According to American doctors, you can change your daily habits to avoid dementia in old age. Even people at genetic risk can reduce the likelihood of developing the disease by leading a healthier lifestyle, diet, exercise and a healthy weight. Here are seven steps to avoid dementia!
- Elderly people are most likely to suffer from dementia, but it can also start sooner. However, its development can be hampered by simple changes in lifestyle
- According to US researchers, a healthy diet, exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, and regular basic testing are factors that may reduce the risk of dementia
- The same factors also protect the heart and circulatory system and have long been promoted by cardiologists
- You can find more such information on the TvoiLokony home page
How to reduce the risk of dementia?
The study that supports this thesis was conducted by scientists from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. They used the data of over 11. people from the USA, collected in 1987-2019. At the start of the study, the average age of participants was 54 and they were followed for an average of 26 years, reports Newscientist.com.
The researchers compiled the results for each participant taking into account seven health-promoting factors. These are:
- quitting smoking
- healthy diet,
- maintaining a healthy body weight,
- physical activity and
- blood sugar control,
- cholesterol control
- blood pressure control.
The team combined these factors into a single result on a 14-point scale, with 0 being the least healthy and 14 being the healthiest.
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The team of scientists used in their experiment the method of genome-wide association studies. They were used to assess the genetic risk of developing dementia in each person. The participants were then divided into groups depending on how high their risk was. Those in the highest risk group were 1,5 to 2,7 times more likely to develop the disease than those in the lowest risk group.
The group of respondents included people of European and African origin. During the audited period, 2 234 participants developed dementia. Researchers found that people of predominantly European origin at the highest genetic risk could reduce the likelihood of developing dementia by 8%. for each point they improved their Healthy Lifestyle Score on a 14-point scale. Studies of people of African descent showed similar results, but these are not certain conclusions because this group was much smaller.
“There have been no major differences in our findings between people of African and European descent,” said Adrienne Tin of Johns Hopkins University, quoted by Newscientis.com. She added that “the findings show that it is especially beneficial to maintain healthy habits early in life”.
Ways to prevent dementia. “We can all take these steps”
The listed factors are nothing new to the world of science. The American Heart Association has long been promoting them as a way to maintain a healthy heart and an efficient circulatory system. However, studies have shown that they can also reduce the likelihood of developing dementia.
What is dementia? This is the type of dementia that is usually associated with memory loss. The problem most often affects the elderly and is a cognitive impairment caused by the decreasing number of nerve cells. A person suffering from dementia loses the ability to recognize the environment in which he lives and is unable to exist in it. Everything that surrounds her becomes alien. Most dementia are not genetic. However, people with a family history of dementia have an increased risk of developing dementia.
“These results are very promising,” said Claudia Cooper of University College London of the Maryland research. “They show that although none of us can know for sure what our initial risk of developing dementia is, we can all take steps to reduce it.”