Experts from the University of California, Davis, Health, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center shared at the CalPERS Stakeholder Forum earlier this year several ways to boost brain health and reduce dementia risk.
Hosted by CalPERS’ Chief Medical Officer Dr. Julia Logan, presenters emphasized the importance of managing preventable diseases—such as diabetes and hypertension—which are linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
We caught up with Dr. Logan recently to discuss tips to maintain brain health and cognitive function as CalPERS members age.
What’s the best way to assess or track your cognitive health over time?
Maintain a regular relationship with your healthcare provider and discuss any cognitive changes or concerns with them earlier rather than later.
There are some cognitive self-tests that are available, but keep in mind that any symptoms you are experiencing or results from self-administered tests should be discussed further with your healthcare provider.
What are some normal cognitive changes that can happen with age?
Cognitive changes over time, with age, are normal.
Many people currently live into their 90s and beyond without any significant signs of cognitive impairment. It may take them longer to recall a word or a name, but their general language ability, vocabulary, and reasoning capacity can remain relatively intact.
What does tend to decline with aging is mental flexibility. Reliable recollection of facts, events, and practical knowledge becomes more complex, and it may become challenging to use newly learned information. Multitasking and executive functioning that requires speed, verbal, and mathematical reasoning typically slows down, especially after age 70.
How can someone tell the difference between normal aging and signs of a more serious memory problem, like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease?
Unlike the age-related changes described above, cognitive decline as seen with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is not a normal process. With any type of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, declines in cognition are more severe and may include other thinking abilities, such as difficulties navigating, solving common problems, expressing oneself in conversation, or behaving outside social rules.
Signs that it might be time to talk with a doctor include:
- Asking the same questions over and over again
- Getting lost in places you used to know well
- Having trouble following recipes or directions
- Becoming more confused about time, people, and places
- Not taking care of yourself—eating poorly, not bathing, or behaving unsafely.
Are there other health conditions or risk factors that could increase someone’s risk of cognitive decline?
Research suggests approximately half of Alzheimer’s disease cases may be related to these modifiable risk factors:
- Type 2 diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Midlife obesity
- Smoking
- Depression
- Little or no mental activity
- Little or no physical exercise
What can someone do to address those health conditions and better maintain their brain health?
Research suggests that a combination of good nutrition, physical activity, and mental and social engagement may promote brain health.
- Stay physically active. Experts recommend that adults get 150 minutes of physical activity each week (at least 20 minutes per day). Exercise facilitates the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the brain and helps the brain’s immune responses.
- Get routine medical care. Illnesses in your body affect your brain’s ability to function optimally.
- Maintain excellent cardiovascular health (e.g., blood pressure, cholesterol levels). What’s good for the heart is good for the brain!
- Build social support networks to reduce stress, challenge your brain, and share the aging process with others who are experiencing the same changes and joys of entering the latter years of life.
- Keep doing the activities that challenge you and that you enjoy for as long as possible. Trying new activities may be a great way to challenge your brain to make new brain connections. Gardening, playing bridge, walking, reading, or other activities that are complicated enough to involve your mind but don’t add stress to your life are great examples.
- Limit or avoid drinking alcohol and smoking, and maintain a healthy diet.
- Prevent or correct hearing loss. Hearing loss is a very important risk factor for dementia. Researchers believe having hearing loss may make the brain work harder at the expense of thinking and memory. It also leads people to be less socially engaged, which is important to remaining intellectually stimulated.
Adopting these habits can significantly improve your brain health and reduce your risk of cognitive decline. For a regular and reliable source of preventive recommendations, visit the National Institute on Aging.