healthy habits to ward off alzheimers: walk, play music, mediterranean style diet, sleep [View all]

[Demovictory9]

You may think of Alzheimer's disease as something that impacts only your friend's grandpa, but we're learning that cognitive decline is actually shockingly common. In fact, Alzheimer's Association experts estimate that 12 to 18 percent of Americans 60 and older experience some form of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which often progresses to officially diagnosable forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.

This week, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) fast-tracked aducanamab, the first drug that might potentially slow the progression of early-diagnosed Alzheimer's. But there's still no cure for any form of dementia, so our best bet is to do everything possible to prevent it in the first place. We've recently learned that walking three times per week, playing music and eating a Mediterranean-style diet can help keep your brain healthy as you age.

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Pennsylvania State University scientists discovered that sleep-dependent brain activity-the kind that occurs during deep, restful non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep-can help the body excrete toxic proteins related to Alzheimer's disease. (ICYMI, we just learned that a healthy gut can help you score more high-quality, deep sleep so be sure to load your diet with these probiotic, prebiotic and fermented foods!)

Extensive research suggests that one way Alzheimer's disease develops is when levels of the proteins amyloid-? (A? and tau build up in the brain. This often occurs over the course of 10 to 20 years prior to an official diagnosis. By the way, this is not the first research that hints to this brain protein burden and sleep link: In 2018, scientists found that a single night of sleep deprivation increases the A? load within the brain.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/doing-healthy-habit-every-day-211458035.html