Nowadays, it is important to promote measures and advice to avoid and prevent those negative factors that facilitate the acceleration of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In the battle against this neurodegenerative disease, one of the first strategies to be taken in the world of Neurology is to delay the onset of AD; simply delaying the onset of symptoms by a few years would have important socio-health and economic repercussions and would free up funds to open and expand other fronts.
Tips for preventing Alzheimer’s disease
Promotion of protective factors and risk prevention are a key element in achieving this initial goal. The prevention, control and adequate and early treatment of risk factors such as cranioencephalic trauma, smoking, obesity and cerebrovascular pathology, especially arterial hypertension and hypercholesterolemia and the deficit of vitamins of group B are actions that should be generalized and optimized, which would lead to a reduced risk of AD in addition to other health benefits that could be associated with them.
On the other hand, the promotion of a healthy diet, which does not necessarily have to be very different from the traditional Mediterranean diet or dispense with a moderate amount of wine, together with the maintenance of continuous physical and mental activity would also contribute to reducing the risk of AD or at least to delaying its clinical onset.
The role of mental activity or cognitive stimulation (CE) is also relevant; education is the most studied form of organized, systematic and prolonged CE, but it is not the only one. The protective effect of education may be mediated by various mechanisms that are not necessarily mutually incompatible.
On the one hand, a higher level of education generally leads to a better socioeconomic level and, in turn, better nutrition and health care and fewer toxic and risk factors; on the other hand, education increases brain reserve, not only from the anatomical point of view (number and size of neurons and connections between them), but also from the functional point of view, improving compensatory strategies and mechanisms.
There are other CE techniques that have also demonstrated their protective potential for the development of AD or even cognitive impairment, such as regular work, leisure activities, social relationships or simply training in specific cognitive techniques.