Hard agree - this book inspired a fear in me that led me to seek every possible preventative method to combat dementia or other neurodegenerative diseases. In c

Hard agree - this book inspired a fear in me that led me to seek every possible preventative method to combat dementia or other neurodegenerative diseases. In case anyone wants to see my (admittedly amateur) research, I've listed some things I've found below. - Exercise regularly and mitigate conditions like diabetes, hypertension*, high cholesterol [1] (aerobic exercise seems to be the best for this, likely because it increases cerebral blood flow) - Avoid night shift work/disrupting the circadian rhythm [2] (seems to be linked to poor sleep's impact on cardiovascular health, which has in turn seen a strong link to dementia developing) - Increase your cognitive reserve (math is very commonly mentioned as a way to boost this but I don't think it's the only way) seems to insulate you from the impacts of dementia [3] (this citation isn't a formal paper per se but this statement has been echoed across other articles[4][5]) - Read something regularly [6][7] (I have also seen articles mentioning reciting mantras, but I can't find them at the moment) - Small doses of nicotine [8][9][10] (I am at work right now so I cannot verify whether or not these studies were funded by tobacco companies - maybe take this one with a grain of salt. Additionally, smoking cigarettes have been linked to an increased risk of dementia. It may be better to try patches or lozenges?) * There are studies[11][12][13] that suggest high blood pressure in seniors can lead to an increased risk of dementia or worsened cognitive function for those with dementia. One common guess is that the reduced blood flow to the brain in old age is the primary issue, but it could be another covariate that leads to . Not a concern for most of us on this site (I think) [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3258000/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3258000/ [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6164904/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6164904/ [3] https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/what-is-cognitive-reserve https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/what-is-cogniti... [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3507991/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3507991/ [5] https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/news/building-cognitive-reserve-could-protect-against-memory-and-thinking-decline-even-with-low-childhood-cognition-scores/ https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/news/building-cognitive... [6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8482376/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8482376/ [7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2911991/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2911991/ [8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7912116/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7912116/ [9] https://actaneurocomms.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40478-018-0625-y https://actaneurocomms.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s4... [10] https://www.alzheimers.gov/clinical-trials/memory-improvement-through-nicotine-dosing-mind https://www.alzheimers.gov/clinical-trials/memory-improvemen... [11] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8608286/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8608286/ [12] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2173093 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar... [13] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14694027/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14694027/ Edited for markdown