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In 2025, there are approximately 7.2 million Americans 65 years of age and older living with Alzheimer’ s disease. While this statistic suggests that Alzheimer’ s is a disease that impacts people in later life,“ Alzheimer’ s disease is often a midlife disease with later-life consequences. People who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’ s disease likely have already had the pathological changes of the disease for 20 years,” says Stephen Gemmell, Ph. D., director of the Washington Regional Memory Disorders Clinic, part of Washington Regional Senior Health Clinic.

“ People often think they don’ t need to worry about Alzheimer’ s disease until they’ re in their 70s or 80s. But, in fact, we need people to start focusing on reducing risk factors for Alzheimer’ s disease when they’ re in their 30s, 40s and 50s,” he says.

Although the risk of Alzheimer’ s disease does increase with age, it is not a normal part of aging. It is believed that most cases of Alzheimer’ s disease are caused by a combination of genetic, medical, lifestyle and environmental factors that affect the brain over time. As research continues into its causes, evidence is emerging that healthy behaviors can lower the risk for Alzheimer’ s disease.

Getting an early start on managing modifiable risk factors— things within your control— is the best way to reduce your risk of getting the disease.“ Managing these can go a long way in minimizing our risk of getting Alzheimer’ s disease and, if we do get it, in slowing its progression,” Gemmell says.

Many of the recommendations for managing Alzheimer’ s risk factors will sound familiar because they are also associated with reducing heart disease risk. So, you can help protect yourself in several ways by adopting a few healthy habits:

LIVE AN ACTIVE LIFESTYLE. Physical activity is particularly important in preserving brain function, according to Gemmell.“ When people exercise, they release a protein in their brain that helps grow brain cells and strengthen the brain cells that they already have. This helps preserve brain function and not only decreases the risk of neurodegenerative disease but also maintains a healthy brain even with normal aging.”

In addition to regular exercise, an active lifestyle includes staying engaged mentally and socially. Activities such as reading, dancing, learning a language, making art, playing an instrument and participating in social events have been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’ s disease.

EAT A DIET LOW IN SATURATED FAT, WITH PLENTY OF FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

“ Research has shown for years that what we eat can impact brain function,” Gemmell says. Eating healthy foods found on the MIND diet may lower a person’ s risk of developing Alzheimer’ s disease and other cognitive disorders.” MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.

Gemmell describes the MIND diet as a“ hybrid” eating plan.“ It’ s a combination of both the Mediterranean diet and the heart-healthy DASH diet,” he says.“ The research has shown time and time again that those two diets are not only healthy for us overall but are also brain healthy. Researchers took the portions of those diets that have been found to be most helpful for brain function, put them together, and then studied them— which ultimately became the MIND diet.

“ People who follow the MIND diet have been found to have a significant reduction in developing Alzheimer’ s disease,” Gemmell says.“ One early study showed that people who followed the MIND diet had a 53 % reduced risk of Alzheimer’ s disease. Equally impressive is that people who followed it even modestly had a 35 % reduction in developing Alzheimer’ s disease.”

MIND diet recommendations include:

• Whole grain foods— three servings a day

• Dark-green leafy vegetables at least once a day

• At least one other vegetable each day

• Berries at least twice a week

• At least one ounce of nuts each day; choose unsalted, dry-roasted or raw

• Beans or legumes at least every other day

• Poultry at least twice a week

• Fish at least once a week

• Limit fast food, fried food and cheese to no more than once a week

• Limit butter or margarine to one tablespoon a day; choose olive oil instead

• Limit pastries and sweets to less than five times a week

• If you plan on drinking alcohol, limiting consumption to no more than a five-ounce glass of red wine per day is recommended, or choose purple grape juice instead.

DON’ T IGNORE YOUR SENSES.

Studies are increasingly supporting the need to treat vision and hearing loss as early as possible, as loss of vision and hearing have been linked to increased dementia risk. However, if vision and hearing loss are treated effectively, the increased dementia risk goes away.

GET YOUR ZZZ’ S.

7-9 hours of sleep nightly is what is required for most people to maximize brain health. Also, don’ t ignore possible sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea, as ignoring these conditions can increase the risk of cognitive problems and dementia. Lastly, be cautious of treating insomnia with over-the-counter sleep medication, as some of these medications can negatively impact cognition and the quality of sleep. Know your numbers. Get screened for high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes and follow your health care provider’ s recommendations to manage these conditions.

To learn more about Washington Regional Senior Health Clinic, visit wregional. com / SeniorHealth.

� STEPHEN GEMMELL, PHD director of the

Washington Regional Memory Disorders

Clinic

OURHEALTHNWA. COM 4 NOVEMBER 2025 | BRAIN HEALTH ISSUE