Lifelong learning as prevention of cognitive problems in older age
14. October 2022The brain is one of the most delicate organs in the human body. However, mental decline is at least partially preventable. Did you know that a very significant risk factor is low education? Providing primary and secondary education to all children would reduce the risk of dementia in the population.
Obesity, diabetes, alcohol, air pollution, high blood pressure, head injuries and poor quality sleep can all contribute to dementia. Many of these can be prevented by adjusting lifestyle choices.
Alzheimer’s = dementia. Does this equation hold? And can I effectively defend myself if I’m actually fighting against myself? According to Associate Professor Iva Holmerová, Director of the Prague Gerontology Centre, the equation is partially valid, but not entirely accurate, either way.
Movement and dance as a panacea. How can you slow down the onset of Alzheimer’s disease?
“Dementia is a syndrome, a set of symptoms that arises as a result of various diseases and disorders of the brain, the most common are the so-called neurodegenerative diseases, and among them, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common,” she explains. “But dementia can be the result of vascular changes, poisoning, especially long-term intoxication with addictive substances, and so on.”
According to Associate Professor Holmerová, there are also intermediate forms of cognitive disorders that mimic dementia. “For example, in metabolic upset, inadequate thyroid function and so on,” she says. “Actually, any situation that damages the brain in the long term can cause dementia.”
Risk factors
Dementia develops gradually; in Alzheimer’s disease, it only occurs after several years of progression and development of neurodegenerative changes, when we can already detect a significant risk or even diagnose it. And we can effectively prevent it. Almost forty percent of the causes of dementia are preventable. If we can eliminate them, we can also reduce the incidence of new cases of dementia in the population by up to forty percent.
Obesity, diabetes, alcohol, air pollution, high blood pressure and head injuries can all contribute to dementia. Many of these can be prevented by adapting lifestyle choices.
“We should live as cardiologists have been advising us for years: remember to eat a healthy diet, get enough exercise, compensate for other risk factors (metabolic, hypertension), but also have enough social contacts and creative mental activity,” says Iva Holmerová.
Education and sleep
Some risk factors for the development of dementia may surprise the layperson. For example, according to Iva Holmerová, hearing impairment is one of them. It is therefore important to pay attention to it. Smoking and depression can also become triggers for dementia. In the latter, the general condition, including cognitive functions, deteriorates. Then there is social isolation and loneliness. “There is evidence that improving social connections and contacts also improves people’s cognitive status and reduces the risk of dementia,” the expert points out.
A very important risk factor is low education. Ensuring primary and secondary education for all children would reduce the risk of dementia in the population, according to Associate Professor Holmerová.
Lifelong learning and cognitive stimulation are of course important. Other factors that are not yet sufficiently understood may also be important in preventing dementia. These include sleep, which should be ‘adequate’ but not excessive. Its duration is entirely individual. Similarly, according to Iva Holmerová, it is also a matter of nutrition or diet. While there is insufficient evidence for individual dietary components (e.g. vitamins B or E, unsaturated fatty acids, etc.), data are accumulating showing the benefits of comprehensive approaches, especially the so-called Mediterranean diet.
Successful prevention
The number of patients with neurodegenerative problems is increasing. “Our population is ageing very rapidly, and by the middle of the century, one in ten Czechs will be over 80 years old,” predicts Iva Holmerová. “And dementia is most common in the highest decades of life. But the number of people with dementia tends to decrease in each age group.” The reason, she says, is successful prevention.
“So I remain optimistic and hope that the first drugs that slow down the progression of the disease are in sight and that we will have those that will stop the progression of dementia, at least in Alzheimer’s disease,” says Iva Holmerová. “But the progress is not only in science, but especially in informing the public, in providing services. Even nowadays, patients often come to us with advanced dementia.”
According to Iva Holmerová, we do not have to see ageing only in black. “The calendar age, that is, the age we state on various documents, has only limited meaning,” she explains. “Certainly it is an important figure with regard to the beginning and end of schooling, high school, graduation, coming of age, university studies, the birth of children, their schools, reaching certain milestones in working life, retirement age and so on.”
However, in old age it begins to lose its meaning. “Many people blossom because they no longer have so many responsibilities, many people fall in love, many people start doing something they didn’t have the time or resources to do before,” says the expert. “It depends on the person themselves, their health and attitudes, their relationship with themselves, their surroundings and the people in their lives.”
Author: Monika Smekalová
Resource: EPALE, https://epale.ec.europa.eu/cs