Shingles vaccine linked to 20% lower dementia risk in landmark study
A Stanford Medicine study tracking 296,000 people in Wales found vaccinated individuals were 20% less likely to develop dementia over a seven-year period. The shingles vaccine has long been recommended for older adults as protection against a painful viral flare-up. Researchers did not set out to study dementia. The data led […]
Dangerous hearing loss habits that may raise dementia risk
A growing body of research is drawing a clearer line between how well people hear and how well their brains age. A new study found that two specific middle ear conditions cholesteatoma, an abnormal skin growth in the ear, and eardrum perforation are both associated with a meaningfully higher risk of developing dementia. While researchers are […]
Loneliness may quietly damage memory in older adults
Feeling lonely could be doing more damage to the aging brain than previously understood but perhaps not in the way most people would expect. A new study involving more than 10,000 older adults across 12 European countries found that those who reported higher levels of loneliness performed worse on memory tests from the outset. Notably, […]
How broken sleep cycles harm your brain
Most people know that a bad night’s sleep leaves them feeling foggy the next morning. But new research suggests the consequences of consistently disrupted sleep rhythms go far deeper reaching into the brain itself and quietly accelerating structural changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline. A study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal […]
Sleep and dementia are more connected than most people realize
Sleep does far more than rest the body. While you sleep, the brain runs a biological cleaning cycle, flushing out toxic proteins through a network of channels that only activates during rest. One of those proteins, amyloid beta, is closely associated with the progression of dementia. When sleep is chronically disrupted, that clearing process breaks […]
Dementia risk drops 25% with one daily habit change
More than 55 million people worldwide are living with dementia, and researchers still have no definitive cure. What they do have is a growing body of evidence pointing to lifestyle habits that meaningfully shift the odds. A study published in the journal PLOS One, which analyzed data from 69 separate studies involving adults aged 35 […]
Menopause may be triggering Alzheimer’s in women far earlier than doctors ever suspected
Menopause has long been understood as a reproductive transition. What it does to the brain has received far less attention. A new expert review published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation is working to change that, making the case that the hormonal upheaval of menopause may represent one of the most significant and underappreciated risk […]
Gut microbiome interventions are proving surprisingly effective at preserving memory
Gut health has spent years on the periphery of serious medical conversation, associated more with digestive discomfort than with anything as consequential as memory or mental sharpness. That is changing fast. A growing body of research is drawing an increasingly clear line between the health of the gut microbiome and the trajectory of cognitive decline […]
New study finds APOE4 carriers who eat more meat show significantly less cognitive decline
A new observational study published in JAMA Network Open has found that people carrying the APOE4 genetic variant, the strongest known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, may experience slower cognitive decline when they eat higher amounts of meat. The finding does not apply broadly to the general population and the researchers are careful to […]
Brain health researchers approve mentally active sitting
A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine analyzed health data from more than 20,000 adult brain between the ages of 35 and 64, focusing on how different types of sedentary behavior relate to dementia risk. The research drew a distinction between two categories of sitting: mentally passive activities that require little cognitive […]