The Professional Geriatric Care Manager’s Blog

Dementia? The Time is Now to Fight it!

The Bergen Record the other day published a great article by Linda Shrieves detailing a number of tips to help younger adults “beef up their brains” in an effort to stave off dementia in later life.

Here are just a few of the 20 tips she listed:

4. Take dance lessons. In a study of nearly 500 people, dancing was the only regular physical activity associated with a significant decrease in the incidence of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. The people who danced three or four times a week showed 76 percent less incidence of dementia than those who danced only once a week or not at all.

7. Read and write daily. Reading stimulates a wide variety of brain areas that process and store information. Likewise, writing (not copying) stimulates many areas of the brain as well.

11. Take classes throughout your lifetime. Learning produces structural and chemical changes in the brain, and education appears to help people live longer. Brain researchers have found that people with advanced degrees live longer — and if they do have Alzheimer’s, it often becomes apparent only in the very later stages of the disease.

15. Pray. Daily prayer appears to help your immune system. And people who attend a formal worship service regularly live longer and report happier, healthier lives.

17. Get enough sleep. Studies have shown a link between interrupted sleep and dementia.

20. Eat at least one meal a day with family and friends. You’ll slow down, socialize, and research shows you’ll eat healthier food than if you ate alone or on the go.

For the entire list, and the original article, head over to the Bergen Record!