I’ve written before about the relationship between our physical health and our brain in “I think, therefore I am”. The basic point was that we can’t really separate the two. Exercise, nutrition, sleep and emotional wellbeing all influence how our brains function.
That article was more about how we think and feel today. With World Alzheimer’s Day approaching, I wanted to look at the other end of the same question: what might the things we do today mean for our brain health later in life?
According to the 2024 Lancet Commission, around 45% of dementia cases could potentially be prevented or delayed by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors.
That’s a pretty extraordinary number.
It doesn’t mean dementia is completely within our control. It isn’t. Nor does it mean doing everything right gives us any guarantees.
What it does suggest is that there are quite a few things within our control that may influence what happens later.
The interesting part for me is that most of them are things that can make our lives better now anyway.
Better now as well as later
When we talk about reducing our risk of disease, it can all feel a bit distant.
Do this now because you might benefit in 20 or 30 years.
That’s not always particularly motivating.
Good quality sleep, healthy blood pressure, metabolic health, eating well, not drinking excessively, staying socially connected, continuing to learn and challenge yourself, and of course exercise, are all things we can influence.
They are also things that can improve our energy, mood, performance, relationships and quality of life now.
So we don’t necessarily have to choose between enjoying our lives today and protecting our health tomorrow.
Often, the same things do both.
It’s probably the cumulative effect that matters
We love simple answers.
One food. One supplement. One exercise. One drug.
Biology rarely works like that.
Alzheimer’s and dementia are complex, and there are risk factors we can’t change. Age and genetics don’t disappear because somebody starts going to the gym and eating oily fish.
There are, however, plenty of factors we can influence.
There probably isn’t one intervention that transforms our future brain health. It is far more likely to be the cumulative effect of lots of decisions and behaviours over many years.
That’s also why I like things we can test and retest.
Testing doesn’t give us certainty. What it can give us is feedback that what we’re doing is actually making a difference.
I think that’s important when we’re trying to do lots of things at once.
It’s easy to stop doing one of them if you’re never quite sure whether it’s worthwhile. If you can measure something, make a change and then measure it again, it becomes easier to keep that change as part of the cumulative effort.
Omega-3 is a good example
One of the things we look at is fatty-acid balance.
Omega-3s, particularly DHA, are interesting in relation to brain health. Research has associated higher omega-3 status with a lower risk of dementia later in life, although that doesn’t mean taking an omega-3 supplement guarantees protection from Alzheimer’s.
There is also interesting research around combining omega-3s with polyphenols.
Rather than simply telling someone to take fish oil and hoping for the best, I prefer the idea of testing first, making an intervention and then testing again.
That’s one of the reasons I use the Zinzino BalanceTest and BalanceOil personally and with clients. The oil combines omega-3s with polyphenols, while the test gives us something objective to measure before and after.
It doesn’t tell us that we’ve prevented Alzheimer’s. Nothing can give us that certainty.
It does tell us whether we’ve successfully changed something we were trying to change.
For me, that’s the value.
When you’re trying to improve lots of relatively small things over a long period, being able to see that one of them is working can make it much easier to keep doing it.
What can I reasonably do?
Perhaps that’s a more useful question than looking for a way to prevent Alzheimer’s.
What can I reasonably do to improve my odds?
Then ask another:
Will doing those things make my life better anyway?
In many cases, the answer is yes.
Exercise because you want to feel stronger now.
Improve your fitness because you want more energy now.
Sleep better because tomorrow is better when you’ve slept properly.
Eat better because it affects how you feel and perform.
Spend time with people you care about because life is better with connection.
Keep learning because being curious makes life more interesting.
None of those gives us certainty about what happens in 20 or 30 years.
Collectively, though, they may help stack the odds in our favour. If they also make us healthier, happier and more capable today, that’s an extraordinary return on investment.
Better now. Better later.
That seems like a pretty good deal to me.