Watching your loved one suffer from dementia are there any changes you make to your lifestyle which you think might help minimise your chances of getting it?

[millymog11]

Do you do anything?/have you given up anything?

My mother has had chronic dementia for 10 years now,her own mother (my grandmother) had it. If like me your loved one's dementia runs in the family is there anything you have tried to do to minimise your chances of getting it?

I have watched a few documentaries on this topic and the things they keep coming back to over and over again are having a healthy lifestyle.

Low stress
Regular exercise
Excellent quality sleep
Healthy low UPF and organic diet
Low exposure to environmental toxins
Good healthy relationships with others

Areas which are still in their relative infancy and I think we will see more studies and understanding regarding the link to brain health are:

The glymphatic system this is how the brain rids our brains of toxins.
Gut Health - they know there is a gut/brain connection (eg. Change in diet can impact mood/depression/anxiety) but there is a lot more work to be done there.
Toxins arising from lifestyle impacts settling in the body/brain - pollution, pesticides, herbicides, micro plastics etc

It’s an interesting area and one I also have a personal interest in..

All of the above plus staying engaged socially. I think it's important to have a purpose so either paid employment, volunteering or a hobby (even if it's something like knitting mittens for premature babies).

Kicking all UPFs to the kerb is definitely my focus at the moment. Exercise next!

Getting a hearing aid as soon as one is mentioned. There's a link between between not being able to hear well and worsening dementia.

A few months ago on Radio 4 a woman neurologist talking about dementia finished by listing all the things we can do to try and reduce the risk - the usual keep active, exercise, don't smoke, eat well, etc. She ended by saying 'and most importantly sort out any hearing problems'.

My mum had dementia despite having an active, healthy lifestyle so I think it’s all rubbish, there is nothing you can do to reduce the likelihood of getting dementia. Mum was a keen long distance cyclist, regularly going on holidays with cycling groups to places such as China, India, New Zealand and South Africa, she went to the gym and did a keep fit class every week, took educational courses with friends, learning French, local history, decorating cakes etc. The only dodgy thing she did was to have a season ticket for Manchester City for over 40 years, only listing home matches if she was on holiday!

But dementia took hold when she was just turned 80 and changed her life drastically fairly quickly. I know I sound bitter but I get upset when I hear people on tv or the radio implying that having dementia is down to lifestyle choices, I think it is more random than that, possibly genetic although neither of my mums parents had dementia.

@Ihateslugs same here. Both mil and fil did everything recommended to stave off dementia, as did their parents, yet all of them had one form or another. (Genetic?)
My view is that if everything else is either cured or medically controlled, then the one thing that doesn’t respond to medicine/surgery will be the thing to kill you - so far we haven’t got a surgical or medical cure for any form of dementia, theoretically we might have hope in new medicines to slow it down, but we don’t know if they work for everyone or every form.
Personally, we try to just enjoy the here and now, because that seems to have been the one thing the in-laws and grandparents in laws didn’t do.

I'm with the 'it's not lifestyle' brigade. My dad has had Parkinson's and Lewy body dementia for many years. No dementia in either side of family but they all died younger. He had a healthy lifestyle other than smoking when he was younger. Drank moderately. Home cooked foods most days. Walked, cycled, golfed, retired early, great social life, limited stress after leaving work, did crosswords and read a lot. Ate fresh fruit and vegetables every day. It's just a lottery in my opinion.

Only one of the old ones in our big family has dementia nobody else past or present has had

Study a foreign language and/or learn to play a musical instrument.
The brain needs to be challenged. Learning something difficult, especially music/, languages can help stave off dementia.
Also brisk walking and yes, social activity.

The hearing thing is really interesting thank you for mentioning that.

In the case of my mum (and her mum) i think it is genetic (unfortunately) but thing she did/didnt do which I am very mindful of now are:

• incredibly stressful midlife (single mum to 4 worked full time horrible ex spouse)
• not the best diet, not fast food but a lot of stuff eaten on the fly / when it fitted in, she tried to eat fruit and veg but it was often in between feeding others
• basically no exercise- this was 30 years ago, and she drove everywhere for her job and other reasons
• she was a very sociable person and that was particularly heartbreaking. I think she knew what was coming before the rest of us as she deliberately enrolled herself in language classes/learning poetry etc
• did not drink, did not smoke, did not have hearing issues but I think she had real and repeated episodes of depression and struggled on an off with sleep for many years (poor quality sleep)

The last one terrifies me as I have both had times in my life when i have struggled with depression (which in turn makes me antisocial) and insomnia. I do work full time so I dont escape human contact tho!! i do exercise a lot more than she did too

You can't live your life in fear.

Work on your diet, exercise and social stuff but don't think "what if". It's a waste of time and energy. Just focus on living your best life. Thinking is overrated!

I agree with the hearing aid suggestion. Going through life not being able to hear properly causes confusion which is in no way helpful to the ageing brain.

Intermittent fasting. Seriously. The research is very promising.

There are different types of dementia.

My dad had vascular which they heavily suspected was caused by long standing untreated high blood pressure over a sustained period. He always refused to go the doctor. 😔

Intermittent fasting is also supposed to be good as it triggers new growth rather than repair in the body, so can help to stave off the effects of ageing.

