A healthy lifestyle may help you sidestep Alzheimer鈥檚

January聽is an inspiring time to make resolutions about eating a healthy diet and exercising more, maybe because you want to look or feel better. Personally, those reasons aren鈥檛 always enough to keep me from skipping a workout if I have too much on my schedule. I guess I鈥檓 a typical mom, putting my family and my job first.

But this year, I have plenty of renewed inspiration to put my health first, and it鈥檚 the kind that will keep me up at night if I don鈥檛 stick to it: evidence suggests that adopting healthier lifestyle habits may help you thwart or even prevent the development of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. Dementia runs in my family.

About Alzheimer鈥檚

Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, the most common form of dementia, is characterized by the accumulation of two types of protein in the brain: tangles (tau) and plaques (amyloid-beta). Eventually, Alzheimer鈥檚 kills brain cells and takes people鈥檚 lives.

What causes Alzheimer鈥檚? We still aren鈥檛 sure. 鈥淔or 1% of all cases, there are three genes that determine definitively whether you will have Alzheimer鈥檚, and all three relate to amyloid-beta production, which in these cases is likely the cause of Alzheimer鈥檚,鈥� says Dr. Gad Marshall, associate medical director of clinical trials at the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women鈥檚 Hospital. 鈥淔or the other 99%, amyloid and tau are closely associated with Alzheimer鈥檚, but many things may contribute to the development of symptoms, such as inflammation in the brain, vascular risk factors, and lifestyle.鈥�

Promising evidence

So far, evidence suggests that several healthy habits may help ward off Alzheimer鈥檚. Consider the following steps.

Exercise.聽鈥淭he most convincing evidence is that physical exercise helps prevent the development of Alzheimer鈥檚 or slow the progression in people who have symptoms,鈥� says Dr. Marshall. 鈥淭he recommendation is 30 minutes of moderately vigorous aerobic exercise, three to four days per week.鈥�

Eat a Mediterranean diet.聽鈥淭his has been shown to help thwart Alzheimer鈥檚 or slow its progression. A recent study showed that even partial adherence to such a diet is better than nothing, which is relevant to people who may find it difficult to fully adhere to a new diet,鈥� says Dr. Marshall. The diet includes fresh vegetables and fruits; whole grains; olive oil; nuts; legumes; fish; moderate amounts of poultry, eggs, and dairy; moderate amounts of red wine; and red meat only sparingly.

Get enough sleep.聽鈥淕rowing evidence suggests that improved sleep can help prevent Alzheimer鈥檚 and is linked to greater amyloid clearance from the brain,鈥� says Dr. Marshall. Aim for seven to eight hours per night.

Not as certain

We have some 鈥� but not enough 鈥� evidence that the following lifestyle choices help prevent Alzheimer鈥檚.

Learn new things.聽鈥淲e think that cognitively stimulating activities may be helpful in preventing Alzheimer鈥檚, but the evidence for their benefit is often limited to improvement in a learned task, such as a thinking skills test, that does not generalize to overall improvement in thinking skills and activities of daily living,鈥� says Dr. Marshall.

Connect socially.聽鈥淲e think that greater social contact helps prevent Alzheimer鈥檚,鈥� explains Dr. Marshall, but so far, 鈥渢here is only information from observational studies.鈥�

Drink 鈥� but just a little.聽There is conflicting evidence about the benefit of moderate alcohol intake (one drink per day for women, one or two for men) and reduced risk of Alzheimer鈥檚. 鈥淚t is thought that wine in particular, and not other forms of alcohol, may be helpful, but this has not been proved,鈥� says Dr. Marshall.

What you should do

Even though we don鈥檛 have enough evidence that all healthy lifestyle choices prevent Alzheimer鈥檚, we do know they can prevent other chronic problems. For example, limiting alcohol intake can help reduce the risk for certain cancers, such as breast cancer. So it鈥檚 wise to make as many healthy lifestyle choices as you can. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all beneficial, and if they wind up helping you avoid Alzheimer鈥檚, all the better,鈥� says Dr. Marshall.

But don鈥檛 feel like you need to rush into a ramped-up routine of living a healthier lifestyle. All it takes if one small change at a time, such as:

exercising an extra day per week
getting rid of one unhealthy food from your diet
going to bed half an hour earlier, or shutting off electronic gadgets half an hour earlier than normal, to help you wind down
listening to a new kind of music, or listening to a podcast about a topic you鈥檙e unfamiliar with
or having lunch with a friend you haven鈥檛 seen in a while.

Once you make one small change, try making another. Over time, they will add up. My change is that I鈥檓 going to add 15 more minutes to my exercise routine; that way, I鈥檒l rack up more exercise minutes per week, and I won鈥檛 feel bad if I have to skip a workout now and then. By putting my health first, I鈥檒l be in better shape for my family and my job, and hopefully, I鈥檒l be better off in older age.