The four things you NEED to do to stave off dementia in old age
ADOPTING four healthy lifestyle habits might slash your chances of developing dementia, new research suggests.
Their diet should contain at least three portions of fruit and veg a day, as well as fish twice a week.
Having low levels of "bad" cholesterol, blood sugar levels and blood pressure also reduce the risk by 10 per cent each.
We already know that these are good for heart health, lowering the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Charities say the findings show “what is good for the heart is also good for the brain”.
Scientists from Bordeaux University, France, looked at data on 6,626 people aged 65.
They tracked them for an average of 8.5 years, during which time, 754 developed the degenerative disease.
"These findings may support the promotion of cardiovascular health to prevent risk factors associated with cognitive decline and dementia," said study lead Dr Cecillia Samieri.
Dr Sara Imarisio, from Alzheimer's Research UK, advised that people adopt a healthy lifestyle as soon as possible.
"Although age is the largest risk factor for dementia, the condition is not an inevitable part of getting older," she said.
FIND OUT MORE What is dementia, how is it different from Alzheimer’s and what are the symptoms and stages of the disease?
"There are things we can all do to help reduce our risk.
"Staying healthy doesn't have to mean running marathons or sticking to intense diets.
"Modest changes in lifestyle can have a big impact on our health in the long-term."
What are the stages of dementia?
Many cases of dementia start with early warning signs. This early stage is known as cognitive impairment and can be barely noticeable or mistaken for something else, such as depression.
These include slight:
- slowness of thought
- difficulty with planning
- trouble with language
- problems with attention and concentration
- mood or behavioural changes
These symptoms can indicate that some brain damage has already occurred and treatment needs to be started immediately before symptoms get worse and are more difficult to treat.
There are two main groups dementia can be split into: Cortical, which causes severe memory loss like that seen in Alzheimer's, and Sub-cortical, which affects thinking speed and activity as seen with Parkinson's disease.
Vascular dementia and Alzheimer's are two of the most common forms of the disease, and they both cause problems with memory - both are rare in those under 65 years old.
It was proven earlier this year that just one hour of exercise a week, or 17 minutes a day, could help to stave off dementia in old age and can even reverse mental decline if kept up for at least six months.
Being overweight puts pressure on the heart, but middle age spread has been also found to increase the risk of dementia by up to a third because it restricts blood flow to the brain.
So healthy heart = healthy brain.
There are currently around 850,000 Brits living with dementia currently, with the figure set to hit 1 million by 2025.
Earlier this month, we revealed that drinking six pints of beer of glasses of wine a week could also protect you against the brain-wasting condition.
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