Habits That Potentially Reduce Dementia Risk for Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes
Healthy Lifestyle Choices Can Lower Dementia Risk for Diabetics
Living with type 2 diabetes doesn't mean you're doomed to develop dementia as well. A study published in Neurology reveals that certain healthy lifestyle habits can significantly decrease your risk of acquiring this debilitating condition.
Dementia: What You Need to Know
Dementia refers to a group of disorders that impair memory, thinking, and reasoning. It grows worse over time and severely impacts daily life and independence. While factors such as age and family history can't be controlled, lifestyle choices offer a way to reduce your risk.
One major risk factor is diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes. Working with healthcare professionals to manage diabetes is crucial for minimizing the danger of dementia. Research is ongoing regarding how lifestyle enhancements can improve diabetes management and cut down dementia risk.
Type 2 Diabetes, Dementia, and Lifestyle Factors
In this research, scientists investigated the effects of seven healthy lifestyle habits on dementia risk. They looked at both diabetic and non-diabetic individuals, examining behaviors such as smoking cessation, moderate alcohol consumption, regular exercise, healthy eating, adequate sleep, reduced sedentary behavior, and frequent social interaction.
Utilizing the U.K. Biobank, the team collected data from participants aged 60 and older without dementia at the study's outset. Participants with type 1 diabetes were not included, allowing the researchers to focus on individuals with type 2 diabetes.
Each lifestyle factor was assigned a definition of what constituted a healthy behavior. For example, someone was classified as regularly physically active if they engaged in "at least 150 minutes/week of moderate activity or 75 minutes/week of vigorous activity or an equivalent combination."
The study included over 160,000 participants, with more than 12,000 having diabetes. Researchers followed the participants for an average of 12 years and found that adhering to healthy lifestyle factors was associated with a lower risk of developing dementia. This risk reduction was even more pronounced among those with diabetes.
Lifestyle Habits That Make a Difference
The study's lead author, Dr. Yingli Lu of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in China, explained that these findings underscore the importance of healthy lifestyle choices for diabetes patients, as they can greatly diminish the risk of developing dementia.
Jeroen Mahieu, a Ph.D. researcher in Alzheimer's disease, acknowledged that while this study highlights the positive impact of healthy lifestyle habits on dementia risk for diabetes patients, it's essential to approach the findings with caution due to the study's design.
Room for Further Study
Although this study supports the idea that incorporating healthy lifestyle habits may decrease the risk of dementia, particularly among people with diabetes, it does have limitations. Data was self-reported, which increases the risk of errors, and lifestyle factor data was only collected at the study's outset, with no data on changes over time.
The study also did not collect data on lifestyle factors before participants developed diabetes, and participants who had to be excluded due to missing data were more likely to have lower education and socioeconomic status—factors that could impact the results. Moreover, the authors conceded that they may have misclassified participants with diabetes or prediabetes as not having diabetes, and unaccounted-for confounding factors could exist.
Future studies should focus on examining the impact of combined healthy lifestyle behaviors on cognitive outcomes and the underlying mechanisms in diabetes patients.
By heeding this study's findings and adopting healthy lifestyle habits, diabetes patients may not only improve their overall health but also contribute to the prevention or delayed onset of dementia.
- While diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes, can increase the risk of dementia, a study in Neurology suggests that certain lifestyle choices can significantly decrease this risk.
- Dementia, a group of disorders affecting memory, thinking, and reasoning, becomes worse over time and severely impacts daily life and independence.
- Seven healthy lifestyle habits, such as regular exercise, healthy eating, adequate sleep, and reduced sedentary behavior, were found to be associated with a lower risk of developing dementia, particularly among individuals with diabetes.
- In the study that utilized the U.K. Biobank, participants with type 1 diabetes were not included, allowing a focus on individuals with type 2 diabetes.
- While this study highlights the positive impact of healthy lifestyle habits on dementia risk, it's essential to approach the findings with caution due to potential self-reporting errors and inconsistencies in data collection over time.
- Future studies should examine the impact of combined healthy lifestyle behaviors on cognitive outcomes and the underlying mechanisms in diabetes patients to further our understanding of dementia risk.
- Adopting healthy lifestyle habits not only improves overall health for diabetes patients but may also contribute to the prevention or delayed onset of dementia.
- Researchers continue to study novel treatments like Paxlovid and targeted therapies for dementia and its underlying conditions like Alzheimer's disease, type-2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases, positioned within the broader context of health and wellness, mental health, fitness and exercise, nutrition, and science.
