{"id":124970,"date":"2024-11-12T12:51:02","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T05:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=124970"},"modified":"2024-11-12T12:51:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T05:51:02","slug":"can-you-prevent-dementia-heres-what-to-try","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=124970","title":{"rendered":"Can you prevent dementia? Here\u2019s what to try"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#1D1D1B\" class=\"responsive__DropCap-sc-1pktst5-1 enuiNL\">I<\/span>f I thought about dementia before, it was at a remove. Not my mother. Not like this. How wrong I was. I looked after mum for the last 18 months of her life. It was like watching a stick being whittled to nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Dementia, I discovered, isn\u2019t just common \u2014 the UK\u2019s biggest killer for a second year running \u2014 and it\u2019s about more than lost memories. It stole Mum\u2019s bearings so she couldn\u2019t orientate herself (\u201cWhere am I?\u201d), her family (\u201cWho are you?\u201d), her mobility (\u201cWhat do I do with my feet?\u201d when I urged her to walk) and, in the end, it stole her.<\/p>\n<p>When you lose a parent to dementia, painful slice by painful slice \u2014 \u201cDeath by a thousand cuts\u201d, my<span> husband says \u2014 there\u2019s time to learn. You learn you don\u2019t want to go the same way. You learn you might not have to.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">The 2024 World Alzheimer\u2019s Report found that 65 per cent of healthcare professionals believe dementia is an inevitable part of ageing and more than a quarter of the public believe that there\u2019s nothing you can do to prevent it. But there could be. The Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention lists 14 modifiable factors that could slash risk by 45 per cent. It urges us to be \u201cambitious\u201d in risk management.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Dementia casts a long shadow of ten years or more. There\u2019s a \u201cstealth\u201d phase before the damage is done when you could allay \u2014 even abort \u2014 it by knowing more. This is what I know now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">\u2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/article\/anthea-rowan-silent-tsunami-dementia-depression-l82kmgvqp\" class=\"link__RespLink-sc-1ocvixa-0 csWvlP\"><b>Me and my mother: the most moving dementia story you\u2019ll read<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"responsive__Heading2-sc-4v1r4q-9 bQMpmd\">Teeth are a marker for dementia<\/h2>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">In a photograph on my desk Mum is smiling a white-toothed smile. She looks like a commercial for geriatric dental care. Two years before the photo was taken her diseased top teeth were removed. Her falsies transformed her appearance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">I never imagined teeth might be a marker for dementia later but poor oral health is associated with many diseases, including Alzheimer\u2019s. The build-up of plaque can create a breeding ground for bacteria which leads to gum disease. That bacteria can travel through systems, triggering inflammation in body tissues, including the brain. A Japanese study found that having fewer teeth is associated with a faster rate of hippocampal atrophy. Animal experiments suggest that the removal of teeth might affect memory because of the loss of sensory stimulation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Near the end I\u2019d help Mum to brush the few she still had, her false teeth grinning at us from a glass. She\u2019d pick up her toothbrush. \u201cHow do I use this? Which end?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Gently, I turned it the right way around. She began, then faltered. \u201cAm I doing it right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">I consider my smile in the mirror. It\u2019s not straight or white. But it\u2019s strong. My dentist confirms this with an x-ray \u2014 but, \u201cYou\u2019re brushing too hard,\u201d he warns.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"responsive__Heading2-sc-4v1r4q-9 bQMpmd\">Hearing loss is associated with dementia<\/h2>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">\u201cAre you actually experiencing hearing difficulties?\u201d the audiologist asks, bemused. <\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\"> \u201cNo,\u201d I say, \u201cI just want to check.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Research finds that mild hearing loss can double the risk of cognitive impairment. Moderate loss triples it. People with severe hearing loss are five times more vulnerable. Forty per cent of over-50s have some degree of hearing loss.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">A researcher at the Cochlear Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore tells me there are three mechanisms that may explain this. First, hearing loss makes communicating difficult, which causes social isolation, another of the Lancet\u2019s risk factors. Second, \u201cBecause sounds become garbled, the brain has to work harder to process them so there\u2019s fewer resources for memory and executive function.\u201d Third, with hearing loss, the parts of the brain that are stimulated by sound become understimulated, which leads to changes in brain structure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">The audiologist instructs me to don a pair of headphones and register every sound I hear. Some are very faint. I take no chances (ambitious, see?). I mark every one, sifting the slightest from a background of white noise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Despite doing my best, I am diagnosed with mild \u2014 though advanced for my age \u2014 hearing loss.