The importance of lifestyle in avoiding Alzheimers's disease

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by: StephenKember
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Word Count: 544

Those who are mentally & physically active and lead stimulating lives, through their ongoing learning, their occupation, their social & leisure activities and physical exercise have a markedly lower risk of developing Alzheimers Disease.

It seems that the sum of our lifetime experiences encompassing our occupation, social life, ongoing education and our leisure & physical activity have a major bearing on how we age and on the likelihood of developing Alzheimers symptoms.

From research emerging over the past two years its clear that, firstly, engaging in stimulating activities, help us build up a level of mental protection or cognitive reserve; secondly that the earlier we start building this reserve the better; and thirdly, the more activities we engage in, the better will be the total cumulative beneficial effect.

Individuals who lead mentally & physically stimulating & active lives as experienced through their occupation, education and leisure activities, have a 35 to 40% lower risk of developing Alzheimers and that whilst the Alzheimer pathology will still arise they are able to handle it far better; indeed most will not even know about their problem and certainly wont be diagnosed because they dont present any symptoms.

Two further aspects are important and that these are complementary. The first idea suggests that some individuals have more neurons & synapses in their brains and that these provide a reserve which in of itself provides some protection against Alzheimer attack. The second idea suggests the interrelated importance of developing a mix of social, leisure and physical activity capabilities, along with improving performance of these through practice, and the development of skills therein that are not easy to unlearn.

So what do researchers say are good brain exercises? As best can be judged, because findings are not clear, is that at the highest level, stimulation based on engaging in activities is very important to offsetting the advance or impact of Alzheimers. Furthermore, that engaging in nearly all activities, whether they be educational, social, recreational or physical activity based, contributes towards building a reserve of neurons & synapses and so providing protection.

Recent animal studies suggest that when they are exposed to a rich environment and to increased levels of physical activity this leads to the creation of new neurons in the brain. This is exciting as it seems that regardless of ones education, age or occupation, participation has a significant and cumulative effect. and the more things you do and the earlier you start, the better.

What is also interesting from this area of research is that those leisure activities, which are seen to be the best are those that combine social, intellectual and physical elements are in fact very simple & can be easily enjoyed in everyday life; they include such things as going out for a walk ongoing for a drive, visiting friends,swimming, reading a book, going to the cinema or simply taking a trip to the local restaurant.

3 important points are noteworthy: firstly, variety of activity is critically important; secondly, for each additional activity one participates in there can be be up to an 8% reduction in the likelihood of developing Alzheimers symptoms! And thirdly, for those participating at the highest level of physical & leisure activity research suggests they present a 38% lower risk of developing Alzheimers, allowing for all other factors.

About the Author

Stephen Kember is a writer, speaker & owner of Fit for Life, a firm concerned with providing life changing advice for folk experiencing a fading memory. He runs his own memory exercises blog which you might have a look at. Here he focuses on assisting folk to live a forget-free life and promoting an exceptional program geared to assisting people to develop their memories; have a look here.

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