If You Have These 5 Traits, You Are Far More Protected From Dementia

1. SPSpeaker0:00

   My mother recently died, and the last few years of her life were really hard for her and the entire family because she had advanced dementia. I am petrified of this happening to me, Dr. Chatterjee. What can I do to reduce my risk? Now, first of all, I just wanna express my condolences. I imagine for you and your family, the last years have been really, really tough. I think this is a problem that affects so many people these days. I know in my life, you know, I'm forty-eight years old, and I've got so many friends around my age or above my age, in their fifties, who are coping with similar things at the moment. A parent who's really struggling with their cognition. Maybe they're still at home, maybe they're having to go into some sort of care facility. And I understand how difficult this can be, and I also understand what you've been through, so I just wanna emphasize that I'm really sorry to hear that. In terms of your question, though, I think the really important thing is to understand that there is plenty that you can do to reduce your risk. Now, what does the science say these days? Well, it kind of says, depending on what study you look at, that at least forty-five percent, and maybe up to seventy or even eighty percent of dementia cases are thought to be preventable. This is a paradigm shift in how we think about cognitive decline and dementia as doctors. That was not what I was taught when I went to medical school in nineteen ninety-five. We did not think that. But this is how science evolves. This is how knowledge evolves. Most of our risk comes from our lives, our daily habits, our lifestyle, our environment. So today, what I wanna focus on are five things that are largely within your control that will absolutely reduce your risk. The first thing is to do with learning new things. As you get older, it's very important that you keep stimulating your brain. It's not just use it or lose it. It's really use it and improve it. We know that the brain can continuously adapt even as we get older, and new things drive something called neuroplasticity, which is the growing of new nerve cells and connections. I have recorded three or maybe even four podcasts so far with the wonderful Dr. Tommy Wood. He's a medical doctor, neuroscientist, a researcher, and he's written a brilliant book recently. And he talks about this idea that novelty-driven learning, which is basically doing new things, helps preserve memory, processing speed, attention, coordination, and cognitive flexibility as we age. Doing new challenges strengthens our cognitive reserve, and effortful learning, so things that are difficult that we have to put effort into doing, keeps our brain networks adaptable. And a continuously adapting brain is more resistant to cognitive decline and dementia. So one of the things you can do to reduce your risk, not eliminate your risk, but reduce your risk, is to think about learning new things as you get older. Don't get stuck in old patterns. I made another video, which I'll pop here, about what learning Padel has done for me recently. I love it. There's so many benefits for me. One of the things, though, is that I'm learning a new skill, both physically and mentally in terms of strategy, so I know this is very, very good for my brain. So what's it gonna be for you? Could be Padel, could be pickleball, could be learning a language, dancing, juggling, playing music, martial arts, taking on new unfamiliar work projects, anything. But if you're finding it difficult, we know that's a really good thing for your brain. The second thing you can do to reduce your risk of Alzheimer's is to think about the foods that you're consuming. There's so much evidence now that our food intake, the choices we make, have a profound impact on our brain health and our risk of getting dementia in the future. So here are three things that you can think about. Number one, minimize ultra-processed foods and simple refined carbohydrates as much as you can. One of the reasons for doing this is because this will often lead to blood sugar highs and then blood sugar lows, which can be problematic for the brain, particularly as we get older. When I say simple refined carbohydrates, I'm talking about the sorts of foods that you often get with white flour, so croissants, uh, cereals, pastries. Those kinds of things often are the things that will do that. This will also be very good for your oral microbiome. So a lot of us talk about the gut's microbiome, which is very important, but inside our mouth we have an oral microbiome, and we know that the health of that oral microbiome hugely influences our risk of cognitive decline in the future. Second thing when it comes to food is to focus instead on healthy fats and good sources of protein, which will help to smooth out your blood sugar. And I'll just give a special mention here for fatty fish. Wild-caught if you can, although I know that's not easy for everyone, and there's a cost issue and availability issue. The omega-3s that you get in fatty fish like salmon Mackerel, anchovies, sardines reduce inflammation and your risk of vascular disease. The DHA also helps support synapse function, which are the connections between nerve cells in your brain. The third thing when it comes to food that I want you to think about is your gut microbiome. We know that the health of your gut microbiome has a profound impact on your brain health. This would be by increasing fiber, fermented foods, phytonutrient-rich foods, so that will be colorful fruits and vegetables. But also we know that cruciferous vegetables can be particularly good because they help increase levels of glutathione, which is the body's master antioxidant, which in turn helps your body's detoxification pathways, and that would be things like broccoli and cauliflower. So there are three things you can think about when it comes to foods. The third thing you can focus on to reduce your risk of dementia in the future is exercise. I mean, there are so many studies I could list off for you to show you how more physical activity is really protective for the brain. There was a 2024 study which showed that people who engage in moderate or vigorous physical activity had larger brain volumes, especially in areas vulnerable to Alzheimer's. This is compared to sedentary people. And then a few years ago, now in 2011, there was a brilliant study by Kirk Erickson, and he looked at sedentary individuals between the age of 55 and 80, and he randomized them to one of two groups. One group did a walking program, the other one did a stretching one. After just one year, the group who walked regularly had a significant increase in hippocampal volume. The hippocampus is a part of your brain that's involved