In order to truly prevent Alzheimer’s disease you really need to start looking at strategies that will promote overall brain health. Without proper brain function you can not prevent any neurological disease including Alzheimer’s disease. The best part of focusing on brain health for prevention is that many of these strategies are extremely simple, you just need to find the motivation to include them in your day to day.
1- Exercise – Did you know that the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation found that physical exercise reduces your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by 50%! In addition to its benefits in reducing Alzheimer’s disease, exercise has been shown to reduce stress, boost mood, improve memory and increase energy. Ideally you should be exercising everyday, but if you aren’t, don’t worry, just start now. You don’t have to start exercising everyday right away, but do start with one day a week, and when you have that down, add another day and move forward slowly.
2- Anti-inflammatory Diet – When it comes to protecting your brain or your entire body from disease we want to focus on low inflammatory foods. Concentrating on eating abundant fruits and vegetables (as many different colours as possible – berries are especially a great choice for brain health), healthy fats (nuts, seeds), and lean organic protein (low mercury containing Atlantic fish would be a great choice) will help you achieve just that.
3- Mental Stimulation – Individuals that continue to stimulate themselves mentally are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Thus consider learning something new (foreign language, pick up a musical instrument), tweek an existing habit (if you’re used to brushing your teeth with your right hand, try your left for a week and feel that brain working overtime to compensate), or play some strategy games (such as Sudoku, scrabble, or online brain builder luminosity).
4- Get Some Zzzzzz – It was recently shown that the brain requires adequate sleep in order to flush out any toxins that could damage the brain. Make sure that you are following a consistent sleep-wake schedule everyday (even on weekends). Also consider starting a nightly sleep routine (30-60 min prior to bedtime) that allows your mind and body to slow down and prepare for sleep. This type of routine could include reading a relaxing book, meditating, journaling, but should not include watching TV or using any electronic device.
5- Minimize Stress – Did you know that chronic stress can cause your brain to shrink? So much so that it’ll impair your memory and can increase your chance of Alzheimer’s disease. While we can’t remove all stress from our lives, we can find better coping mechanisms such as using abdominal breathing to help ground ourselves in stressful situations (and in our day to day), exercise including yoga, talking it out with a friend, even consider reassessing your perception of your current stress (maybe you only need to review your stress as a positive motivator rather than a nagging downer).
6- Community – We are not meant to be in isolation and our brains are proof of that. Individuals that have a stronger sense of community or happier social life fare much better in memory and cognition tests. Make having a strong social support network a priority by seeking new friends through new activities (volunteering, sports, clubs) or creating a stronger bond with existing friends by making an effort to keep in touch on a weekly basis through shared interests or even by just picking up the phone.
7- Keep Your Heart Healthy – Did you know that the Alzheimer’s Association have found that 80% of patients with Alzheimer’s disease also suffered from cardiovascular disease? Thus consider controlling your cardiovascular risk as a potential way to control your Alzheimer’s disease risk. Exercise, proper nutrition, and stress management all fall in this category, but also keeping a healthy weight is imperative in maintaining cardiovascular health and thus brain health.
You notice how many of these strategies come up often when discussing health? That’s because they are essential to promoting a healthy lifestyle and thus are imperative to include in your life if you wish to stay healthy and prevent disease. Remember that we want to build positive lifestyle changes in our lives and in order to do that it takes time. Try not to get discouraged when you have set backs when trying to incorporate these tips into your life, just pick yourself up and try again and again and again if needed. These are lifelong lifestyle changes not overnight changes.
There are many other ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease that have not been discussed in this article and many of those are based on individual needs. To assess your individual Alzheimer’s disease risk potential and to build a custom plan to reduce your risk please contact Dr. V for an appointment today.
