Welcome to the 16th in our 17-part series on dementia. About 50 million people suffer from dementia worldwide. It is a debilitating disease, but it may be preventable in some cases. So I’ve set out to learn as much as I can and bring you along with me.
As promised, this series has focused on prevention of dementia as much as anything else. We want to be informed about the disease, but more than that we want to prevent it. So I’m happy to be able to offer some information on how we can prevent dementia in the course of our journey of learning here.
When you think about mental health, physical exercise might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But the brain is a physical organ, and its health depends on a foundation of good overall health. But there are some specific benefits of exercise that apply to dementia and its delay, mitigation, and even prevention.
Believe it or not, exercise can cause new synapses to form in the brain. According to an article on the Harvard University website, sustained aerobic exercise may be the best way to generate neurons.
Just walking, which I used to do on every episode of this show and hopefully will again soon, can have a seriously good impact on the brain. One study of adults who were healthy but considered sedentary found that when they walked for 40 minutes, three times a week for a year, there was a 2% increase in the size of the hippocampus. That’s amazing. You know, the brain usually decreases in size later in life. And the hippocampus is perhaps the most important part of the brain when it comes to memory.
Exercise in general is of course generally a good idea, and we know that by preventing cardiovascular disease we can also work towards preventing vascular dementia, which I consider to be the most preventable type of dementia.
So get some aerobic exercise. Be creative. Do you like rollerskating? How about riding a bicycle or unicycle, or a skateboard. Go for a canoe trip or a hike. Get a fitness watch and track your steps, trying to increase them over time. Take the long way back from the mailbox. Use a push lawnmower. Find reasons to go upstairs or downstairs more. Dance. Anything to get your body moving for a good while on a regular basis. Aim for at least 20 minutes at least 3 times per week, but get started increasing your aerobic exercise. Every little bit helps, and once you get started, it will get easier.
References:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/can-you-grow-new-brain-cells
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6509468/
Outsmart Dementia. (2020). The latest tools for controlling cognitive health — preventing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Morton Grove, IL: Publications International, Ltd.