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Lifestyle changes can reduce dementia risk, study says
- fhood 9y agoDoes anybody know why there might be a link between high blood pressure and dementia?
- QAPereo 9y agoSome forms of dementia are the result of vascular disorders, and high blood pressure is more likely to exacerbate, or directly contribute to that kind of failure in older age.
- fhood 9y ago"vascular disorders" As in lack of blood to the brain? Wouldn't high blood pressure do the opposite, or is their something I am missing.
- QAPereo 9y agoThink of it this way: High BP can lead to strokes and general damage to the vascular system, and that in turn can lead to dementia. http://www.webmd.com/stroke/guide/vascular-dementia#1 http://www.webmd.com/stroke/guide/vascular-dementia#1
- equalsione 9y agohttps://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20007/types_of_dementia/5/vascular_dementia https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20007/types_of_dementia/5... Narrowing of the blood vessels supplying oxygen to the brain, caused by things like high blood pressure. Also, strokes and mini-strokes.
- fhood 9y agoThanks, that was just what I was looking for.
- lazerpants 9y agoA new research avenue being explored in the etiology of dementia is altered permeability in the blood brain barrier (BBB) too. High blood pressure [0], and some other maladies listed in the study, are linked to changes in the BBB. This may be important, as some new research shows that some dementia may be immunological in nature. This is all pretty new science though. Back when I went to school in the early 2000s instructors didn't even teach that the BBB permeability could change. [0]: https://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=17753 https://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=...
- swiley 9y agoSomeone told me recently that there's a link between red dye and these illnesses. I wouldn't be surprised. I drink things with red dye in them when I go on long car trips because it has a rather strong effect on my short term memory (it seems to reduce it's capacity to almost nothing) which in turn means I really don't get bored (and don't fall asleep out of boredom.) Of course, once I get where I'm going I really can't do anything useful because I can't focus for long enough to think about anything.
- QAPereo 9y ago>Someone told me recently that there's a link between red dye and these illnesses. I wouldn't be surprised. I'd be absolutely shocked, and wonder how something so common is causing such selective effects and only in the elderly. As for reduction of short term memory, I'd start considering other mechanisms that don't involve food coloring if I were you.
- tangue 9y agoI never heard that but it it's possible : "There's been evidence for almost 40 years that food dyes trigger hyperactivity or inattention in children. [1] There was a call for a total ban but after intense lobbying there was just a legal mention added [2] [1] http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2014/03/28/artificial-dyes-candy http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2014/03/28/artificial-dyes-ca... [2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7340426.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7340426.stm
- Raphmedia 9y agoWhat food product has red dye in it?
- AnimalMuppet 9y agoYeah, um, drinking things that kill your short-term memory might not be the wisest thing to do, long term...
- alfon 9y agoI think this article ignores some very important risk factors. Does it assumes idiopathic Dementia?, what about dementia caused by AIDS, Syphilis, or late-stage Lyme disease?, to mention a few?.
- mfoy_ 9y agoI'm not sure "getting rid of your AIDS" counts as a "lifestyle change"...
- alfon 9y agoYou think that preventing a STD, or a tick bite wouldn't count as a lifestyle change?, really?.
- spurcell93 9y agoI think the point is more that people already try to not get HIV / AIDS - and once they have it, they can't just "get rid of it".
- mfoy_ 9y agoThe article is about lifestyle _changes_ you can make to mitigate existing risk factors. You can't _change_ whether or not you have AIDS once you already have it, not yet at least. And if you make a _special_ effort to avoid getting AIDS because it has a minor impact on your risk of getting dementia in old age... your priorities are WAY out of whack.
- a_c 9y agoMid-life hearing loss is very high on the list. But how does one prevent it?
- klodolph 9y agoWear hearing protection? You don't need to wear hearing protection 24/7, because the world isn't loud 24/7. But if you go to concerts or play music, or work with power tools or construction equipment, hearing protection is a no-brainer. I bring earplugs almost every time I go to a concert, jam session, and when I go to clubs. The connection with dementia does not surprise me. If you can't hear what people are saying, you won't be able to use those big chunks of your brain for language processing. They say that the first sign of hearing loss is that your wife starts mumbling. (Yes, gendered language—men tend to be more at risk for hearing loss, and hearing loss starts with higher frequencies, and women speak at a higher pitch. So for many men, they'll start complaining that their wife mumbles a lot, and the real problem is hearing loss.)
- Grazester 9y agoI know I have hearing loss but nothing is going to convince me my wife doesn't mumble at times! LOL
- Fezzik 9y agoI go so far as to wear the spongy orange ear plugs when I vacuum and do any thing with power tools at home. I already have (what I think of as) pretty bad tinnitus, so I am trying to mitigate future deterioration. It is surprisingly difficult to convince people this is a good idea though. I played in a band for a good 5 years, and while we practiced in a 15' x 15' room, with our amps cranked to 11, I could not cajole anyone else in to wearing ear plugs. It irked me that I could not get my friends to wear earplugs, even when it was just the 4 of us, because it was "uncool". And these are smart guys in their mid-thirties.
