Dementia is a neurological condition which is estimated to affect around 944,000 people in the UK, according to Dementia UK, and someone develops this condition every three minutes. Of those with the condition, around 60% have Alzheimer’s disease, which is just one of the many types of dementia that people may suffer from. It causes problems with memory, thinking, personality and behaviour, and is not only distressing to those suffering from it, but their families as well, as they attempt to care for them.
Taking Action at Any Age
Whilst dementia is not caused by age, it is most commonly associated with aging. In fact, anyone under the age of 65 who is diagnosed is considered to have young onset dementia. There are things you can do to help reduce your risk of developing the condition, however, and these can have a positive impact on your health, regardless of when you start them.
According to Alzheimer’s.org, regular physical activity is one of the best things that you can do to reduce your risk of developing dementia by 20% (when compared with people who don’t take regular exercise). For middle-aged people specifically, those who participated in regular and consistent exercise showed improvements in their thinking and memory, as well as reduced rates of dementia. Studies have also demonstrated an even stronger correlation in older people who regularly exercise against those who don’t. The group in this study who exercised the least was more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as the group who exercised the most.
But what counts as exercise?
You may be surprised (and relieved) to learn that you don’t have to start getting up at 5am every morning to hit the gym. “Regular exercise” is anything that gets your heart pumping; it can be doing your regular household cleaning or gardening, walking to the shops instead of taking your car, or getting off the bus a stop or two sooner and walking the rest of the way home. That’s right. The best way to reduce your chances of developing dementia – aside from the obvious healthy lifestyle – is to make sure you get out of your house and go for a walk every day.
Walking and Talking for Your Brain
Interestingly, there was a study conducted of people who were already living with Alzheimer’s, and were in a dementia care home, to see if applying the same preventative measures did anything to alleviate the existing condition.
There were three groups; an assisted walking group who went for a walk every day, a talking group who were engaged in conversation by staff every day, and a combined group who were taken on assisted walks where staff would talk to them throughout. This took place over a 16 week period, and the results spoke for themselves.
By the end of the trial, the walking group showed a decline in functional mobility of 20.9%, the conversation group showed an 18.8% decline, but the combined walking and talking group only saw a decline of 2.5% in functional mobility.
It’s worth noting that there were large differences in participation across all groups due to physical illness as well as subject refusal, and this may have affected results. The talking and the combined groups had participation levels of 90% and 75% respectively, whereas the walking-only group completed just 57% of the treatment. In my opinion, the participation levels tell you just as much as the study’s results. Evidently, it’s much easier to convince someone to join you for a stroll and a chat, than it is to convince them to go on a walk for their health.
Prevention and Preparation
Dementia is a difficult condition to live with, and to witness, but if all it takes to reduce your chances of developing this condition is a walk, then learn from the care home study and don’t make it a chore. Go for an afternoon stroll with your partner, your friends, your neighbours. Who knows, maybe the best part of your day could become your daily walk in the sunlight – not the blue light of a phone screen.
If you are concerned about what will happen to you when you get older, or if someone you love develops dementia or any other neurological condition that prevents them from making their own informed decisions, then it’s your responsibility to prepare for that. And it starts with arranging a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). This gives you the power to act on someone else’s behalf, whether they need you now or in 20 years’ time.
If you want to know more about protecting your family for the future and about LPAs, then please get in touch and I will be happy to help.
Ian Brammer