That said there's definitely an hereditary element which would be hard to beat I'm sure

My mother is one of four siblings. She never smoked, rarely drank, walked or cycled everywhere, was never overweight, home cooked almost all meals and had no hearing problems. Both her brothers smoked, one was a chronic alcoholic for nearly 50 years, two of her siblings were stocky/overweight, and yet sod's law, she's the one with dementia (she's had it now for nearly 14 years) and the rest of them are fine.

Having watched my mother deteriorate to the point where we now pray that she will die, the only take-home point for me is to join Dignitas and get the hell over there as soon as I'm diagnosed, if that happens. What I would absolutely advocate for, is a system similar to Belgium or the Netherlands, where I could have an advanced directive, and be given a lethal injection at a certain point (for example, if I had to have carers, or if I'd forgotten who my children were). However, given that such a possibility in this country is remote, then Dignitas is really the only option, which is sad, as it would mean I'd have to die before I really wanted to, but there is no way on God's earth that I'm going through what my poor mother is.

The hearing aid thing is interesting. DM was always very fit and healthy but has Alzheimer’s. She struggled with her hearing from at least age 40 and is now profoundly deaf. She’s had hearing aids for about 30 years but I have wondered if her deafness has contributed.

It can just happen. My DF was v fit (running marathons until late 60's). Academic and still working as a school governor into his 70's. Very healthy lifestyle and eating habits. 30" waist etc etc.
He developed FTD after contracting shingles on his head and in his eye. He died in his late 70's. Before that, whilst at the end stage of the disease he fought off sepsis and pneumonia twice.

I am temporarily quite deaf due to having impacted ear drums, hearing loss about 10 days ago began when I started treatment, ear drops twice a day. The impact of not being able to hear property has been immense it shattered my confidence quiet quickly as I felt so embarrassed. I can understand how isolating it must be.

liann34 · Today 09:26

that is very very interesting.

I assume you are scientist or a medic. You don't happen to have a practical extrapolation of how to do intermittent fasting as advised in that article do you (or is it too early for that to have filtered down into wider medicine)?

"Having watched my mother deteriorate to the point where we now pray that she will die"

DappledOliveGroves · Today 09:41

I am sorry to hear about your mother and thank you for taking the time to post.

My mother is also in the same position. Bed bound now for years and years in a care home, looks as thin as some kind of famine victim, no means of communicating with others. This has been 15 -18 years in the making and every day has been horrendous. I totally understand your post.

Very interesting thread thanks. I’m personally invested in this topic too.

I listened to an interesting podcast with Lisa Mosconi, a neuroscientist who studies Alzheimer’s in Women. Many of her revelations are fascinating.

2/3’s of Alzheimer’s patients are women!

The Peri/ menopause / declining oestrogen plays a significant part and we can do things now to help our brain health. Namely exercise and diet.

But I also 'suspect' (I'm not medical) our declining hormones gradually stop protecting us from dementia (amongst other diseases) and maybe living longer exacerbates this.

Declining hearing was a new to me, and something I need to monitor so I don't end up like my Mum thanks.

Not a scientist just extremely invested due to family history. There isn't consenus in terms of one kind of fasting being better than another, autophagy starts after about 16-18hrs. 24hrs once a week works for me.

I'm afraid I failed at editing my last post in time, but wanted to clarify:

I meant I didn't want to 'end up like my Mum' - isolated in her semi-deaf state because she won't get her hearing aids tweaked, so just doesn't wear them...
It's exhausting for the rest of the family!

Register to take part in research. https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/

I work in clinical research and was involved in a drug recently approved for Alzheimer's. There's currently trials running which are looking at people without symptoms but who are at risk due to family history or genetic markers. The hope is to treat these high risk people before they show symptoms to hopefully stop them going on to develop Alzheimer's.

A plant based diet has also been shown to reduce your chances of developing vascular dementia.

"The Peri/ menopause / declining oestrogen plays a significant part and we can do things now to help our brain health. Namely exercise and diet."

I am particularly interested/horrified by this.

I have experienced medically induced menopause due to breast cancer treatment (the breast cancer was oestrogen positive). Part of the treatment was my oncologist trying to put me on letrozole then anestrozole both of which I understand (not being a medic or scientist myself) eliminate all oestrogen in your body.
It was utterly horrendous, the worst thing I have ever experienced, in the space of a few weeks I felt like i was 80 years old, bones ached, no movement / flexibility/brain fog etc.

Told my oncologist i couldn't hack it, he put me on Tamoxifen which works differently. Several years on feel much better and younger.

BUT clearly I cannot have HRT and the total lack / significantly depleted oestrogen in my body worries me as (another) factor lining me up for dementia coming down the tracks. My oncologist was not interested in this question. I am just happy to be alive to be honest but still terrified about me being a candidate for dementia and how (if it is even possible) I could reduce/ mitigate my chances of this.
I am otherwise fit, exercise a lot, my diet can be a bit shit but generally i try to eat as many plants as possible etc /sounds like all that is no guarantee tho.