
Healthy habits can lessen risk of dementia
Transcript
[00:00:00] Host Amber Smith: Here's some expert advice from Dr. Sharon Brangman, who directs the center of excellence for Alzheimer's disease at Upstate Medical University.
What can we do to reduce our dementia risk?
[00:00:12] Sharon Brangman, MD: There's a lot that's within our control that we can do to help reduce that risk. And one of those is exercise. There's a lot of studies that show that exercise is very, very important for our overall health, but especially important for brain health. We know that the brain requires a good circulation, a good blood flow, and when you exercise, that increases blood flow to the brain.
The other thing that happens is that there's these chemicals that help stabilize and grow nerve cells that move from our peripheral or external circulation into the brain and help stabilize the brain. And I tell people, you don't have to go run a marathon. It's as simple as taking a walk every day. And if you can build up to taking a walk about 30 minutes a day, that is excellent. The bare minimum is 150 minutes a week.
And the other piece I say is take a walk with a friend, because socializing and talking to people is very, very good for our brains. And we learned during the pandemic when people were isolated they actually had a decline in their brain power and had an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
So socialization, meeting people in groups, in person as much as possible is the best for our brains. The screens are not as good. They're probably better than nothing, but it's really that in-person interaction that our brains do the best in.
So you want to eat a healthy diet, which means not that much red meat, mostly fish and lean meats, lots of vegetables -- the more color in your vegetables, the better -- fruits. Stay away from things that are highly concentrated in sugar, such as sodas and fruit juices, and of course all the things we love like chocolate and dessert. I'm not saying you should eliminate all of them. And people get all nervous because they don't want to do radical changes in their diet. So I say just start small with one thing. So maybe stop drinking soda, and don't even drink diet soda because artificial sugars aren't very good for you either. Try doing water or maybe a seltzer or something like that.
Skip the orange juice in the morning because that's usually too much sugar first thing in the morning. And maybe reduce your takeout food, or your fast food, and do more food preparation in your own home. And I know everyone's busy, and it gets hard to make those meals, but those are the things that may help to make the difference.
A healthy diet means eating foods that look as natural and normal as possible. The more they are processed, the worse they are for our bodies. So we want foods that look like what they're supposed to, and in general, those foods that are convenient that you heat up quickly, that you get by taking out, are generally processed to the point where a lot of extra ingredients are added, such as salt and sugar and excess fats, and maybe certain chemicals to make them maintain color or last longer. Those are all bad for our body.
And then the other thing that most people don't want to hear is that alcohol isn't really good for our brains. And there's more and more research that shows there's no safe amount of alcohol in general for our bodies, but we know that alcohol is toxic to nerve cells, and we've seen this in people who have had problems with alcohol use who get a form of dementia from too much alcohol. So I try to encourage people to maybe save alcohol for very special occasions. Try to pass it up. Certainly don't drink it every day. And that's another way of making sure that you have good brain health.
I'm a geriatrician, so I'm always helping people to understand what we need to do to age well or age successfully. And that doesn't necessarily mean that you age without getting certain diseases, but you try to control the things that you can control. And the things that we can control are eating well, sleeping well, maintaining social contacts, exercising, keeping close eye on the amount of alcohol you're taking. Of course, if you smoke -- don't smoke. I can't think of any disease where smoking is helpful. If you have diabetes or high blood pressure, see your doctor and get those under control. If you have high cholesterol, get that under control.
These are all things that cause wear and tear on our bodies -- whether it's your brain, your heart, or your kidneys -- and can get in the way of you aging well.
[00:05:30] Host Amber Smith: You've been listening to Dr. Sharon Brangman, director of the center of excellence for Alzheimer's disease at Upstate Medical University.