We often hear about a healthier lifestyle and the benefits it has to offer at all ages. If you thought that it is ever too late to start, a new study confirms it isn’t. New research suggests that a combination of healthy habits can reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s by 60%.
Laughing together can improve health. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
The 3000 participants involved in the study were scored on the basis of five lifestyle factors. It was important to have a combination of all these factors to observe the highest decrease in the risk. The factors include – moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity over 150 minutes per week, no smoking, lower than light-to-moderate alcohol consumption, MIND diet which is heavily plant-based, late-life cognitive activities.
“This observational study provides more evidence on how a combination of modifiable behaviors may mitigate Alzheimer’s disease risk,” said NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. “The findings strengthen the association between healthy behaviors and lower risk, and add to the basis for controlled clinical trials to directly test the ability of interventions to slow or prevent the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”
The new study, funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), comes on the heels of several such studies in the past few years about healthier lifestyle changes and reduced risk of conditions such as Alzheimer’s. A 2017 research commissioned by the same branch of the NIH brought forth ‘encouraging although inconclusive’ evidence about the relation of increased physical activity, blood pressure management, and cognitive training with Alzheimer’s risk.
The NIA is reported to be currently funding over 100 non-drug intervention studies around Alzheimer’s and other related dementias. [1]
