“One in three cases of dementia could be prevented if more people looked after their brain health throughout life, according to an international study in the Lancet.”
Here are the factors they mention:
Mid-life hearing loss - responsible for 9% of the risk
Failing to complete secondary education - 8%
Smoking - 5%
Failing to seek early treatment for depression - 4%
Physical inactivity - 3%
Social isolation - 2%
High blood pressure - 2%
Obesity - 1%
Type 2 diabetes - 1%
“These risk factors - which are described as potentially modifiable - add up to 35%. The other 65% of dementia risk is thought to be potentially non-modifiable.”
How could one prevent midlife hearing loss? Just by being careful with loud sound exposure as a young(er) adult?
Additionally, it was stated that dropping out of secondary school was a risk factor - how is that affected if someone completes their GED later on as an adult?
It’s not the act of dropping out of secondary school itself that has an effect, but more that the average cultural/personality traits of someone who drops out of secondary school has an effect. You’d imagine if you don’t care about learning, that you’d drop out of secondary school – and learning has an anti-dementia effect. Anyone on a forum dedicated to obscure memory techniques is an extreme outlier of this kind of average!
One may also drop out of secondary school due to problems with the way information is taught, such as taking a significantly longer time than one’s peers to do homework/prepare for exams due to a struggle remembering information by rote. There’s a difference between not wanting to learn at all and having trouble learning the way schools usually teach, hence why memory techniques should be taught in schools nowadays!
When my son was 12 he wanted to go to a rock concert. I said, “Sure, as long as you wear earplugs.” Later he said, “Dad, it actually sounded better with the earplugs.”
My older brother damaged his hearing through concerts, jobs, and sports. He’s 63 and has early signs of dementia.
If you have hearing loss, you have a greater chance of developing dementia. Hearing loss is one of the top risk factors for dementia. Hearing loss can make the brain work harder, forcing it to strain to hear and fill in the gaps.