How can I reduce my risk of Alzheimer's disease?

There are a number of things you can do to reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, says neurologist Dr. Greg Petsko.

Transcript

00:00

For a long time, people thought that becoming senile, becoming demented, was an inevitable process of aging.

00:07

And if it is, then what's the point in worrying when you can't do anything about it? [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:18

Well, chronic high blood pressure-- hypertension-- is the biggest single risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. So keeping your blood pressure low,

00:26

that is a really good thing to do in order to reduce your long-term risk-- keeping your LDL cholesterol level low.

00:35

Exercise-- exercise is pretty good for everything. It's good for this, too. And mental exercise is probably good.

00:42

The science behind that isn't rock solid. But there's reasonable expectation that if you stay mentally active,

00:51

you are doing something that will lower your risk. You know, that's the other thing I meant to say about why people don't take this

00:58

as seriously as they should. For a long time, people thought that becoming senile, becoming demented, was an inevitable process of aging.

01:08

And if it is, then what's the point in worrying when you can't do anything about it? And that's not true. It is true that if you live to be in your late 80s,

01:16

you have a 1 in 2 chance of getting Alzheimer's disease. But 1 out of every 2 people won't get Alzheimer's disease.

01:24

This is not destiny, OK? This is a trend that we're seeing. But it's not destiny.