Preventing Dementia in Your 30s and 40s
50% of us can prevent dementia using just a few of this list of 14 strategies.
Do you have a family member with dementia? Do you have one of the common conditions associated with increased risk of dementia? It’s one of the more preventable diseases, according to some of the most well-respected scientists in the field.
Welcome to the Healthy Aging Newsletter, a free publication translating trustworthy medical research into simple habits to age well, free of chronic disease. I’m Dr. Ashori, a family medicine doctor turned health coach.
What to Do Now (Age 30-50)
It’s rare to have so many notable, excellent scientists come together without much industry sponsorship to write such a comprehensive prevention strategy for dementia. Remember that each individual has a unique risk profile. Understanding that will help you better prioritize the most effective steps.
In descending order, this is what’s been shown on population-level data to help prevent up to 50% of dementia.
1. Hearing Loss
Get screened for hearing problems early. With headphones, loud environments, and metabolic problems, we need all the brain stimulation we can get, including the one from our hearing. And, of course, reduce excess noise to avoid such issues in the future.
2. LDL Cholesterol
Know your fasting lipid numbers and get your high LDL-C to target.
3. Social Isolation
Design an active social routine involving people you enjoy being around. Group activities and shared living arrangements are a wonderful way to avoid mid- and late-life isolation.
4. Education
Pursue self-learning and education to stimulate your cognition, especially in midlife. Higher education of any sort is protective against cognitive decline.
5. Depression
Get screened and treat your depression with evidence-based therapies, which may include medication. Remember that Major Depressive Disorder is not the same thing as feeling depressed.
6. Traumatic Brain Injury
Wear a helmet when cycling or in other head-impact sports. Don’t fear your history of TBI. The goal is to decrease repeated exposures.
7. Air Pollution
Limit your outdoor activities on high-pollution days by choosing air-filtered environments, when possible. If this is unavoidable, try to choose the best times to be active depending on air quality.
8. Physical Inactivity
There’s nothing wrong with resting and relaxing. Build regular exercise and sport into the week, aiming for an average of more activity than being sedentary without the right stimulation.
9. Smoking
If you can’t quite, cut back. If you can’t cut back, get help with medications.
10. Diabetes
Focus on preventing diabetes. Though this report states that you should aim to screen for this disease, I have my patients prevent it first, screen second, and treat it, third.
11. Hypertension
If your blood pressure is high, it could be stress or lifestyle related. But it could also be simply genetic. You didn’t do anything wrong to develop hypertension but getting it down is important.
12. Vision Decline
Get routine vision screening. Do not avoid cataracts surgery if your vision is moderately affected. And do what you can to avoid cataracts and macular degeneration.
13. Obesity
Target a healthy weight, focusing on waist circumference. Though genetics play a major role, nutrition, sleep, activity, and stress support can help immensely.
14. Alcohol
Keeping intake low seems to be the best strategy. If you feel you are drinking too much, that’s a good barometer. There is amazing help available these days.
