Are you happy? Do you have purpose in life? Personal growth? It could affect your dementia risk. This was a study published in the British Medical Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, July 2024. “Psychological well-being trajectories preceding incident mild cognitive impairment and dementia.”
We at Biohackr Health are focused a lot on brain health and dementia prevention. Not only do we offer treatments which may help (like our Brain Power IV, NAD, and hormone replacement therapy), but we are dedicated to the study of all things that can help. Dementia risk is not a single thing, so the fix isn’t a single thing as well.
This was a study out of Chicago at the Rush Memory and Aging Project. They followed 910 cognitively intact older adults on a yearly basis for 14 years. They looked for mild congitive impairment and dementia. This study focused on psychological well-being. What is that? Psychological well-being was divided into six components:
- Self acceptance
- Autonomy
- Environmental mastery
- Purpose in life
- Positive relationships with others
- Personal growth.
These were measured on Ryff Scales of Psychological well-being. (Want to see what your Ryff Scale is? A sample of the test is HERE.)
The Possible Link Between Psychological Health and Dementia Risk
Those who showed impairment had a faster decline in psychological well-being, leading to lower well-being 2 years before cognitive impairment diagnosis. Particularly, those with lower levels of purpose in life beginning at three years, and personal growth beginning at six years prior to cognitive decline. They also found that your “positive relation with others” declined faster after cognitive impairment.
What do we at Biohackr Health think? And how can we help?
First, this echoes what was found in the Blue Zones (the superagers). Purpose and connection in life are vital to keeping your brain healthy. Pick up a new hobby, volunteer somewhere, travel, learn (by reading our Biohackr blogs!), watch the grandkids.
Second, there are treatments you can do that may help. As we discover new treatments which may help prevent cognitive decline, we will be adding them to our treatments. Do them early before cognitive decline. Prevention is key. Currently our favorite treatments which have science behind them are:
- Brain IV with Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA). ALA is an important natural mitochondrial compound for your brain, and it is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. It is one of the most used “brain health” supplements.
- NAD+, which we have testing for so you can see your levels, and we have a regimen with IV NAD and oral NAD to improve your levels.
- Hormone replacement, again with testing to see your levels, and treatments to optimize.
