How Managing Diet, Exercise, and Hearing Loss Can Lower Alzheimer's Risk

Studies indicate that exercise and a Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of cognitive decline from Alzheimer's, reports Healthline . "The idea . . . is that if you can delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease by just five years, you would delay the onset of serious cognitive impairment beyond the time of death, and so people would be able to live into old age without suffering dementia, and that's looking like a very achievable goal from these prevention studies," said Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Founding Executive Director Howard Fillit. The brain contracts with aging, but Fillit said studies show that aerobic exercise can increase its size. The Harvard Aging Brain Study associated higher physical activity to less cognitive decline and less brain volume loss, even in people with amyloid plaques. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization recommends nutrition similar to a Mediterranean diet to lower the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Moreover, a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society of Medicare health maintenance organization enrollees found that adults 66 and older who obtained a hearing aid for newly diagnosed hearing loss had a lower risk for being diagnosed with dementia, depression, or anxiety for the first time over the next three years.