Neurologist recommends lifestyle changes
Dr. Dylan Wint says positive lifestyle changes are “pretty significant” in helping to slow the progression of mild cognitive impairment.
Wint is a neurologist and researcher at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. He’s also Nancy Nelson’s neurologist, and (with Nelson’s permission) describes her current diagnosis as “mild cognitive impairment, probably due to Alzheimer’s disease.”
However, Wint adds that, by following such lifestyle practices as getting regular exercise and watching what she eats, Nelson is doing all the right things.
For example, Wint says, it’s recommended that “people get about 150 minutes of aerobic exercise each week at a moderate level. What I tell my patients is: Enough that you get somewhat short of breath, but not so much that you can’t hold a conversation.”
Aerobic exercise may help to stem the progression of cognitive impairment in several ways, including by improving blood flow to the brain, Wint says. Exercise also can help to manage such conditions as hypertension and diabetes — both of which are risk factors for dementia — as well as depression, which also is a risk factor.
Nelson’s change to a largely vegan, Mediterranean diet — which is heavy on vegetables and plant-based foods and sparse on red meat — also is beneficial for brain health,
Wint says, noting that “probably the strongest evidence we have for dietary intervention to improve brain health” is a combination of the Mediterranean and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets.
Lifestyle changes can have the greatest impact on brain health during earlier stages of disease when, for example, memory problems are just beginning to appear, Wint says, so “it’s really important for people to know that if you do have some memory (issues), that they still have options in their day-to-day life.”