Scientists from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have announced that physical activity, cognitive training, and controlling high blood pressure are three science-backed strategies that seem to protect people from Alzheimer’s disease or cognitive decline, according to Kaiser Health News.
As people age, mental processing becomes slower and memory becomes less reliable — a normal condition known as age-related cognitive decline.
Two of the interventions recommended in the NAS report — cognitive training and physical activity — appear to have the potential to delay age-related cognitive decline. But there’s no evidence that they can prevent dementia or mild cognitive impairment, an intermediate condition that sometimes progresses to dementia.
Managing high blood pressure is the only strategy thought to have the potential to prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. But it wasn’t shown to have an impact on age-related cognitive decline.
Once the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s are detected — notably amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles in the brain — some interventions might not be effective, said Dr. Ronald Petersen, a member of the NAS panel and director of the Mayo Clinic’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
Get the whole story at www.khn.org
