By Deborah Kan, EIC | Could twelfth, 2023
Is dementia preventable? Generally, it’s. In reality, 40% of dementia circumstances may very well be prevented by addressing sure science-backed threat components. Take a look at our new interactive information to be taught extra.
Researchers undertaking the variety of folks dwelling with dementia, a neurodegenerative syndrome which at present afflicts 50 million folks worldwide, will greater than triple by 2050, hovering to 152 million circumstances globally. On a person-by-person foundation, dementia isn’t essentially preventable — generally it’s attributable to components past our management, like genetics. However specialists in a latest report say two in 5 dementia circumstances may doubtlessly be delayed or prevented by sure way of life decisions and authorities insurance policies which have been discovered to considerably decrease threat. In reality, scientists have narrowed a listing all the way down to 12 key components that might assist delay or forestall as many as 40 % of all dementia circumstances.
In Being Affected person’s new (shareable!) interactive information, 12 Methods to Delay or Forestall Dementia, you’ll discover science-backed methods for safeguarding mind well being and lowering dementia threat. This checklist relies on peer-reviewed, trusted analysis into 9 dementia threat components recognized by the Lancet Fee on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care. We’ve additionally added three extra key threat components: air air pollution, traumatic mind damage and extreme consumption of alcohol.
Eric Larson, an creator of the examine and senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Well being Analysis Institute in Seattle, mentioned simply as folks can’t management their genetics, folks of their 40s can’t retroactively change their socioeconomic circumstances in formative years — however folks of all ages can, to various extents, make way of life decisions like routine exercising to enhance their well being.
“In my very own [clinical] apply, I’ve been telling sufferers it will be a good suggestion to train often,” Larson mentioned. “Once they came upon that you can protect your mind and cut back your threat of dementia, it was really a strong motivator for many individuals to grow to be an everyday exerciser.” For extra science-backed steering into dementia prevention, try the information — and share it with a cherished one.
Click on beneath to discover the information:
For those who discover our articles and interviews useful, please take into account turning into a supporting member of our group. Pissed off by the dearth of an editorially unbiased supply of data on mind well being and Alzheimer’s illness, we determined to create Being Affected person. We’re a group of devoted journalists masking the newest analysis on Alzheimer’s, bringing you entry to the specialists and elevating the affected person perspective on what it’s prefer to stay with dementia.
