
Lifestyle changes can reduce dementia risk, study says - yitchelle
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40655566
======
stenlix
Looking past all the numbers and the correlation/causation concern, I think
the most important takeaway is that "of building a "cognitive reserve", which
means strengthening the brain's networks so it can continue to function in
later life despite damage."

All the factors listed have something to do with staying mentally engaged and
constant learning and I think that's the overarching message we should be
taking away.

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djohnston
How do you distinguish the effects of "Physical Inactivity" from "Obesity",
"High Blood Pressure", "Diabetes"? It seems like it would be difficult to
untangle the effects these conditions/lifestyles have on one another.

~~~
pwthornton
There are plenty of very active people that are overweight and obese (some
play in the NFL) and plenty of normal weight people who are inactive. I don't
see why this would be any harder to isolate than any other risk factors.

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a_c
Mid-life hearing loss is very high on the list. But how does one prevent it?

~~~
klodolph
Wear hearing protection?

You don't need to wear hearing protection 24/7, because the world isn't loud
24/7\. But if you go to concerts or play music, or work with power tools or
construction equipment, hearing protection is a no-brainer. I bring earplugs
almost every time I go to a concert, jam session, and when I go to clubs.

The connection with dementia does not surprise me. If you can't hear what
people are saying, you won't be able to use those big chunks of your brain for
language processing. They say that the first sign of hearing loss is that your
wife starts mumbling.

(Yes, gendered language—men tend to be more at risk for hearing loss, and
hearing loss starts with higher frequencies, and women speak at a higher
pitch. So for many men, they'll start complaining that their wife mumbles a
lot, and the real problem is hearing loss.)

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elorant
What's the point of going to a concert if you are to wear ear plugs?

~~~
bryanlarsen
Some concerts are much more enjoyable with ear plugs -- because it's not
overwhelming your ears you can actually hear it better than you can without
ear plugs.

You can also get things called musician's ear plugs which attenuate all
frequencies at similar levels so it doesn't change the music.

~~~
zimpenfish
Can recommend the ER20s from Etymotic Research - been using those for 10+
years for both gigs and cinema trips.

Recently got some Flare Audio which I'm trying out but their foam tips don't
really fit into my ears that well (despite supplying a range of sizes.)

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ericxb
Here is some related info about reversing dementia.

Short overview:

[http://www.today.com/health/new-brain-program-may-fight-
alzh...](http://www.today.com/health/new-brain-program-may-fight-alzheimer-
s-t104636)

Article/Study:

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221920](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221920)

The interventions (from the article/study):

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221920/table/T1...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4221920/table/T1/)

Video presentation by the doctor:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQ_X3mD16U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQ_X3mD16U)

~~~
lazerpants
While the MEND protocol is interesting and may be useful, it is a product [0]
being sold with very little scientific evidence to support its use.
Furthermore, Aging, the journal in which the sole study supporting MEND was
published in, is not always considered a high quality source.

[0]: [https://museslabs.com/](https://museslabs.com/)

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_(journal)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_\(journal\))

------
ArlenBales
> _Failure to complete secondary education was a major risk factor, and the
> authors suggest that individuals who continue to learn throughout life are
> likely to build additional brain reserves._

Somewhat related, but I wonder how video games will affect this also. People
from the 70s and up who grew up on video games, and continue to play them into
their 30s and up, are engaging their brains more than older folks who probably
watch a lot of TV. Especially daily playing of competitive or difficult games,
like Overwatch or Dark Souls, that can tire you out mentally.

~~~
malchow
Overwatch difficult?

I can see Chess.com being a relevant "game" that builds reserves. But is
Overwatch mentally draining in useful ways? It's a twitchy sort of game, and
if you aren't doing team vox communication there isn't much strategy.

~~~
ArlenBales
I could have worded that better, but my phrasing was meant to say that
Overwatch is the competitive game and Dark Souls is the difficult one.

Edit - To clarify, I think competitive games (like Overwatch) stimulate the
brain just like playing a heated game of basketball stimulates the brain even
though it's a physical activity. Competition makes you concentrate.

~~~
AstralStorm
No, they aren't near as effective. Your motor neurons don't get nearly as much
workout. Not to mention s) real exercise tends to reduce later vascular or
heart problems, which on the whole would reduce rates of strokes, thus
dementia.

