25 Sep The best ways to reduce your risk for dementia and slow its progression

Whether you have been diagnosed with dementia / Alzheimer’s disease, or want to reduce your risk, there are plenty of things you can do on your own to take control of your health:

Challenge your brain.  Also, get out of the house by visiting with friends and meeting new people.

• Read, including surfing the internet. BetaNews reports that the results of an eight-year study of 6,500, 50-90 year-olds reveal that those who regularly surf the internet experience less mental decline compared to those who don’t go online. The study shows a significant improvement in delayed recall over time for those who were frequent online users, highlighting the role played by the internet in preventing the degeneration of mental abilities in the elderly.
• Do the crossword puzzle. Keeping your mind nimble is critical before and after any diagnosis. Research has found that keeping the brain active seems to increase its vitality and may build its reserves of brain cells and connections.
• Enroll in courses at your local adult education center, community college or other community group
• Play games
• Garden
• Try memory exercises
• Stay curious and involved — commit to lifelong learning
• Attend lectures and plays
• Join the debate club! Debate politics, healthcare, insurance, pensions or retirement with others to stretch your cognitive abilities; do anything that gets your mind going.

Get social.  Active involvement with your family and a wide network of friends is likely to lower your risk of dementia. Additionally, getting out and interacting with others lessens the depression that can result from isolation.  To optimize the effect, participate in social activities that combine physical and mental activity like walking with friends, bowling or volunteer activities.

Nutrition is king – your brain is what it eats and will perform best with quality fuel.

• Fruits and vegetables are key! What did your mother and father tell you to do? Eat your vegetables!  Go for it.  The darker and leafier the vegetable the better.  Have a hankering for sweets?  Go for the fruit.  Processed foods and simple sugars are known to not be good for us.
• Order the fish. Both the good stuff in veggies and Omega-3s can help stave off dementia.  Melina Jampolis recommends fish consumption as one way to prevent the decline of mental function and lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), a type of Omega-3 found in fatty fish like salmon, can help.  Aim for two to three, four-ounce servings of fish per week and try to make at least one of those servings salmon. Also, research shows that eating approximately three servings of vegetables a day is associated with 40% less mental function decline.
• Consider vitamins, minerals and nutritional supplements. Antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene and other related carotenoids are good for brain function.   They’re joined by glutathione, coenzyme Q10, lipoic acid, flavonoids, phenols, polyphenols, phytoestrogens and many more.
• Supplement with minerals. Selenium and manganese are good minerals to be sure we ingest.  Most multivitamins provide them, but be sure to check the label.
• Additional support with supplements such as glutathione, Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), lipoic acid, flavonoids, phenols, phytoestrogens are good to ingest, too. CoQ10 is believed to boost the energy produced by mitochondria in our cells, including brain neurons.
• Good food is medicine. Glucose is the main source of calories (fuel) for the brain, but it is believed to be less effective as a fuel source in the brain of someone with dementia.  Axxona is a medically-prescribed food that delivers ketones to the body.  They are then used in metabolism to add fuel to keep neurons more operational.  It has received FDA approval for this indication.

Get enough aerobic exercise, including taking a walk.  Recent research from the Cleveland Clinic reported in the New York Times looked at the function, not the structure of the brain.  Volunteers in their new study were asked how often and intensely they exercised. About half, as it turned out, didn’t move much at all. But the other half walked, jogged or otherwise exercised moderately a few times every week.  Bottom line:  exercise can reduce your risk for Alzheimer’s.

Be healthy, get healthy and stay healthy by visiting your doctor.  There is a well-established correlation between the presence of diabetes and the development of Alzheimer’s disease.  Metabolic syndrome is also a serious condition that can affect your brain’s function and includes abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure, high triglycerides, high blood sugar, and low HDL cholesterol; metabolic syndrome can raise the likelihood of impaired thinking and memory by 35%.  Health Central reports that these medical disorders, along with others, when left untreated can play a significant role in increasing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.