MAKE UP YOUR MIND

Here are some scary truths: 70 percent of new Alzheimer’s patients in Canada will be women, and we’re diagnosed with depression and dementia at twice the rate of men. But new research says there are three simple lifestyle changes we can make right now to

Three simple ways to keep your brain sharp now and prevent dementia later

YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH to prevent tooth decay and check your blood pressure to monitor for signs of heart problems. But are you doing anything to keep your brain in tip-top shape? Because you should be. Brain health, which experts define as a combination of cognitive (memory, attention, thinking) and mental (emotional well-being) fitness, is a major, albeit underthe-radar, health issue for Canadian women.

It’s major because as we age, so do our brains. Vascular changes can decrease blood flow; we can lose volume in key areas, including the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, the regions responsible for learning and memory. Myelin, a fatty material that makes up the protective coating around nerve fibres, starts to deteriorate, causing the brain to slow down. And nerve cells can develop plaques and tangles— structures caused by the buildup of proteins called beta-amyloids that can disrupt the brain’s normal function. In some people, these and other signs of normal aging can cause mental health problems, strokes and brain disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s, and increase the risk of diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

Brain health is an under-the-radar issue because, though women are more likely to experience cognitive decline (thanks to dementia or Alzheimer’s) and to suffer from depression, most of the research on these conditions still focuses on men.

Thankfully, studies are showing that straightforward lifestyle changes—exercising regularly and not smoking are at the top of the list—help shore up what researchers call “cognitive reserve,” a buffer that “delays the changes or makes your body better equipped to handle those changes,” says Lauren Drogos, a brain researcher at the University of Calgary.

In fact, Drogos says there’s evidence to show that, in some people, even serious symptoms do not necessarily develop into cognitive impairment. She points to the Nun Study, a famous long-running research project on aging and Alzheimer’s that has been tracking 678 nuns from convents across the United States since the mid-1980s. One of the nuns, Sister Mary, died at the age of 101 showing no outward signs of cognitive decline—but when researchers examined her brain, they were shocked to find she had “abundant neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques, the classic lesions of Alzheimer’s disease.” Scientists don’t know exactly why some people can have severe symptoms, such as plaques and tangles, without experiencing cognitive decline, but, happily, cases like Sister Mary do show that dementia isn’t an inevitable part of aging.

And since women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with many of these problems, the more we consider brain health when making our day-to-day lifestyle decisions, the better. (Bonus: These changes also benefit your heart and help prevent other diseases, including Type 2 diabetes and cancer.) So here’s what you can do to take care of your brain.