Follow These 5 Steps To Lower Your Risk Of Alzheimer Disease
Alzheimer Disease (AD) is a condition that irreversibly slows down an individual's memory and thinking and reasoning skills. As the AD progresses, one’s ability to speak and communicate also start diminishing. Fortunately, promising researches from all across the globe suggest some simple yet effective lifestyle changes that may slow down, or even reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
Follow these 5 brain boosting tips to lower your risk:
Exercise daily to stay active mentally
Aging is no excuse to give up exercise. According to a study presented in Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, regular exercise is vital for everyone, as it helps promote the vascular health of our brain tissue and aids in reducing the AD risk.
So set aside at least 30 to 40 minutes of your day to:
- Practice cardio exercises such as swimming, walking or light jogging
- Strengthen balance and flexibility with pilates, frequent stretching, and yoga
- Boost muscle strength using resistance bands, light dumbbells, or weight machines
You can also turn household chores like cleaning out the clutter in closets or mowing the lawn as your workout tool. But before you choose a workout, make sure to speak with your doctor to know which exercises are best for you.
Choose to eat a brain-boosting diet
Choose the MIND diet (a combination of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet) in your everyday eating plan. As the name suggests, it is designed to promote your mental health and lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Here are a few easy tricks to plan a brain-boosting menu:
- Serve the eggs over sautéed spinach instead of toast.
- Turn spinach into a healthy dip – Blend baby spinach with a Greek yogurt, some scallions, salt, and lime juice.
- Bake your chicken or salmon instead of frying
- Replace refined flour pizza base or pasta with the multigrain substitutes.
- Include memory-enhancing foods like berries (rich in antioxidants), green leafy vegetables, fish (rich in omega-3 fatty acids) and whole grains
- Limit saturated and trans-fat such as red meat, butter, margarine, pastries, sweets, and junk food.
- Limit your sugar and salt intake
- Drink 6–8 glasses of water a day
Include brain training activities in your daily routine
You can keep your brain healthy by including brain stimulating games such as solving puzzles or crosswords in your daily routine.
Also, engage your brain in alternate activities every day, like:
- Reading and discussing characters of the novel
- Gardening
- Playing board games with children
- Learning a foreign language
- Drawing anything like a season, an emotion, or a current event
- Walking the dog on a new route
- Counting coins kept in your pocket by using touch sensory to identify subtly different coins
These activities will stimulate the nonverbal and emotional parts of the cerebral cortex of your brain and boost your logical and linear thinking capabilities.
Scientific research has also proven that deprivation of social connections can severely affect our overall cognitive abilities. So better socialize by going out and meeting friends and family quite often.
Avoid tobacco and limit your alcohol intake
Avoid all types of tobacco. It does a lot of harm to the circulation of blood around the body, including the blood vessels in the brain.
If you drink, limit your alcohol intake to no more than 2 pints a day. If you choose to drink more than this, you may put yourself at risk of alcohol-related brain damage.
Get good night sleep
Sleep is as important as eating a balanced diet and exercise. Various studies confirm a link between poor sleep and risk of Alzheimer disease. It is said that getting a quality sleep might boost memory and other cognitive functions by removing beta-amyloid – a metabolic waste that accumulates in the brain during wakefulness.
Practice these tips to sleep peacefully:
- Abstain from all type of screen (TV, phone, laptop, I-pad, etc) at least an hour before going to bed
- Avoid consuming caffeine or alcohol at least 4 before your sleep time
- Fix a sleep-time and try to slumber each day, at the same time
- Decor your bedroom relaxing, by choosing the color of the walls and lights carefully. Get a comfortable bed, mattress, and pillows.
For any query related to Alzheimer’s-associated complications, you can consult a Neurologist at www.healthcaremagic.com
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