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How to cut your risk of dementia
Here are a few things that you can do to decrease your chances of developing this condition.
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According to the report, adults who did not receive at least a secondary school degree are at higher risk of developing dementia. (Shutterstock/File)
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rowing more and more forgetful with age is something that we assume is bound to happen, but did you know that there are steps that you can take to prevent dementia?
A Lancet Commissions report from 24 leading dementia researchers suggests that 35 percent of dementia comes from preventable causes.
Here are a few things that you can do to decrease your chances of developing this condition as compiled by Reader's Digest:
Keep learning
According to the report, adults who did not receive at least a secondary school degree are at higher risk of developing dementia. “Cognitive resilience in later life is likely to be enhanced by building brain reserve earlier in life through education and other intellectual stimulation,” the authors wrote in their study.
Maybe you could start listening to podcasts on your way to work, or perhaps watch a documentary over the weekend. Whatever it is, keep your brain active.
Read also: Drinking too much soda may be linked to alzheimer's
Check your hearing
After a certain age, typically after 55, hearing loss is associated with higher risks of dementia. One does not necessarily cause the other, meaning that as adults grow older in age, their risks for conditions such as dementia and hearing loss increases as well.
However, receiving treatment for your declining hearing could may make the effects or degree of dementia less severe.
Get your blood pressure down
When blood pressure is high, circulation is not at its optimum. As such, it could become difficult for your body to balance out harmful free radicals in your body, leading to oxidative stress and inflammation. This could cause damage to your neurons, bringing about symptoms of dementia.
Manage your diabetes
This is still just a theory, as it has not been confirmed, but researchers speculate that having diabetes may increase your risk of dementia. This suggested theory considers that when your body is unable to regulate your blood sugar, more will go to your brain. This influx could potentially cause damages that lead to loss of cognitive functions.
Read also: Walking regularly can combat dementia: Study
Lose some weight
Obesity is believed to raise your risk of dementia, possibly because it is directly linked to both high blood pressure, as well as type 2 diabetes. By maintaining a healthy weight, you will be able to reduce the chance of having any of these three conditions.
Go for a walk
Regularly going out for walks not only promote keeping a healthy weight, but the act of working out itself may reduce the risks associated with dementia.
Studies suggest that older adults who exercise more regularly are less likely to develop dementia than those who do not.
Quit smoking
Lung cancer isn’t the only threat towards smokers; dementia is one too. Researchers suggest that this could be caused by two reasons: first, that smoking is likely to lead to cardiovascular problems, which are linked with dementia, and second, that the chemicals in cigarettes themselves are toxic to your brain cells.
Read also: Brain-stimulating activity crucial for those over 70: Study
Schedule a mental health check up
Researchers have noticed a link between depression and dementia, however studies are still being down on which condition leads to the other. Depression might be an early indication of people in an early stage of dementia, however it may also be a separate risk factor altogether.
Depression is a condition that affects a number of things including brain neurons, the level of stress hormones, as well as the hippocampus, or the part of the brain that is responsible for emotions and memory. As such, depression may also increase risks of dementia.
Schedule a mental health check up with a professional to get yourself professionally diagnosed and get advice on how to proceed.
Set up coffee dates with people you care about
It can be coffee date, lunch, or even a movie. Social isolation is oftentimes associated with dementia, although like depression, researchers are unsure of which leads to the other or what the nature of the connection is like.
Either way, spending time with people that you care about will always be a pleasant way to not only keep your brain active, but lift up your spirits as well -- both of which will benefit you against cognitive decline. (tha/kes)
