Lowering Risk of Dementia for Type 2 Diabetes Sufferers: Adopt These 7 Habits
Dialed-in on Dementia: What Type 2 Diabetics Need to Know
Got diabetes? Here's a heads up, partner! You might be at an elevated risk for dementia. But don't sweat it! Researchers are still figuring out how lifestyle factors can sway dementia's risk.
Good news for those managing their diabetes is that a recent study in Neurology indicates that practising certain healthy lifestyle choices can lower the risk of dementia for folks with type two diabetes.
Dementia: The Info You Need
Dementia ain't no walk in the park. It's a chronic condition that attacks your brain and causes memory loss, difficulties thinking, and problems with reasoning. As it worsens, it can interfere with your day-to-day life and independence.
Some risk factors for dementia are beyond your control, like age and family history. But there are factors you can tweak to decrease your risk. For instance, smoking, obesity, and heavy alcohol consumption can up your risk for Alzheimer's and related dementias.
Diabetes, particularly type two, is also a dementia risk factor. But don't fret! You can work with your doc to manage your diabetes and boost your health. Researchers are working overtime to find out just how healthy lifestyle changes can improve conditions like diabetes and reduce dementia risk.
Type 2 Diabetes, Dementia, and You
These current researchers looked at how seven good-for-you habits impacted dementia risk. They focused on those with diabetes and others without. Here's what they looked at:
- Quitting smoking
- Moderate drinking
- Regular exercise
- Balanced diet
- Quality shut-eye
- Less sedentary behavior
- Frequent social contact
To analyze this data, they dug into the U.K. Biobank. They included participants 60 or older without dementia at the outset. They kicked participants with type one diabetes to the curb so they could solely focus on those with type two diabetes.
The researchers gave participants a "healthy lifestyle score" based on these seven habits. For example, they deemed someone physically active if they clocked in at least 150 minutes per week of moderate activity or 75 minutes per week of intense activity.
The study included over 160,000 participants, more than 12,000 of which had diabetes. They tracked participants for an average of 12 years. Guess what they found? Healthy lifestyle factors were linked to a lower risk of developing dementia. But this lower risk was even more substantial for participants with diabetes.
Study author, Dr. Yingli Lu, shared with Medical News Today, "Our findings highlight that although patients with diabetes are at a higher risk of developing dementia later compared with those without, adherence to an overall healthy lifestyle may greatly reduce this risk."
Study Limits and Future Research
The study suggests that incorporating healthy lifestyle habits might decrease dementia risk, especially for those with diabetes. But it had some drawbacks.
First, the lifestyle behavior info was self-reported, increasing the chance of errors. Second, they gathered lifestyle factor data at the start but not on changes in lifestyle factors. They didn't collect data about lifestyle factors for participants before they developed diabetes.
The researchers also noted that participants they had to boot based on missing data were more likely to have lower education and socioeconomic status, which might have affected the results. Based on the data collection methods, the research team admitted they could have misclassified participants with diabetes or prediabetes as not having diabetes.
In addition, although several confounding factors were adjusted for, such as medication use, the authors acknowledged that unknown or unmeasured factors potentially went unaccounted for. The study also included mainly Caucasian participants, highlighting the need for more diverse studies in the future.
Nevertheless, the study contributes to a growing body of data regarding how lifestyle choices influence health. Dr. Lu told Medical News Today, "Our data may have important implications for doctors, and other medical professionals who treat people with diabetes. [They] should consider recommending lifestyle changes to their patients. Such changes may not only improve overall health but also contribute to the prevention or delayed onset of dementia in people with diabetes. Future research is needed to determine how combined healthy lifestyle behaviors benefit cognitive outcomes in diabetes and the possible mechanisms."
- Despite the elevated risk of dementia among type 2 diabetics, a recent study in Neurology suggests that adopting healthy lifestyle choices can lower this risk.
- Dementia is a chronic condition that affects the brain, causing memory loss, challenges in thinking, and problems with reasoning, which can interfere with a person's day-to-day life and independence.
- Smoking, obesity, and heavy alcohol consumption can increase the risk of Alzheimer's and related dementias, in addition to being risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
- In the context of the study, healthy lifestyle factors included quitting smoking, moderate drinking, regular exercise, a balanced diet, quality sleep, less sedentary behavior, and frequent social contact.
- The study found that healthy lifestyle factors were linked to a lower risk of developing dementia, and this lower risk was even more substantial for participants with diabetes.
- CBD, a popular wellness product, was not specifically addressed in this study, but maintaining a balanced diet is one of the factors researched.
- A health-and-wellness approach emphasizing fitness-and-exercise, mental-health, and nutrition can potentially contribute to the prevention or delayed onset of dementia in people with type 2 diabetes.
- The study had some limitations, such as self-reported data and a potential misclassification of participants with diabetes or prediabetes; further research is needed to confirm these findings and explore potential mechanisms.
