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These lesser known factors may affect your risk of dementia, or serve as
an early warning sign.
Science suggests that what’s good for your body is also good for your
mind: Exercise, a balanced diet, and maintaining a healthy weight all
seem to be good for the brain, and may even reduce buildup of proteins
related to Alzheimer’s disease.
But there are lots of other factors that can affect your risk of
dementia or age-related memory loss. Some are obvious (like genetics).
Others are less so. Here are a few that might surprise you.
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Air pollution
Older women who live in areas with high levels of pollution
(specifically fine particulate matter, which consists of extremely small
particles that can be inhaled deep in the lungs) are 92% more likely to
develop dementia than women living in cleaner-air climates, according to
a 2017 study. The link was strongest in women who had the APOE4 gene, a
genetic variation that increases the risk for Alzheimer’s disease. If
these results hold true in the general population, the study authors
say, air pollution could be responsible for about 21% of dementia cases.
“When we breathe in these tiny particles, it can trigger inflammation
throughout the body,” says Richard Isaacson, MD, director of the
Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell
Medical Center (who was not involved in the study). “And for certain
people, inflammation seems to be a way of pressing the fast-forward
button on the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.” |
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Poor sleep
You know that missing out on a good night’s sleep can lead to brain fog
the next day, but research also suggests that disturbed sleep over time
may be linked to a buildup of Alzheimer's-related brain proteins.
Scientists believe that exercise loosens up amyloid proteins in the
brain that have been linked to Alzheimer's disease, but that good
quality sleep is required to actually dispose of them, says Dr.
Isaacson. “Sleep is absolutely essential for taking out the garbage and
keeping your brain healthy over time,” he says. |
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Your eating pattern
When Dr. Isaacson’s patients ask what they can do to reduce their risk
of dementia, he recommends eating an early dinner—and then nothing until
breakfast the next morning. “Fasting for a minimum of 12 hours, as well
as eating fewer calories overall, may be a way to promote brain health
as we age,” he says.
Restricting your eating overnight can trigger the body to burn ketone
bodies—a type of brain-healthy fat—rather than carbohydrates, he
explains. “It helps you fuel the brain with something that’s not only
more efficient from an energy-burning standpoint, but that may have an
anti-aging effect as well.” |
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Concussions
For people with a family history of Alzheimer’s, a blow to the head
might accelerate the cognitive and brain changes associated with the
disease. In a recent study in the journal Brain, young to middle-aged
adults who’d had at least one concussion and had genetic risk factors
for Alzheimer’s had less gray matter in parts of the brain associated
with dementia, compared to other study participants.
Those same participants also performed worse on a simple recall test,
suggesting that these brain changes could have real consequences on
memory functioning. Researchers hope they may be able to use these
findings to identify people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease at an
earlier age. |
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Loneliness
Research shows that older adults who report feeling socially isolated
may be at higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease. In a 2016 study from JAMA
Psychiatry, senior citizens whose brain scans showed the development of
amyloid protein clusters were 7.5 times more likely to be classified as
lonely than those whose scans were negative.
Experts aren’t sure which comes first—if dementia symptoms cause people
to feel left out or withdraw from social activities, or if feeling
lonely actually promotes the development of dementia—but they suspect
the relationship may go both ways.
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High blood pressure
You know that high blood pressure is bad for your body and your brain,
so the results of a recent study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia may
catch you off-guard: When hypertension develops in old age, it appears
to actually reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. “As we get more
frail, having a reserve of blood pressure may actually be protective,”
Dr. Isaacson explains.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t worry about high blood pressure earlier
in life, though. The research is clear that for young and middle-aged
adults, untreated hypertension appears to increase the risk of
developing dementia later in life. "Knowing your numbers when it comes
to blood pressure, cholesterol, and body mass index—and talking with
your doctor about how you can optimize those numbers—is still one of the
most important things you can do," says Dr. Isaacson.
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