Lifestyle affects cognitive impairment
The latest science-based evidence linking lifestyle factors with the onset and progression of dementia, including Alzheimer’s Disease, confirms that our adaptable behaviours and modifiable habits, such as unhealthy diets, sedentarism, emotional stress, and social isolation, directly influence cognitive health.
According to a new study led by Dr Dean Ornish, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and published 7 June 2024 in the journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy, comprehensive lifestyle changes may significantly improve cognition and function after as few as 20 weeks in many patients with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s Disease.
The results of this first randomized and controlled clinical trial to determine if intensive lifestyle changes may beneficially affect the progression of mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to AD strongly suggest that early intervention can have a significant effect.
The success of this study is widely lauded as a breakthrough for sufferers, who claim it is, ‘A study to give us hope’ (2).
References
1. Ornish D, Madison C, Kivipelto M, et al. Effects of intensive lifestyle changes on the progression of mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease: A randomized, controlled clinical trial. Alz Res Therapy 16, 122 (2024).
2. LaMotte S and Gajilan AC. ‘A study to give us hope’: Lifestyle changes improve Alzheimer’s symptoms for some. CNN Health, 18 June, 2024.