Making lifestyle adjustments could help you cut the risk of developing a stroke, dementia or late-life depression all at the same time, according to new research that has identified 17 overlapping risk factors for these brain-related conditions.
Addressing even one of these risk factors, which range from high blood pressure to loneliness, can help with some of the others, researchers say. For instance, taking up biking to increase your physical activity could help with high cholesterol and high blood pressure, which are also risk factors.
“This is actually quite a feel-good story about how much of these conditions could potentially be prevented,” Anthony Levinson, a professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., who studies brain health, told CBC News.
“The number of people with dementia alone is expected to kind of triple by the year 2050,” he added. “So at a population and a public health level, I think it’s …