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">\u2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/article\/dementia-prevent-put-you-risk-hpdwk769g\" class=\"link__RespLink-sc-1ocvixa-0 csWvlP\"><b>Dementia is preventable: here are 12 things that put you at risk<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"4.20\">\n<div id=\"839d2454-d1e5-4b1c-838f-ba751a3f414e\">\n<div class=\"tc-view__TcView-nuazoi-0 responsive__PrimaryImg-sc-4v1r4q-3 hpWIYt\">\n<div class=\"tc-view__TcView-nuazoi-0 fPjBcr\">\n<div style=\"background-color:#efefef\" class=\"tc-view__TcView-nuazoi-0 fPjBcr\">\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:74.93055555555556%;position:relative;overflow:hidden\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Anthea Rowan celebrating her mother\u2019s 82nd birthday in Tanzania in 2023\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F9a438609-5791-46c5-aaa9-b63e2882b09b.jpg?crop=2880%2C2158%2C0%2C916\" class=\"responsive-sc-1nnon4d-0 bAbKns\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tc-view__TcView-nuazoi-0 fPjBcr\">\n<div class=\"tc-view__TcView-nuazoi-0 responsive__InsetCaptionStyle-sc-1io40fc-2 fkMBIX\">\n<div class=\"tc-view__TcView-nuazoi-0 fPjBcr\">\n<div style=\"padding-top:10px\" class=\"tc-view__TcView-nuazoi-0 fPjBcr\">\n<p>Anthea Rowan celebrating her mother\u2019s 82nd birthday in Tanzania in 2023<\/p>\n<p>FRIEKE DE RAADT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"responsive__Heading2-sc-4v1r4q-9 bQMpmd\">Social engagement is highly beneficial<\/h2>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">When my mother was mired in a depression \u2014 and she suffered often, for decades \u2014 she withdrew from the world entirely, curled into a chair like a comma: a life in hiatus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Social engagement is crucial for the brain. It bears multiple benefits. Andrew Sommerlad, a principal research fellow at University College London (UCL), says: \u201cIt sharpens our cognition and keeps the circuitry of the motherboard firing in synchronicity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">A contented loner, I steel myself to say yes to more. I join a book club, yoga classes \u2026 I just join in.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"responsive__Heading2-sc-4v1r4q-9 bQMpmd\">Strength training helps the brain\u2019s white matter<\/h2>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Dementia wasn\u2019t the reason I started strength training at the gym (I joined that too) \u2014 no, that was witnessing my mother\u2019s struggle to lift herself from a chair. But dementia\u2019s the reason I keep going.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Evidence suggests good muscle health \u2014 especially in midlife \u2014 protects the brain. Thigh muscle is a good indicator of whole-body muscle mass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Compared with aerobic exercise, says Tommy Wood at the University of Washington, resistance exercise seems to support the brain\u2019s white matter. \u201cIt stimulates the neuromuscular connections in the brain,\u201d he says. Also, when we move muscles they release molecules called myokines. These support brain health \u2014 the more muscles we work, and the harder we work them, the more myokines are released.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Are my three strength sessions a week enough? Yup, Wood says, 60 to 90 minutes works. The key, though, is to keep challenging yourself. When it gets too easy up your game. I used to gracelessly heft 5kg weights. Now, even less gracefully, it\u2019s 7.5kg. <\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Some of the positive brain changes resistance exercise delivers persist for months, so keep going. As we get older, Wood says, we expect less of ourselves so we do less. (I can still hear my mother\u2019s lament as I urged her on a walk: \u201cI\u2019m too old for this.\u201d)<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"responsive__Heading2-sc-4v1r4q-9 bQMpmd\">Reading the newspaper may help to reduce risk in women<\/h2>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">My mother never went to university. \u201cI should have,\u201d she confided. \u201cI was clever.\u201d She was. But while less education is flagged by the Lancet as an early-life risk for dementia, a lack of formal education need not be. (I didn\u2019t go to university either \u2014 I\u2019m determined to fill gaps in other ways.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Research at UCL found that reading the newspaper may reduce the risk of dementia in women. The women were from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, born before or in the 1950s. One of the researchers reminds me that back then, women in higher education were uncommon, \u201cso the findings signal these women were self-teaching\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">I continue to \u201cteach\u201d myself with scientific papers in my writing. I alternate my reading choice of non-fiction with fiction, better for the brain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">My mother lost her reading with a stroke. I think it pulled the plug on her cognitive reserve, the precious saved-for-later that can be protective in the face of Alzheimer\u2019s. Many things help to dam cognition, not just education or books. One doctor told me that \u201canything novel\u201d can help: \u201cFind another route home, try a new recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">\u201cStump yourself,\u201d urges the Alzheimer\u2019s Association. I resist my grown-up children\u2019s help when faced with tech challenges. \u201cLet me do it,\u201d I insist.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"responsive__Heading2-sc-4v1r4q-9 bQMpmd\">Walking fast can help you<\/h2>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">You may not outrun dementia, no matter what you do. But walk fast and you\u2019re heading in the right direction. How fast is fast? A hundred paces a minute.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Sometimes \u2014 I\u2019m ambitious \u2014 I walk at 125. Sometimes I walk so fast that my laces come undone. I consider the little caps at the end of them as I bend to tie them. I touch them as you might touch wood. If those caps pop off, my laces will fray. Walking fast is associated with longer telomeres; telomeres are the \u201ccaps\u201d at the end of chromosomes \u2014 and just as plastic tips at the end of shoelaces protect against unravelling, telomeres protect DNA. Longer telomeres are associated with slower ageing; a lifetime of brisk walking could make you years younger than your biological age.