There are currently around 900,000 people with dementia in the UK, a figure projected to rise to 1.7 million people by 2040 – more than 40 per cent more than previously thought.
It is the disease we all want to avoid given not only the devastating effect on the lives of those involved, but also the impact on family and friends who witness their loved-one’s slow cognitive decline.
A book out in January reveals what we can do to “dodge” what its author says is “definitely not inevitable”. And she says it’s important to act in mid life rather than leaving it until retirement age.
Mary Jordan first experienced dementia close-up when her mother-in-law had the disease. That experience has shaped a life-long career, which has included working for Alzheimer’s Society as a Dementia Support Worker and then qualifying to deliver the Alzheimer’s Society Carer Information and Support Programme (CrISP) programme.
She is the founder of Adapt Dementia, which helps people living with dementia lead better lives, and says that the earlier people begin adapting their lifestyle to reduce the risk of getting dementia the better.
Asked what changes she has made to her own lifestyle, Ms Jordan says: “I exercise more. I avoid sugar. I get seven hours sleep a night. I would start in those areas. I don’t make loads of changes to my diet but I’ve always had a good, varied diet anyway with a lot of self-prepared foods.
“You need to assess your own lifestyle against the risk. I think people can do it although it’s quite hard to do: recognising all the changes you have to make isn’t always popular.
“It’s fairly clear that people should be thinking about risk factors a lot earlier than people actually think about it. Certainly in mid-life rather than at retirement age. There’s a lot of evidence which shows that dementia takes about 20 years to manifest itself. You can make changes much earlier in your life to help yourself.
“Everyone is afraid of getting dementia, and rightly so, but a lot of people question whether they have to do anything to try and prevent it. I would do something about it because I’ve seen what it does to people’s lives and those around them.”
Her are her top tips:
Meet up with friends, volunteer, join a club
The Covid-19 and lockdowns had a significantly detrimental effect on people with dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), Ms Jordan says. “Social interaction is very important in avoiding dementia. The number of times I’ve had new clients who say ‘I’m not a very sociable person’ is extraordinary.”
Some social contacts are made through hobbies, such as walking groups, sports clubs, and shared interests or volunteering – all of which are important in maintaining regular social interaction. There also seems to be a connection between being married, or in a long term partnership, and a lower risk of dementia, Ms Jordan writes in her book.
Be positive
Ms Jordan cities a piece of research known as “The Nun Study”, by David Snowdon, as the basis for her thinking on the importance of mental attitude.
Snowdon, a US-based neurologist, studied ageing and dementia in a population of 678 American Roman Catholic nuns who were members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and aged 75 and 102 at the beginning of the study in 1986.
His study showed that positive behaviour and personality in the individual can even overrule the often devastating biology of ageing – the less positivity in writing correlated with greater mortality among the nuns – including the pathology of Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia.
“They all had the same lifestyle, so Snowdon only had a few factors to take into consideration,” she says. “They’d all eaten the same food, for example, and his conclusions were that personality was an important risk factor.”
Eat less sugar and processed foods
“Eating less sugar is really, really important, for avoiding all-round health issues,” says Ms Jordan.
The answer is to see sugar and sweet foods as “treats” to be eaten occasionally – without guilt – and enjoyed because you eat them rarely, she suggests.
Ms Jordan also recommends avoiding too much processed food. “Make every effort to cook from scratch and reduce to a minimum the use of packet, tinned and ready-made foods. It can seem very time consuming at first but you can quickly get into a routine of making batches of soups or stews or casseroles which can be frozen for later use.”
Take some light exercise
Any exercise -is good for you. People who exercise are less likely to develop dementia and this seems especially to apply to women. Light exercise is better than no exercise at all and it is never too late to begin exercising.
“I didn’t come across an optimum amount of exercise you need to do, but the more different types of exercise you do the better for you,” says Ms Jordan. “The most important thing is to say to people to get up and do exercise, don’t sit around.
“As you get older people sit around more, so it becomes more important the older you get. Any exercise is good: walking, gardening, housework. They’re all forms of exercise.”
The real emphasis is on movement, she writes. Some people favour gentle movement such as pilates and tai chi and some prefer running or active sport.
“It is generally considered that it is important to do some form of exercise which makes you breathless at least once a week, but this might be something as simple as walking or dancing.”
Learn a new language or an instrument
“Exercising the brain is a very contentious subject, Ms Jordan says, “because everyone thinks if you do crosswords and Sudoku this is going to help the brain. The evidence generally shows that if you do crosswords you just get better at doing crosswords…
“When it comes to exercising the brain it’s more important that you try new things and don’t get into a rut. Learn a new language, a new instrument, take a different route into work, go to different places on holiday. And, again, when people get older they tend not to do that and prefer to stick with what they’re used to.”
Learning to play a musical instrument, reading a different book or newspaper from your usual choice, or trying a new activity are all “real ‘brain exercise’ and are likely to help to keep dementia at bay”, she writes.
Get at least seven hours sleep a night
It is not yet possible to confirm that bad sleep patterns (including not sleeping enough each night) actually increases the risk of dementia, Ms Jordan conceds. However, there are plenty of reasons why a good night’s sleep might be good for brain health. Insufficient time spent sleeping is linked to dementia risk in adults aged 65 and older.
“There’s a lot of very new evidence on the impact of fewer than seven hours sleep a night and how important it is to get at least that amount. That evidence is fairly clear,” she said, pointing to a UCL study which showed people sleeping less than six hours were 30 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with dementia.
Drinking in moderation is fine, but ditch the cigarettes
Alcohol is widely assumed to have a bearing on the risk of developing dementia but Ms Jordan says the evidence is “much more equivocal”.
“There is evidence which shows if you don’t drink at all you’re more likely to get dementia and evidence which shows if you drink too much you’re more likely to get dementia,” she says. “It’s one of those that’s still not quite clear. I’d expect more research to be carried out when it comes to alcohol but it’s also a difficult area – again you rely on self-reporting.”
Smoking as a risk factor is also not altogether conclusive, though more studies appear to have shown it to be a high risk factor than those which do not, she says. Smoking is known to increase the possibility of being affected by a stroke or of developing other vascular diseases, both of which are risk factors for dementia.
Dodging Dementia by Mary Jordan is published by Hammersmith Health Books and is out on 25 January 2024
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