How you can protect yourself from Alzheimer's at the comfort of your home

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most common health problems with 7.2 million Americans suffering with it.

The number is expected to nearly double to 13.8 million by 2060 and this rise is not just due to an aging population—it points to a growing public health crisis. While age is the biggest risk factor for memory loss, losing brain function is an avoidable part of getting older.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine believe there’s a powerful and often overlooked way to prevent Alzheimer’s and other types of cognitive decline: lifestyle changes.

In a recent commentary published in The American Journal of Medicine, they call on doctors, public health leaders, and policymakers to work together to promote lifestyle-based prevention strategies.

Dr. Charles H. Hennekens, a leading expert and one of the authors, pointed out that while deaths from heart disease have gone down since 2000, deaths from Alzheimer’s have increased by more than 140%.

He said that up to 45% of dementia risk could be linked to things we can change, like how we live and the environments we’re in.

The researchers say that unhealthy habits—such as not getting enough exercise, eating poorly, being overweight, drinking too much alcohol, or feeling lonely or depressed—can raise the risk of cognitive decline.

Medical conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression are also connected to brain health.

The good news is that the same healthy lifestyle changes that protect the heart may also help protect the brain.

They highlight recent results from the POINTER study, the first large U.S.-based trial to test whether big lifestyle changes can improve brain health and the results were similar to a Finnish study called FINGER, which also found that older adults who followed a healthy lifestyle plan saw benefits in brain function.