Dementia rates are rising, reports Keren Landman for National Geographic. In BBC Science, Anthea Rowan reports on how early detection of dementia could reduce your risk significantly. Right now, most people incorrectly assume there’s no fighting dementia; it comes with growing old.
A recent study in Nature Medicine reports that in the next 35 years, one million Americans will have dementia, double the number today. The good news is that more Americans are living into their 80’s and 90’s, when people are more likely to get dementia. This helps explain the rise in the number of Americans with dementia. However, more than four in ten Americans could develop dementia. How does it develop?
Researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Washington State have found that Alzheimer’s develops in two stages. There’s a slow “stealth” phase, affecting only a relatively small number of brain cells. And, there’s a fast aggressive phase in which memory and functional lapses affect a person’s ability to manage.
Two proteins are primarily responsible for causing cognitive decline and dementia: amyloid and tau. They result in disrupted communication between nerve cells and keep cells from functioning properly, leading to their death. Your brain’s neurons lose their equilibrium.
Some researchers believe that dementia’s first “stealth” phase presents opportunities to detect, intervene and prevent symptoms. Detection might be possible through an MRI, spinal lumbar punctures and, even, blood tests. But, these tests can be expensive and cumbersome. A new potentially simpler and less expensive test is in the works and should be available in the next decade.
What can you do now to reduce your risk of dementia or, at the very least, delay it? The health of your brain is closely tied to the health of your heart. So, take care of your heart! Monitor and treat your blood pressure and cholesterol. And, there’s more!
The Lancet offers 14 things you can do to lower your risk of dementia by as much as 45 percent:
- Be sure to exercise, including strength training.
- Use a hearing aid if you have trouble hearing. Even losing a small amount of your hearing can increase your risk of dementia two-fold.
- Ensure you have good vision.
- Stay socially engaged.
- Don’t smoke.
- Keep a healthy weight.
- Don’t drink a lot of alcohol.
- If you have diabetes, be sure to keep it in check.
- Helmet use for kids while playing sports to minimize the risk of head injuries.
- Good education.
- Cognitively stimulating activities.
- Effective depression treatment.
Even if you can’t prevent dementia, you can slow it down and gain yourself a longer, healthier life.
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