with memory. But also that group had improved performance in memory tasks. I mean, this is literally incredible. Just walking more can help your hippocampus and your memory. And we know that many of us are not getting enough physical activity into our lives, and there are some powerful evidence that doing so will help reduce your risk of cognitive decline as you get older. One other thing that regular physical activity does when it comes to your brain is it helps to shift your microglia, which are your brain's resident immune cells, from a pro-inflammatory state to an anti-inflammatory state, which of course is, is gonna be a good thing. When they are in a pro-inflammatory state, your brain cells, your neurons basically, can be damaged, and this can also impair cognitive function. Exercise also increases something called BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and this is something that does many things in the brain, many good things in the brain, but one of the things it does is help promote new synaptic connections, and synapses are the connections that you get in your brain between nerve cells. The fourth thing you can think about when it comes to reducing your risk of dementia in the future is trying to reduce stress in your life as much as you can. The one thing people misunderstand with stress is that it's not all bad for you. We need stress to be able to function at our best. In fact, when it comes to our brain, a little bit of stress is actually good for our brain. If I'm about to give a talk on stage and I get a little bit stressed beforehand, it's actually helpful. It will help me think better. It will help me pull various things from my memory that I want to deliver on stage. But too much stress starts to become problematic. We know that chronic unmanaged stress, which of course is what many people face these days, is causative, not just associated with dementia. It is a causative factor. And we know that chronic stress will kill nerve cells in the hippocampus of your brain. That's the part of your brain, it does many things, but it is one part of the brain that is heavily involved with memory. So anything you can do to reduce the stress in your life is gonna be a good thing. If you're tired of feeling tired, I've put together a free guide to help you reset your energy. Three things I see most often that quietly drain people's energy, and what you can actually do about it. You can get the guide free when you join the early access for my upcoming 21-day energy reset, which kicks off on July the 1st. It's a simple challenge built around my four pillars of health, 21 days, one small action a day, and a community doing it alongside you. There's absolutely no obligation to sign up when the doors open. The guide is yours either way. Just scan the QR code on screen or tap the first link in the description box below. Small changes that will make a huge difference to your energy. So this could be as simple as doing something you love each day, which we know can help reduce stress. Listening to music, having a breathing technique that you use to switch off the stress part of your nervous system and promote the relaxation part. For example, the breath I've used with patients for many years is what I call the three, four, five breath, where you breathe in for three, you hold for four, and you breathe out for five. That is a very relaxing breath and, you know, one of them takes 12 seconds, five of them takes a minute. There are many other breathing practices out there. But essentially, you need to make sure that you are regularly looking at your stress levels and making sure you're trying to do something to help reduce them. The fifth thing... I want you to focus on which can help reduce your risk of getting dementia in the future is to focus on the quantity and quality of your sleep. Consistent short sleep in midlife has been shown to increase our risk of dementia by up to 30%. That is a significant increase. And why is that? Well, one of the reasons is because when we sleep less, we have a reduced clearance of waste that builds up in our brains. You see, there's something in our brain called the glymphatic system, and it flushes out toxins and things like beta amyloid, especially during deep sleep. So if we're not getting enough deep sleep, of course we're not getting that system working as well as we would want it to. When you have low quality sleep, it can also increase the amount of inflammation in the microglia. Remember, I've already mentioned that the microglia are the cells in your brain's immune system. And when there's a pro-inflammatory state in those microglia, this can damage your neurons, which are your nerve cells, and the synapses in the brain, which are the connections between those nerve cells. So, you know, in essence, if I can summarize, the first thing is to make sure you keep doing new things as you get older. And then the next four were all to do with what I call the four pillars of health, food, movement, sleep, and relaxation. Now, I want to finish off by reemphasizing the point I made at the start, which is this is a common worry. So many people these days are worried about dementia. There's many things I think I can handle when I get older, but losing our minds and our cognition is something that many people are keen to avoid. The things that I mentioned today will help reduce your risk, but they won't eliminate your risk completely. And I just want to make that really clear. We're trying to play a percentage game here. We're trying to stack the odds in our favor. There are other things beyond the five that I mentioned today that you can do. And perhaps I'll make another episode on those things in the near future if you want that. And certain things are more difficult to change, right? So things like air pollution play a massive role, but that can be hard for you to do that much about. We know certain toxins in the environment like microplastics perhaps are increasing our risk. You know, there's a lot of science emerging on that. We're going to need a lot more to really understand what's going on. But again, yes, you can try to reduce microplastic exposure as much as you can. And I would recommend you do that. At the same time, a lot of it will be out of your control. But you won't go far wrong. If you are able to make small changes in those five key areas, they will make a meaningful difference in your risk of getting dementia in the future. If you enjoyed this video, do stick around. I picked out this one, which I think you're really going to enjoy as well. In this video, I'm going to share with you five small daily habits that have worked for me, that have worked for my patients and are going to make you feel incredible if you can give them a go for the next 30 days

Episode duration: 15:29