Are you a baby boomer?
Have you ever lost your keys and had an image of dementia flitter through your brain?
You may wonder if there is anything you can do to prevent it. It makes perfect sense to ponder decisions about whether a brain training activity will work for you. One of the caveats offered by Stanford’s Longevity Center in my previous post was that none of these have been shown to prevent Alzheimer’s disease (or actually, if I have read some recent news stories correctly Alzheimer’s Syndrome).
Here is the other side of that story, via Reducing risk factors for Alzheimer’s and promoting successful aging ….
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Use your brain for your whole life. Your brain is a “use it or lose it” organ.
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Avoid gluttony with food and alcohol. Excessive alcohol and elevated cholesterol or triglycerides are bad for the brain.
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Treat depression, since this may improve your physical and intellectual health.
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Do not become a couch potato. Obesity, inactivity and poor health are bad for your brain.
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Exercise until the day you die. People who exercise on a regular basis have better physical and intellectual life.
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Do not keep a spare tire. Obesity around the beltline in middle life can be bad for your brain in later life.
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Protect your heart and blood vessels. Your brain needs adequate oxygen and nutrients to stay well.
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Treat your hypertension as a young person to help keep your memories as an older person. Untreated hypertension damages blood vessels to the brain.
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Take a standard vitamin on a daily basis. A B-complex vitamin and folic acid are helpful.
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Find a good doctor and follow his or her advice. Smart doctors and wonder drugs are not beneficial when the advice and the medication sit in the medicine cabinet.
The website, Alzheimer’s Prevention has a load of resources and checklists for a group much larger than those who have the syndrome — the worried well. Like, maybe, you or me?
My only caveat here is that they are not saying these things can ‘prevent’ the illness, but are ways to reduce your risk.
Mike
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