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Can you prevent dementia

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Open trials refer to studies currently accepting participants. Closed trials are not currently enrolling, but may open in the future. See a Stanford specialist to learn about your treatment options. Visit our clinic to make an appointment. Share on Facebook. Notice: Users may be experiencing issues with displaying some pages on stanfordhealthcare.

We are working closely with our technical teams to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience. View the changes to our visitor policy » View information for Guest Services ». New to MyHealth? Manage Your Care From Anywhere. Activate Account. Create a New Account. Forgot Username or Password? It is normal to lose some neurons as you age, but people with dementia lose enough that it causes a breakdown in the system enough to affect daily life.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are ways to decrease your risk of dementia. Studies are showing us that healthy lifestyle choices can prevent many forms of cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

A healthy lifestyle can also improve your cognitive function. While there is no definitive way to prevent dementia, these 10 healthy lifestyle strategies may help you reduce your risk. A study by Maiken Nedergaard found that sleep is when your brain cleans up.

During sleep, your brain clears amyloid-beta protein, which contributes to the plaque that is often found in the brains of people with dementia. Without adequate amounts of sleep, your brain may start to suffer from toxic buildup. Action Strategy: Make a date with sleep. Figure out when your best sleep hours are in a hour period and commit to being in bed for those times.

Get yourself ready for sleep an hour before you meet your pillow. Promote high-quality sleep by:. Your brain needs good fuel to be able to function. Make sure to eat foods that are high in the nutrients your brain needs to protect itself. A diet high in processed foods and added sugar can lead to increased risk of dementia due to inflammation in the brain. A high sugar diet has also been linked to diabetes, a possible risk factor for dementia.

Action Strategy: Take an honest look at what you eat in a day. Is what you eat good for your brain? Consider adapting parts of the Mediterranean diet into your life or aim to replace one sugary food with a whole food. For example, instead of eating a blueberry muffin, try a cup of fresh or frozen blueberries with a sprinkle of nuts or seeds. Getting up and moving helps to keep your body and brain strong. Research is unclear on whether exercise prevents dementia, but there are many studies that suggest regular activity is good for your brain.

One even showed low dementia risk among very fit women. Physical activity helps prevent other health conditions linked to dementia including:. Action Strategy: Just do it. Start small but make sure you start. Add a small activity, depending on your level of physical fitness. This could be as simple as walking up and down a hallway a few times or as challenging as a 5-mile hike with friends. Aim to fit minutes of physical movement that gets your heart beating faster into each week.

The American Addiction Centers reports that drinking alcohol can increase dementia risk. A study found that people who drink 5 or more bottles of beer in one sitting were 3 times more likely to have dementia by age Action Strategy: Binge drinking is hard on your brain. Drinking large amounts of alcohol can stop your neurons from re-growing. If you choose to drink, limit yourself to one glass of wine or other favorite drink.

Smoking causes damage to your heart and blood vessels. Cigarette smoke can also cause swelling in your brain that is linked to dementia.

Action Strategy: Smoking can be a lifelong habit, which makes it very difficult to quit. There are many programs that can be helpful. However, there is no evidence that it can prevent or delay Alzheimer's-related cognitive impairment. Studies show that cognitive training can improve the type of cognition a person is trained in. For example, older adults who received 10 hours of practice designed to enhance their speed and accuracy in responding to pictures presented briefly on a computer screen "speed of processing" training got faster and better at this specific task and other tasks in which enhanced speed of processing is important.

Similarly, older adults who received several hours of instruction on effective memory strategies showed improved memory when using those strategies. The important question is whether such training has long-term benefits or translates into improved performance on daily activities like driving and remembering to take medicine.

In this trial, healthy adults age 65 and older participated in 10 sessions of memory, reasoning, or speed-of-processing training with certified trainers during 5 to 6 weeks, with "booster sessions" made available to some participants 11 months and 3 years after initial training.

The sessions improved participants' mental skills in the area in which they were trained but not in other areas , and improvements persisted years after the training was completed. In addition, participants in all three groups reported that they could perform daily activities with greater independence as many as 10 years later, although there was no objective data to support this.

Findings from long-term observational studies—in which researchers observed behavior but did not influence or change it—also suggest that informal cognitively stimulating activities, such as reading or playing games, may lower risk of Alzheimer's-related cognitive impairment and dementia.

For example, a study of nearly 2, cognitively normal adults 70 and older found that participating in games, crafts, computer use, and social activities for about 4 years was associated with a lower risk of MCI. Scientists think that some of these activities may protect the brain by establishing "reserve," the brain's ability to operate effectively even when it is damaged or some brain function is disrupted.

Another theory is that such activities may help the brain become more adaptable in some mental functions so it can compensate for declines in others. Scientists do not know if particular types of cognitive training—or elements of the training such as instruction or social interaction—work better than others, but many studies are ongoing.

People often wonder if a certain diet or specific foods can help prevent Alzheimer's disease. The recent NASEM review of research did not find enough evidence to recommend a certain diet to prevent cognitive decline or Alzheimer's.

However, certain diets and healthy eating patterns have been associated with cognitive benefits. What causes dementia? How is dementia treated? Can dementia be cured? Sign up for dementia emails. What are the symptoms of dementia? How to get a dementia diagnosis? Tests for diagnosing dementia What to do if you've just been diagnosed with dementia.

Are you looking after someone with dementia? Living well with dementia Staying independent Dementia activities Dementia and the home environment Looking after someone with dementia Dementia and your relationships Communicating with someone with dementia Coping with behaviour changes Dementia and end of life planning.

Do you know the signs of dementia? Sign up for dementia emails Join a dementia research project. Sources of help and support Organising care at home Care homes What to expect from the NHS and social services Money matters Managing legal affairs Sign up for dementia emails. Have you just been diagnosed with dementia? Spot the signs of dementia. Risk factors for dementia A risk factor is something that increases your likelihood of developing a condition.

Some dementia risk factors are difficult or impossible to change. These include: age: the older you are, the more likely you are to develop dementia.


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