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fhood
Does anybody know why there might be a link between high blood pressure and
dementia?

~~~
QAPereo
Some forms of dementia are the result of vascular disorders, and high blood
pressure is more likely to exacerbate, or directly contribute to that kind of
failure in older age.

~~~
fhood
"vascular disorders" As in lack of blood to the brain? Wouldn't high blood
pressure do the opposite, or is their something I am missing.

~~~
equalsione
[https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20007/types_of_dementia/5...](https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20007/types_of_dementia/5/vascular_dementia)

Narrowing of the blood vessels supplying oxygen to the brain, caused by things
like high blood pressure.

Also, strokes and mini-strokes.

~~~
fhood
Thanks, that was just what I was looking for.

~~~
lazerpants
A new research avenue being explored in the etiology of dementia is altered
permeability in the blood brain barrier (BBB) too. High blood pressure [0],
and some other maladies listed in the study, are linked to changes in the BBB.
This may be important, as some new research shows that some dementia may be
immunological in nature.

This is all pretty new science though. Back when I went to school in the early
2000s instructors didn't even teach that the BBB permeability could change.

[0]:
[https://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=...](https://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=17753)

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didibus
Wait, how do you prevent mid life hearing loss?

~~~
AnimalMuppet
Well, be careful what volume you listen to music at. Seriously.

But if you've got it, get a hearing aid. Get an amplified phone. See, the
problem (probably) is not hearing loss per se; it's that hearing loss cuts you
off from the world (both the physical and social worlds). If you can prevent
that, you can (I suspect) prevent the hearing loss contribution to dementia.

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EGreg
It seems one of thise lifestyle choices is to take up cannabis after 60!

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Will_Parker
10\. Trouble distinguishing correlation from causation.

~~~
dsego
This! Hearing loss could mean those nerves started dying out before other
(cognitive) brain regions. Usually the sense of smell dulls first (peanut-
butter test).

~~~
euyyn
I have a poor sense of smell (used to have a good one as a child) and my
grandmother had dementia. What is the peanut-butter test?

~~~
r00fus
Possibly this?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_butter_test](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_butter_test)

"The researchers concluded that patients with Alzheimer's were not able to
smell the peanut butter as well through their left nostril as their right one"

~~~
dsego
That's the one. My grandfather had dementia. And my father now has signs of
brain atrophy, although still no cognitive decline. But he is in his 60s and
has had hearing issues for the last decade, combined with ptsd, depression,
anxiety and alcoholism. All of it (including mental illness in my family) is
most probably somehow connected. I've also found some resources on how having
bad teeth (which I do) is also correlated. For now I'm trying to be fitter and
take bigger doses of B-vitamins and some other "nootropics". Also, looking
forward to the new generation of meds now being tested, such as aducanumab.

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alfon
I think this article ignores some very important risk factors.

Does it assumes idiopathic Dementia?, what about dementia caused by AIDS,
Syphilis, or late-stage Lyme disease?, to mention a few?.

~~~
mfoy_
I'm not sure "getting rid of your AIDS" counts as a "lifestyle change"...

~~~
alfon
You think that preventing a STD, or a tick bite wouldn't count as a lifestyle
change?, really?.

~~~
spurcell93
I think the point is more that people already try to not get HIV / AIDS - and
once they have it, they can't just "get rid of it".

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swiley
Someone told me recently that there's a link between red dye and these
illnesses. I wouldn't be surprised.

I drink things with red dye in them when I go on long car trips because it has
a rather strong effect on my short term memory (it seems to reduce it's
capacity to almost nothing) which in turn means I really don't get bored (and
don't fall asleep out of boredom.) Of course, once I get where I'm going I
really can't do anything useful because I can't focus for long enough to think
about anything.

~~~
QAPereo
>Someone told me recently that there's a link between red dye and these
illnesses. I wouldn't be surprised.

I'd be absolutely shocked, and wonder how something so common is causing such
selective effects and only in the elderly. As for reduction of short term
memory, I'd start considering other mechanisms that don't involve food
coloring if I were you.

~~~
tangue
I never heard that but it it's possible : _" There's been evidence for almost
40 years that food dyes trigger hyperactivity or inattention in children._ [1]

There was a call for a total ban but after intense lobbying there was just a
legal mention added [2]

[1] [http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2014/03/28/artificial-dyes-
ca...](http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2014/03/28/artificial-dyes-candy)

[2]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7340426.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7340426.stm)

