Like To Cut Your Risk Of Developing Dementia By 60%?

If there was a fairly simple way to cut your risk of developing dementia by 60%, and your risk of heart disease and stroke by 70% would you be interested in knowing about it?

Well, that’s what exercise can do for you.

This December 2013 article from The Independent summarises the key points of the “Caerphilly” study published late last year, and contributes to an ever growing evidence base that staying active and exercising is one of the most powerful things you can do to significantly reduce your risk of dementia.

The key points the article makes are:

• Of the five key behaviours (exercise, not smoking, having a low body weight, having a healthy diet, maintaining a low alcohol intake) that help to reduce the risk of developing dementia taking regular exercise is the most effective single lifestyle choice people can make.

• A healthy lifestyle confers surprisingly large benefits to health.

• Healthy behaviours have a far more beneficial effect than any medical treatment or preventative procedure.

How Early Should We Start?

So how early should we start thinking about modifying our lifestyle to reduce our risk?  Well, the health benefits of having a healthy lifestyle are profound so why not try and eat, move and think in healthy ways from birth? Or – as this article explains – some pretty well qualified people at the University of New South Wales’ Centre For Healthy Brain Ageing think that we should definitely be thinking about this by the time we reach our 20’s or 30’s.

At the end of the day the cause of conditions such as dementia, heart disease and stroke are multifactorial, but the take home message in this article is that there is absolutely no doubt that making simple changes in how we live can significantly reduce our risk of developing so many of the lifestyle diseases that deprive so many people of their health and quality of life…we just have to be willing to make the change.

Related Articles

Keep Your Brain Alive, Neurobics – Exercise For The Brain, Movement Keeps Your Brain Healthy