Walk 10,000 steps a day, reduce alcohol, recover sleep at night, stay socially lively — we’re told that changes like these can prevent as much as 40 per cent of dementia cases worldwide.
Given that dementia continues to be one in every of probably the most feared diseaseswhy aren’t we pushing our doctors and governments to support these lifestyle changes through latest programs and policy initiatives?
The truth, nevertheless, is more complex. We know that making lifestyle changes is difficult. Ask anyone who has tried to maintain their New Year’s resolution to go to the gym 3 times per week. It may be doubly difficult when the changes we’d like to make now won’t show results for years, and even a long time, and we don’t really understand why they work.
Taking control of your health
Anyone who has watched a loved one living with dementiafacing the small and huge indignities and declines that leave them eventually unable to eat, communicate or remember, knows it’s a devastating disease.
(Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
There are several latest drugs making their strategy to the marketplace for Alzheimer’s disease (some of the common types of dementia). However, they’re still removed from a cure and are currently only effective for early-stage Alzheimer’s patients.
So lifestyle changes could also be our greatest hope of delaying dementia or not developing dementia in any respect. Actor Chris Hemsworth knows it. He watched his grandfather live with Alzheimer’s and is making lifestyle changes after learning he has two copies of the APOE4 gene. This gene is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s, and having two copies significantly increases his risk of developing the identical condition.
Research has identified modifiable risk aspects that contribute to increasing the chance of dementia:
- physical inactivity
- excessive use of alcohol
- less sleep
- social isolation
- hearing loss
- less cognitive engagement
- poor weight-reduction plan
- hypertension
- obesity
- diabetes
- traumatic brain injury
- smoking
- depression
- air pollution
Our understanding of the biological mechanisms for these risk aspects is varied, with some more clearly understood than others.
But there may be lots we do know — and here’s what it is advisable to know as well.
Cognitive reserve and neuroplasticity
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Cognitive reserve is the brain’s ability to face up to damage or neurodegenerative disease. If there may be tissue or functional loss in a single a part of the brain, other brain cells (neurons) work harder to compensate. In theory, this implies lifelong experiences and activities create a dam against the damages of disease and aging within the brain.
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s amazing ability to adapt, learn and reorganize, create latest pathways or rewire existing ones to recuperate from damage. The key takeaway is that neuroplasticity can occur at any time and any age, which suggests learning and activities needs to be lifelong.
Many of the chance aspects linked to dementia likely work together, which is why an overall lifestyle approach is crucial. For example, studies have shown that exercise, cognitive and social engagement stimulate your brain and maintain its plasticity by growing latest neural connections and constructing cognitive reserve.
The mechanism behind this can be a combination of things: increased oxygen and blood flow to the brain, stimulating growth aspects that keep neurons healthy and reduced inflammation.
The opposite can be true. Poor sleep, weight-reduction plan, social isolation and untreated depression are linked to decreased cognitive reserve.
The same rationale applies to hearing loss, a key emerging risk factor for dementia. As an individual‘s hearing decreases, it will possibly make it difficult to socially engage with others, leading to a lack of sensory input. The brain has to work harder to compensate for this, potentially drawing down its cognitive reserve and leaving it less able to face up to dementia.
The role of stress and inflammation
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Stress responses and inflammation are the body’s complex answer to injury. Inflammation is a crucial component of the body’s immune system, helping defend against threats and repair tissue damage. While short-term inflammation is a natural and good response, chronic or prolonged inflammation disrupts normal function and causes damage to the brain’s cells.
For example, one in every of the commonalities between dementia and untreated depression is the inflammatory process. Prolonged exposure to emphasize hormones can result in chronic inflammation. Hypertension, physical inactivity, smoking and air pollution are also related to chronic inflammation and stress, which might damage blood vessels and neurons within the brain.
In a more recent area of research still being explored, social isolation has also been linked to inflammation. As we learned in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the brain is wired to answer social engagement as a way of bonding and emotional support, especially in times of distress.
With surveys showing greater than one in three Canadians feel isolated, the shortage of social connection and loneliness can trigger the body’s stress response and neuroendocrine changes, and prolonged exposure to this inflammatory process can damage the brain.
Similar pathways across multiple diseases
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Several of those risk aspects, and their biological pathways, cut across multiple chronic diseases. Accumulating evidence of a long time of research supports the concept of “what’s good to your heart is sweet to your head.”
This implies that making these lifestyle changes not only reduces your risk of dementia, but in addition your risk of diabetes, hypertension and heart concerns. This highlights the complex nature of dementia but in addition offers a united technique to take care of multiple health concerns that will arise as people age.
It’s never too late
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It’s never really too late to vary. The human brain and body have a remarkable capability for adaptation and resilience throughout life.
While there are advantages to being physically and socially lively at any age, some research shows the payoff from those gains may be higher after age 40 when the body’s metabolism slows, risk aspects increase and cognitive reserve becomes much more essential to assist protect against cognitive decline.
If making lifestyle changes means you’ll be able to watch your child navigate maturity, stroll 20 blocks to your favourite café on daily basis and proceed to live in your personal home, perhaps walking the each day 10,000 steps, changing diets and keeping your friendship network strong is worth it. At worst, you’ll be healthier and more independent with or without dementia. At best, you would possibly completely avoid dementia and other major diseases and keep living your absolute best life.