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"responsive__Heading2-sc-4v1r4q-9 bQMpmd\">Avoid a waist size of more than 34in<\/h2>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">An abdominal surgery means I am granted close-up images of my insides. <\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d I ask the surgeon of glistening yellow ribboning my guts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">\u201cFat,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">I\u2019m slender, which is why I\u2019m shocked. But this is visceral fat, hidden deep within us. It\u2019s not the pinch-an-inch kind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Poor sleep and cortisol are partly to blame. So is my (insomniac) menopause: oestrogen suppresses visceral fat. There\u2019s a theory, Fredrik Karpe, a University of Oxford professor tells me, that insufficient fat storage in other locations, especially the legs, forces fat to be stored as visceral fat. (I\u2019m reminded that if my slim mother with her slender legs put weight on, it was always around her middle.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">To compare, a researcher sends me images that show whole-body MRIs of two 61-year-old women: one with high levels of visceral fat, the other without. Their brain images differ too: the brain of the woman with higher body fat shows wide, blank spaces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">A good indicator of visceral fat is waist measurement: below 31.5 inches is ideal for women, while more than 34 inches can increase inflammation in the body and elevate risk of amyloid deposits, the protein markers for Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">I suck my tummy in as the chill of tape measure touches skin; I\u2019m on the cusp. I give up peanut butter sandwiches, start saying no to crisps.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"responsive__Heading2-sc-4v1r4q-9 bQMpmd\">Untreated visual loss is a risk factor<\/h2>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">In July the Lancet added untreated visual loss to its risk list. During a routine test at Specsavers in October, I am diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration. AMD is the primary cause of irreversible blindness in over-50s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Vision loss, like hearing loss, is isolating, which presents obvious challenges. But there are other reasons it\u2019s a risk factor for dementia, says Thom Wilcockson, a senior lecturer at Loughborough University. \u201cThe \u2018use it or lose it\u2019 theory suggests it can lead to dementia by limiting the stimulation the brain receives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">AMD is not treatable but its effects can be delayed if you know you have it. Distress at my diagnosis is tempered by reassurance from an ophthalmologist. \u201cDon\u2019t smoke,\u201d he says (I don\u2019t), \u201ceat a Mediterranean diet, exercise, take supplements endorsed by the Age-Related Eye Disease Study.\u201d I am struck by his whole-body health message.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">I am also comforted by the memory of my grandmother, who had AMD. She died in her eighties, her vision poor, her mind tack-sharp.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"responsive__Heading2-sc-4v1r4q-9 bQMpmd\">Dementia is a whole-body illness<\/h2>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Look after your heart and you\u2019ll look after your head, doctors say. If you thought dementia was just about memory, you\u2019re wrong; if you thought it was just about your head, wrong again. Dementia is the sum of all parts: it\u2019s a whole-body illness that only reveals its hand in symptoms when it\u2019s too late to play a counter game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">We measure health in numbers: our weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes risk. We monitor all those things. Our brains? There is no numerical value for brain health, yet each of those numbers bears a tally on cognition. Look after all of you and you\u2019ll look after your head.<\/p>\n<p id=\"last-paragraph\" class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Until Mum, we never talked about dementia as a family. Now we talk about it often. We have the \u201cwhat if\u201d conversations. About care and futures. If my ambitious plans don\u2019t save my brain, my conversations with my children will save them the second-guessing I had to resort to in Mum\u2019s last years.<br \/><b><i>A Silent Tsunami<\/i><\/b><b> by Anthea Rowan (Bedford Square Publishers \u00a320). To order a copy go to <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/timesbookshop.co.uk\/a-silent-tsunami-9781835010570\/?utm_source=timesandsundaytimes&amp;utm_medium=online&amp;utm_campaign=weekly\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link__RespLink-sc-1ocvixa-0 csWvlP\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>timesbookshop.co.uk<\/b><\/a><b> or call 020 3176 2935. Free UK P&amp;P on online orders over \u00a325. Discount for Times+ members<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/life-style\/health-fitness\/article\/dementia-signs-prevention-what-i-wish-id-known-wlx88q63t\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If I thought about dementia before, it was at a remove. Not my mother. Not like this. How wrong I was. I looked after mum for the last 18 months &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=124970\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=124970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=124970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=124970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=124970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}