Preventing Dementia

The Economist ran a Special Report last week on Dementia. They called it the “silent tsunami” facing every nation on Earth as the global population ages.

It’s really worth reading in full, even if you have to sign up for a free trial or get around the paywall with Internet Archive.

Every country is going to have to reckon with the financial, emotional, and societal toll of caring for those with dementia.

Additionally, it noted that in this case every bit of prevention pays for itself in multiples.

The chart above is taken from the report for my own (and I guess the Internet’s) use. It’s the most concise summary of prevention strategies that I’ve ever seen.

Even though there is no single cure or single cause of dementia, researchers have narrowed the causes into those 2 buckets. There are 3 buckets of behaviors that increase or decrease the risk of those causes.

Paying attention to those behaviors earlier in life dramatically decreases one’s risk for dementia. Demanding that our governments and healthcare providers look at these causes is also a must, because dementia is not something that stays with an individual. It affects us all in one way or another. Prevention is in the best interests of everyone.