According to a study recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, embracing a healthy lifestyle may not be enough for an individual to prevent the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s. Occupational Medicine Physician Dr. Eli J. Hurowitz discusses the findings:
With so few treatment options currently available for dementia, the medical community has shifted their focus to a more preventative angle. It is hoped that by shifting this focus, prevention may actually be possible. While a cure is still presently out of reach, medical professionals like Dr. Eli J. Hurowitz can only hope that this approach will be monumentally beneficial. In recent years, physicians have encouraged the public to embrace a healthy lifestyle in order to prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s. Since then, we have discovered that there are a variety of risk factors associated with development of the disease.
It is now speculated that there may be genetic and mental health related risk factors. Dr. Eli J. Hurowitz has previously discussed the new-found understanding that emotional trauma can potentially impact the severity of the disease, later in life. It is also understood that obesity, hypertension and an unhealthy diet may also increase risk of developing such a condition. With that understanding, physicians and medical professionals encourage the public to focus on taking up mental and physical activities that benefit brain health. But unfortunately, according to Dr. Susanne Rohr, a researcher at the Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Medicine and Public Health at Leipzig University in Germany, taking on a healthy lifestyle is simply not enough. Dr. Rohr explains that there is a social disadvantage that increases dementia risk, because low income individuals are unable to access the means to embrace a healthy lifestyle and improved brain health. Effectively, social and economic environments are now being considered risk factors of the disease.
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