Consider the life of Madame Jeanne Calment from southern France who lived from 1875 to 1997 on a Mediterranean diet with an active lifestyle—that’s 122 years old and until the end of her life she was lucid and had the brain of a healthy 80 year old.
You may have also heard about the Blue Zone studies which focused on 5 centenarian clusters throughout the world: Loma Linda, CA, Sardinia, Italy, Icaria, Greece, Okinawa, Japan, and Nicoya, Costa Rica; these studies showed that these populations shared the same lifestyle approaches and the clear link between how we live our lives every day and how long we live. There is now compelling scientific evidence that daily lifestyle habits have a much greater impact on your healthy aging than your genes. In this next article, I will review the latest research on these lifestyle habits and what researchers call a formula for successful aging that can forestall symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
In 1906, the German psychiatrist, Dr Alois Alzheimer, presented a case of a 55 year old woman who had a loss of short-term memory, confusion and psychosis followed by a rapid deterioration until her death 4 years later; the autopsied brain tissue showed waxy protein fragments (amyloid plaques) and twisted fibers (tau proteins) that define the disease. At the time, the medical community didn’t think much about these findings until 1968, when scientists discovered the same plaques/tangles caused what was commonly termed “senility.” It became clear that senility was the equivalent of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Over the years, one of the obstacles in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease was the requirement of a brain biopsy which was not possible until death. That all changed in the early 2000s, when it became possible to see Alzheimer’s disease in living people in a PET (Positron Emission Topography) scanner. We then started to understand that these amyloid plaques and tau proteins are present in normal aging. We now believe that these tau proteins are associated with decreased memory and that there is some threshold for cognitive impairment to result. The amyloid plaques usually show up first and the tau proteins later but we still don’t know how these two proteins interact. Furthermore, 99% of drugs developed to attack the amyloid plaques and tau proteins have been unsuccessful.
When people think about brain health and what leads to quality longevity, they assume it’s all about the memory. Memory is definitely important but we also have to maintain other mental functions: attention span, reasoning, and keeping a steady mood. With a healthy brain, we can make the right decisions about lifestyle strategies to maintain brain health. Throughout our lives, normal inflammation protects us from infection and injury but as we age, the body tends to have an overactive inflammatory system which is not good for the heart and brain. Less inflammation protects brain health so we need effective anti-inflammatory strategies to fight brain aging: the most important are a good night’s sleep, physical exercise, and an anti-inflammatory diet. Twenty minutes a day of brisk walking lowers your risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. A healthy diet would include omega 3 fats (fish, nuts, flaxseed), antioxidant fruits and vegetables and avoiding processed food and refined sugars. By avoiding processed foods and sugars, you lower your risk for diabetes which is a major risk factor for the later development of dementia. Any alcohol in moderation and caffeine containing beverages like tea and coffee are associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Spices like curcumin are anti-inflammatory. Studies have also shown that obesity worsens memory and weight loss improves memory with sustained benefits over time. Changing your diet is one of the hardest things for people to do but if you’re inspired to consider it please review my previous articles on the anti-inflammatory diet and Leaky gut, leaky brain.
According to Dr. Gary Small, a geriatric psychiatrist at UCLA, he believes the formula for successful aging includes not just a healthy diet and physical activity but also mental exercise and stress reduction. While the evidence for mental exercise is not as strong as with physical exercise, mental stimulation such as puzzles/board games, playing a musical instrument, reading and lifelong learning all activate neural circuits and lower one’s Alzheimer’s risk. There is also evidence that with memory training, such as the 3 step memory technique I discussed in my January 2021 article, How can I improve my memory?, there is a significant improvement in memory and brain efficiency.
Chronic stress shrinks the memory centers of the brain and people prone to stress have a two- fold greater Alzheimer’s risk. Stress reduction would include spending time with friends, tai chi, yoga, and meditation which can all reverse the process and improve mood and memory. Ten minutes of meditation every day actually rewires areas of the brain and lengthens telomeres on our chromosomes which predicts longer life expectancy. Dr. Small’s message is that with lifestyle interventions earlier in life you can change the trajectory and delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease by 2 to 3 years—perhaps even more than that.
The Blue Zone studies mentioned above found 9 lessons that were found consistently in all 5 aging populations. There are the 4 already mentioned: moderate physical activity, stress reduction, a plant heavy diet, and moderate alcohol intake (especially wine that contains resveratrol which is an antioxidant and “anti-aging”). The other lessons include: a life purpose (“a reason to get up in the morning”), moderate caloric intake, engagement in family life, engagement in social life, and engagement in spirituality or religion.
Can we prevent Alzheimer’s Disease? If “prevent” means “cure” then the answer is no. Although true prevention is an ideal goal, we can delay onset and slow the progression. While increasing age remains the single greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, there are 7 modifiable risks for dementia: untreated depression/stress, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, physical inactivity, smoking, and low education/cognitive inactivity. Studies show up to half of Alzheimer’s cases worldwide are potentially attributable to these factors. Remember, your everyday habits have a greater impact on how long and how well you age.
If you would like to learn more about this topic please check out:
Two Weeks to a Younger Brain by Dr Gary Small
Blue Zones by Dr. Dan Buettner