Keeping the heart healthy also reduces the risk of dementia
A recent study has indicated that a change in lifestyle and good lifestyle habits will help maintain a healthy heart and reduce the risk of dementia:
The 4 lifestyle habits, or lifestyle changes, are:
- quitting smoking if you smoke
- achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight
- taking regular exercise
- having a healthy diet
The headline was prompted by a new study that assessed whether 6,000 older adults in France had 7 “healthy heart” characteristics, and then followed them for up to 16 years.
As well as the 4 lifestyle habits already listed, these characteristics included not having high blood pressure, high blood sugar or high cholesterol.
The key finding was that in this French population-based cohort study involving 6626 individuals, an increased number of optimal cardiovascular health metrics (defined using a 7-item tool from the American Heart Association) were significantly associated with lower risk of incident dementia (hazard ratio, 0.90 for each additional metric at recommended optimal level).
These findings may, therefore, support the promotion of cardiovascular health to prevent development of risk factors associated with dementia.
For more information you can read the full study on their website
