Tag Archives: Healthspan

Brain Health

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About 40% of individuals aged 55 and older will develop dementia in their lifetime, and this risk increases to 50% for those aged 85 and older.

These statistics highlight the importance of taking steps to maintain brain health as you age.

Here are some effective ways to reduce the risk of dementia:

1. Stay Physically Active: Regular exercise can improve blood flow to the brain and reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
2. Maintain a Healthy Diet: Eating a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins can support brain health. Foods high in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids are particularly beneficial.
3. Keep Learning: Engaging in mentally stimulating activities, such as puzzles, reading, or learning a new skill, can help keep your brain active and reduce the risk of dementia. Learning a foreign language appears to have the greatest benefits.
4. Stay Socially Connected: Maintaining strong social connections and participating in community activities can help reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation, which are linked to cognitive decline.
5. Manage Chronic Conditions: Keeping conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol under control can reduce the risk of dementia.
6. Prevent Hearing Loss: Addressing hearing loss with hearing aids or other interventions can help maintain cognitive function.
7. Limit Alcohol and Avoid Smoking: Excessive alcohol consumption and smoking can increase the risk of dementia, so it’s best to limit alcohol intake and avoid smoking.
8. Get Enough Sleep: Quality sleep is essential for brain health. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night.

By incorporating these habits into your daily routine, you can significantly reduce your risk of developing dementia.

Sources:

  1. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/senior-health/living-longer-can-mean-more-dementia-but-there-are-ways-to-reduce-the-risk
  2. https://www.cdc.gov/alzheimers-dementia/prevention/index.html

 

 

Exercise as Medicine: Just Get Moving!

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You can come up with a million reasons for not being physically active.

Roughly 3.2 million people die each year because of physical inactivity, according to WebMD. Regular exercise — aerobics, resistance, stretching and balance — especially among older adults, is critical to good health.

Healthspan is more important than lifespan. On average, people live up to 20% of our lives unhealthy. ~ Institute for Public Health

But it’s important to know that stillness or lack of exercise is bad for your longevity and healthspan.  “Healthspan” can be defined as the period of one’s life that one is healthy, according to the Institute for Public Health. However, being “healthy” means being free from serious disease. A disease is considered to be serious if it is a leading cause of death.

Caring about extending the well period of one’s life should be intuitive – if one is past their healthspan, it means they are chronically sick, often with a degenerating condition. Therefore, most people would agree that staying within their healthspan is desirable.

To extend a person’s healthspan, first healthcare professionals must be able to measure it.  Once they can measure it, then they can improve it.

Unlike the average lifespan, which is now 79.3 years in the US, healthcare professionals don’t have a statistic to mark the end of the average healthspan. To address this, the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed an indicator, HALE – healthy life expectancy.

To improve healthspan, treatments are required, but treatments don’t necessarily mean drugs. First, there are many commonalities around lifestyle that could delay the onset of most, if not all, of the serious diseases. It might seem like common sense, but maintaining a healthy plant-based diet with regular exercise and without smoking and drinking alcohol and nurturing strong social relationships are the surest ways to promote one’s healthspan and limit the onset of most diseases.

Food, Exercise and Social Connections as Medicine to improve Healthspan.

Resistance:

  1. https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/ss/slideshow-truth-about-exercise-aging
  2. https://publichealth.wustl.edu/heatlhspan-is-more-important-than-lifespan-so-why-dont-more-people-know-about-it/
  3. http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.HALEXREGv