By We all have to hold ourselves accountable for leading a healthy life
I can’t mention enough times just how important lifestyle habits are — it doesn’t matter if you are 18 or 80.
Everything you do will lead you towards health or in the opposite direction.
Unfortunately, young people, these days are leading a lifestyle which isn’t doing them any favours.
As a result, young people as young as 20 are developing cancer. The statistics are scary, but people aren’t listening.
You may often believe that dementia is a disease for older people (just like bowel cancer!) — and you are right.
But, what do you believe leads some people to develop it?
Is it genetic or something that’s bound to become our destiny?
Bad habits like smoking, eating a nutrient-poor diet, obesity and type two diabetes age your brain.
If you are in one of those categories, you might reduce your cognitive ability by up to three years.
Lifestyle is one of the most important factors
It’s been shown through research that lifestyle factors play a more important role than age in determining someone’s cognitive functioning.
Isn’t that statement facinating (maybe it’s just me, lol)?
The good news is that there is a lot you can do to manage diabetes, and of course, you can always quit smoking too (that means vaping — especially the so-called ‘healthy’ vapes).
Most studies on dementia look at older individuals, but this data also includes participants as young as 18. Risk factors hurt cognitive performance in all age brackets.
You can address these factors as early as possible.
The research
Researchers chose 22,117 people between the ages of 18–89, and each person took a test in their own home. You may like to do the test yourself, and here’s the link.
It takes around 20 minutes to complete and consists of a background questionnaire with four cognitive tasks.
Tests ranged from memory and attention, which were impacted by eight modifiable risk factors for dementia.
What can cause it
People included had; low education, hearing loss, traumatic brain injury, alcohol or substance abuse — hypertension, smoking, diabetes and depression.
Each of these factors led to a decrease in cognitive performance by as much as three years. The more risk factors you had, the more aged your brain became.
We can take by this that we all have the innate power to decrease cognitive decline and dementia.
What must be done now is to address the risk factors, even if you are only 18.
Support your brain health to begin living a more beneficial lifestyle and build a better health outcome as you age.
The next line of research will uncover super-agers with identical cognitive performance to those several decades younger.
Wouldn’t you prefer to be a super ager? As soon as anything comes up, I will post it as I believe we could all use some of their tips.
So, start changing your lifestyle habits to serve your health over the long haul, rather than hider you.
No one wants to spend years in a nursing home bound to a bed. I don’t have to highlight the experience as you may assume it’s not exactly warm and fuzzy!
Believe me; you won’t know how bad it is until it happens to a loved one!
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