Reducing Risk of Dementia: Prevention Strategies

Reducing Your Risk of Dementia: Risk Factors and Preventative Measures

Our brain and cognitive health changes as we age with the risk of dementia increasing over time. Dementia can cause problems in brain functioning and impact memory, language skills, understanding information, spatial skills, judgement, and attention.

According to the Northern Beaches Dementia Alliance, almost 8,000 people in the Northern Beaches live with dementia with that number meant to increase even more over the next several years. Everyone’s risk for developing dementia is different, whether there be non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors. We cannot change every risk factor but taking the steps to reduce those that we can, can make a difference. It is never too late to get started. So, what are the risk factors? What can you do to decrease your risk?

As we mentioned, there are non-modifiable risks such as age, genetics, and family history, but there are also modifiable risk factors.

One of the biggest modifiable risk factors for developing dementia is physical inactivity followed by smoking and then excessive alcohol consumption. We cannot always avoid air pollution or a head injury, but these two are factors that can increase our risk. Other factors include a lack of social interaction, less education, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, depression, and hearing impairment.

You can reduce your risk of developing dementia by doing some of the following:

Physical exercise is one of the key ways you can decrease your risk of dementia. You should aim for at least 120-150 minutes of exercise every week including muscle strengthening, flexibility, and cardio-focused exercise.

Did you know sleep can help clear the brain of harmful toxins that can cause brain degeneration? Our brain cells regenerate when we get a solid sleep. It has been shown that those who get more than 5 hours of sleep per night have a reduced risk of developing dementia than those who have less.

Your diet can play a role in your risk for developing dementia as well. Decreasing the amount of saturated fats in your diet and incorporating healthy fats can be incredibly beneficial for not only brain health but overall health. Make sure to try to reduce the amount of sugar and salt in your diet while adding more antioxidants such as berries. Be sure to try to limit your intake of alcohol too.

Our mental health can play a role in our risk for developing dementia also. Loneliness and depression can be risk factors, so looking after our mental health as best we can and finding ways to socially interact can be helpful.

Keeping our brains active with puzzles, games and learning new skills can help decrease risk. Even just trying to use your non-dominate hand to do a daily task such as brushing your hair can be beneficial.

Lifestyle and changing certain health habits can help delay or reduce your development of dementia. If you are concerned about yourself or a loved one, visit the Northern Beaches Dementia Alliance website to find resources to help you.

Additionally, if you or a loved one are struggling with dementia and require advice or guidance on the changes that dementia brings, our Proveda’s Dementia Advisory Service can offer support. We can help you better understand symptoms and the various stages, connect you with resources, and link you with others who share your experience.

Interested in connecting with carers or others with dementia? Join us at our monthly Chatter ‘Cino coffee group. Taking place, the first Tuesday of every month, Chatter ‘Cino is run by one of our Dementia Consultants and is a chance for those with dementia and their carers to have some lovely conversations, laughs, and a warm (or cold) drink. To learn more contact us today.