- pwthornton 9y agoHave you had your tinnitus checked out? It can be caused by earwax build up/impactedness.
- Will_Parker 9y ago10. Trouble distinguishing correlation from causation.
- dsego 9y agoThis! Hearing loss could mean those nerves started dying out before other (cognitive) brain regions. Usually the sense of smell dulls first (peanut-butter test).
- euyyn 9y agoI have a poor sense of smell (used to have a good one as a child) and my grandmother had dementia. What is the peanut-butter test?
- r00fus 9y agoPossibly this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_butter_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_butter_test "The researchers concluded that patients with Alzheimer's were not able to smell the peanut butter as well through their left nostril as their right one"
- dsego 9y agoThat's the one. My grandfather had dementia. And my father now has signs of brain atrophy, although still no cognitive decline. But he is in his 60s and has had hearing issues for the last decade, combined with ptsd, depression, anxiety and alcoholism. All of it (including mental illness in my family) is most probably somehow connected. I've also found some resources on how having bad teeth (which I do) is also correlated. For now I'm trying to be fitter and take bigger doses of B-vitamins and some other "nootropics". Also, looking forward to the new generation of meds now being tested, such as aducanumab.
- euyyn 9y agoIt says that it could not be replicated :/
- 9y ago
- ericxb 9y agoHere is some related info about reversing dementia. Short overview: http://www.today.com/health/new-brain-program-may-fight-alzheimer-s-t104636 http://www.today.com/health/new-brain-program-may-fight-alzh... Article/Study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221920 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221920 The interventions (from the article/study): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221920/table/T1/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221920/table/T1... Video presentation by the doctor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQ_X3mD16U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQ_X3mD16U
- lazerpants 9y agoWhile the MEND protocol is interesting and may be useful, it is a product [0] being sold with very little scientific evidence to support its use. Furthermore, Aging, the journal in which the sole study supporting MEND was published in, is not always considered a high quality source. [0]: https://museslabs.com/ https://museslabs.com/ [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_(journal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_(journal)
- djohnston 9y agoHow do you distinguish the effects of "Physical Inactivity" from "Obesity", "High Blood Pressure", "Diabetes"? It seems like it would be difficult to untangle the effects these conditions/lifestyles have on one another.
- pwthornton 9y agoThere are plenty of very active people that are overweight and obese (some play in the NFL) and plenty of normal weight people who are inactive. I don't see why this would be any harder to isolate than any other risk factors.
- EGreg 9y agoIt seems one of thise lifestyle choices is to take up cannabis after 60!
- didibus 9y agoWait, how do you prevent mid life hearing loss?
- AnimalMuppet 9y agoWell, be careful what volume you listen to music at. Seriously. But if you've got it, get a hearing aid. Get an amplified phone. See, the problem (probably) is not hearing loss per se; it's that hearing loss cuts you off from the world (both the physical and social worlds). If you can prevent that, you can (I suspect) prevent the hearing loss contribution to dementia.
- mfoy_ 9y agoAvoid live concerts (the volume is always way too loud), wear appropriate hearing protection when working in a loud environment, listen to music at a reasonable level. Every so often I'll be sitting on a bus or plane and be able to clearly hear the music of someone 2-3 rows away through their earbuds or headphones that they are wearing (i.e. not just around their neck, but actually on / in their ears)
- ArlenBales 9y ago> Failure to complete secondary education was a major risk factor, and the authors suggest that individuals who continue to learn throughout life are likely to build additional brain reserves. Somewhat related, but I wonder how video games will affect this also. People from the 70s and up who grew up on video games, and continue to play them into their 30s and up, are engaging their brains more than older folks who probably watch a lot of TV. Especially daily playing of competitive or difficult games, like Overwatch or Dark Souls, that can tire you out mentally.
- leonroy 9y agoCannot agree more. As a major gamer in my teens and early twenties I stopped for 10 years and only just resumed. I found my hand and eye coordination for titles like Batman Arkham Knight and Spelunky were surprisingly bad and this is despite remaining relatively fit and active throughout the past decade. I think games as with any pastime when used judiciously can really be a benefit to the mind.
- QuercusMax 9y agoI've heard anecdotally that video games do a better job of keeping surgeons sharp than surgery simulation software. I wonder how much of this is just due to engagement -- video games are more compelling (and you can do them outside work hours).
- stenlix 9y agoI think this is a great point. Video games get a bad rep because they're a distraction for kids (which is mostly fair), but I think that it's a really good alternative to simply watching TV among the older population in terms of reducing dementia risk because it requires constant mental engagement and also some degree of learning to progress.
- malchow 9y agoOverwatch difficult? I can see Chess.com being a relevant "game" that builds reserves. But is Overwatch mentally draining in useful ways? It's a twitchy sort of game, and if you aren't doing team vox communication there isn't much strategy.
- stenlix 9y agoLooking past all the numbers and the correlation/causation concern, I think the most important takeaway is that "of building a "cognitive reserve", which means strengthening the brain's networks so it can continue to function in later life despite damage." All the factors listed have something to do with staying mentally engaged and constant learning and I think that's the overarching message we should be taking away.