodstream, damaged blood vessels, increased risk for stroke, and more. Get regular health screenings and make sure you work with your healthcare provider to stay on top of any chronic health conditions that can affect your brain’s health when left untreated.
- Eat a healthy diet. Aim for lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats, and limit highly processed foods and high amounts of fat and sugar. A healthy diet can protect your heart and control your weight, which are both important factors in protecting your brain’s health.
- Maintain social connections. Connecting with others and engaging in social activities can prevent isolation and loneliness, which are both linked to higher risks for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. Social connections can include maintaining friendships, keeping in touch with family, joining peer support or meetup groups, visiting community spaces, or signing up for activities with others.
- Stay mentally active. Instead of binge-watching shows every night, challenge your brain. Try reading, playing games, taking up new hobbies, solving puzzles, or learning a new skill. These types of activities can keep your brain sharp and engaged.
- Treat hearing and vision
problems. Untreated hearing loss and poor eyesight are linked to a higher risk of dementia, and they can make thinking and memory harder. Correcting these problems may help your brain, though researchers are still studying how much treatment lowers dementia risk. Talk to your healthcare provider so any hearing or vision problems can be checked and treated. These problems may make your brain work harder at the expense of thinking and memory. Talk to your healthcare provider to ensure any hearing or vision problems you have are addressed properly. - Make good sleep a priority. Many of us assume we can brush off poor sleep habits with a little extra caffeine during the day, but poor sleep can impair the brain’s ability to clear toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease. If your sleep is being affected regularly, talk to your healthcare provider and see if a sleep disorder like insomnia or nightmares is affecting your ability to sleep well.
- Protect your head. Take steps to prevent falls and head injuries. Wear a helmet and fall-proof your home as you age to protect yourself from concussions and head injuries as much as possible. Traumatic brain injuries can start the process in the brain where toxic substances build up around the injured area.
- Drink less alcohol and stop tobacco use. Tobacco use and too much alcohol can worsen health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and memory loss.
Resources
- The Alzheimer’s Association is a trusted resource for information, education, referral, and support for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. You can call their helpline 24/7, locate a support group in your community, join a brain-healthy habits program, and more.
- Alzheimer’s.gov has a wealth of information and resources related to dementia and how to reduce your risk.
With what we know about reducing dementia risk, it is essential for us to control the risk factors we can. Start making your brain’s health a priority with lifestyle changes and healthy habits.