Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease
How Simple Life Style Changes can Reduce your Risk of Dementia
Dementia is a growing problem. Whilst the search is on for a drug cure there is much we can all do to lessen the risk of developing this condition.
Dementia is a world wide and growing problem as people live longer. The commonest cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease characterized by the formation of tangles and plaques in the brain. Vascular dementia comes second place and is due to furring up of the arteries supplying the brain, similar to what happens in heart disease where furring up of arteries affects the functioning of the heart.
Governments are concerned because of the growing resources required to care for sufferers. Carers and family members are also affected because of the highly distressing nature of the illness; loss of memory, personality changes, confusion and growing physical impairment.
It’s quite common for those in middle-age to worry about dementia, partly because of all the publicity given to the illness. This becomes particularly acute if they find themselves becoming forgetful. There’s a bit of a vicious circle here in that worry about anything, including of course ill health, can make us forgetful and so we worry and so it goes on.
The search is on for drugs to cure or prevent dementia – particularly Alzheimer’s. These are a little way off but there is some good news. A growing number of studies over recent years have suggested that there is much we can do to lessen our chances of dementia both Alzheimer’s and the vascular type.
Life Style and Dementia
There are many reports linking increased intellectual and creative activity with a reduction in dementia risk, the ‘use it or lose it’ approach. The Einstein Aging Study by Verghese and collaborators published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 found reading, playing board games and musical instruments was associated with lower risk of developing dementia.
The ‘use it or lose it’ theory applies to physical activity as well, as found by Archana Sing-Manoux and others in a study reported in the American Journal of Public Health. Their work looked at the exercise levels of 10,308 civil servants and found that low levels of physical activity correlated with a greater risk of cognitive impairment – one of the main characteristics of dementia.
Risk of cognitive impairment is also related to diet. A study from Archives of Neurology in 2005 by Martha Clare Morris and colleagues, supported by The National Institute on Aging found that eating fish regularly, once or twice per week, was associated with lower loss of cognitive ability in old age.
Preventing Dementia
Use your brain. Play chess, do crosswords. Write: articles, a diary, short stories, anything creative will help. Model making, carpentry or tracing your family history. The list is varied and almost endless. The important thing is to make active use of your brain as opposed passive pastimes that require little or no effort from you.
We all know that a reasonable amount of physical activity is essential for a healthy heart. We now know it’s good for the brain also. So get walking, running or playing whatever sport you like. The important thing is to make the activity regular.
As with physical activity, the advice we have all been given regarding diet and our heart applies to the brain. Eating fish is good but also eating fresh fruit and vegetables is recommended.
This article is for information only. If you have any concerns in this area a visit to your doctor may well put your mind at rest.
