How to lower your dementia risk

You probably already believe that keeping your brain healthy will help your overall health in later life. Just in case, though, a new update from Lancet has reinforced that advice in the strongest possible terms. The update declared maintaining brain health, among other things, as being key to reducing the risk and effects of dementia.

The reminder forms part of the 2024 update of the Lancet Commission on the prevention, treatment and care of dementia, released this month. It reveals almost half of dementia cases worldwide could be prevented or delayed, and brain health is a key factor.

In the report, the authors named “14 modifiable risk factors” for dementia. That’s a lot of things we might be able to do ourselves to reduce the risk of dementia later on. 

Dementia Australia’s executive director of services, advocacy and research Dr Kaele Stokes emphasised that point. “While we cannot change getting older, genetics or family history, scientific research suggests that changing certain health habits may make a big difference to reducing or delaying your risk of developing dementia,” Dr Stokes said.

Dr Stokes said maintaining the health of your heart and the rest of your body also makes a difference. “Throughout our life cycle, we can all take steps to reduce our risk of developing the disease.” At the very least, Dr Stokes said, we can “delay its impacts until later in life. It’s never too early or too late to start.”

The dementia risk factors

So what are the 14 modifiable risk factors? A media release from Dementia Australia listed them as follows:

• high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
• vision loss
• lower levels of education
• hearing impairment
• high blood pressure
• smoking
• obesity
• depression
• physical inactivity
• diabetes
• excessive alcohol consumption
• traumatic brain injury
• air pollution
• social isolation.

You might feel that referring to some of the above factors as “modifiable” is a bit of a stretch. That was certainly my first reaction. But to be fair to the authors, they refer to addressing some of the factors as early as childhood. Those of us over 50 may not be able to address all 14 factors, but we can address some.

“With 421,000 people in Australia living with dementia and this figure projected to double by 2054, a focus on government-funded public health and promotion is needed,” said Dr Stokes.

What can older Australians do to reduce the risk?

The most important thing you can do is recognise that it’s never too late to start reducing your risk of dementia. So says Dementia Australia Honorary Medical Advisory Associate Professor Michael Woodward, AM. 

“Educational and mentally stimulating activities, even in later life, reduce our risk of dementia,” Prof. Woodward said. He also highlighted steps many would not identify as reducing risks.

One of those is getting a hearing aid, if required. “Wearing hearing aids, if hearing impaired, doubles the time it would take to progress from mild cognitive impairment to dementia.” Progress would go from an average of two to four years, he said. Nobody would turn away the chance of an extra two years of cognition.

Dr Stokes said it was important not to frame the narrative as suggesting sufferers have brought dementia on themselves. Rather, it is a call for significant commitment and investment by governments to raise awareness of these modifiable risk factors. By doing this, “we could be preventing or delaying the impact of dementia in the future”, Dr Stokes said.

How many of the 14 dementia risk factors were you aware of? Did any of them surprise you? Let us know via the comments section below.

Also read: Lewy body dementia and its prognosis

Disclaimer: This article contains general information about health issues and is not advice. For health advice, consult your medical practitioner.