Aging, Brain and Nervous System, Dementia, Prevention

Lifestyle changes can reduce dementia risk by maintaining brain plasticity — but the time to act is now

There are several new drugs making their way to the market for Alzheimer’s disease (one of the most common forms of dementia). However, they are still far from a cure and are currently only effective for early-stage Alzheimer’s patients. So lifestyle changes may be our best hope of delaying dementia or not developing dementia at all.

Illustration of a nurse helping an older woman with a cane.
Aging, Brain and Nervous System, Dementia, Diet

Aging with a healthy brain: How lifestyle changes could help prevent up to 40% of dementia cases

By adopting positive lifestyle habits, we could theoretically prevent about 40 per cent of dementias. While there is no guarantee of warding off cognitive decline, people can greatly reduce their risk of dementia by increasing their physical activity levels, ensuring they are mentally active and increasing social contact, while avoiding smoking and limiting alcohol consumption.

Illustration of a man leaning over and grimacing from low back pain.
Aging, Pain Medicine

One in five US adults report persistent, chronic pain, study finds

Overall, the study found that the rate of chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain among adults is approximately 21% and 8%, respectively. Chronic pain is pain that is experienced on most days or every day in the past three months; and high-impact chronic pain s pain that limits life or work activities on most days or every day during the past three months.

Aging, Fitness, Seniors, Social Determinants of Health

Being ‘Socially Frail’ Comes With Health Risks for Older Adults

Social frailty is a corollary to physical frailty, a set of vulnerabilities (including weakness, exhaustion, unintentional weight loss, slowness, and low physical activity) shown to increase the risk of falls, disability, hospitalization, poor surgical outcomes, admission to a nursing home, and earlier death in older adults.Essentially, people who are physically frail have less physiological strength and a reduced biological ability to bounce back from illness or injury.