4 Easy Ways to Stave Off Dementia

Keeping your brain sharp with activities like crosswords
could help prevent Alzheimer's.
Image: Shutterstock

Alzheimer’s is a nasty disease. For those of us who have seen it at its worst, we know it’s something we never want to experience for ourselves. Watching a loved one struggle with dementia is more painful than I would have ever imagined. It’s terrifying as well; what may have started off as repeating simple questions or telling the same story a few times in one setting very quickly becomes forgetting who your children are and how to get home.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about Alzheimer’s, but one thing researchers do believe is that there are a few simple things you can do to help stave off dementia. And you know me; I’m all about prevention. Check out these 4 tips from the Alzheimer’s Association.

Can Soda Cause Depression?

Soda and other sugary drinks may contribute to depression risk.
Image: dgirlp via Flickr CC

According to a recent study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), drinking soda and other sugary drinks may put you at a higher risk for developing depression. What’s more is that if that drink is flavored with artificial sweetener, the risk is even higher. The study, which has been ongoing since 1995, surveyed the drink consumption of over 250,000 people between the ages of 50 and 71.

Participants in the study who drank 4+ sodas per day
were 30% more likely to have developed depression.
Image: Shutterstock

After gathering data on the participants’ drinking habits from 1995 until 1996, researchers waited a decade and then contacted those surveyed again. They asked whether participants had been diagnosed with depression since the year 2000. The findings, which won’t be officially published by the American Academy of Neurology until mid-March, showed that participants who drank four or more cans of soda per day had a 30 percent increased likelihood of developing depression. Those who drank unsweetened coffee for a boost rather than soda were 10 percent less likely to have developed depression.

"Our research suggests that cutting out or down on sweetened diet drinks or replacing them with unsweetened coffee may naturally help lower your depression risk," said Honglei Chen, lead researcher for the study. "More research is needed to confirm these findings, and people with depression should continue to take depression medications prescribed by their doctors."

Unsweetened coffee may lower depression risk.
Image: Christian Scholz via Flickr CC

Aside from the fact that sugar has been linked to obesity (and therefore the hardening of arteries and heart disease), increased “bad” cholesterol, reduced “good” cholesterol, tooth decay, gum disease, hyperactivity, and mood swings—to name a few—this indication that it may also contribute to depression is just one more reason to limit our intake of refined sugar and sweeteners.

While this study is alarming, it should also be taken with a grain of salt. It’s likely that those who were diagnosed with depression were also struggling with other problems as well. Four cans of soda or more per day almost certainly leads to obesity and other health problems, which in turn affect stress levels and brain health. Those who had increased chances for developing depression were drinking sodas in excess and probably weren't the most health conscious about what they put into their bodies.

Don’t feel too guilty about having a soda once in a while. If you normally eat healthy and are aware of what's going into your body, indulging at times is okay. It’s when it becomes a regular, large part of your diet that it becomes a health concern—in more than one way. But I think you already knew that.

10 Perks of Drinking Beer

Drinking beer can be good for your health.
Image: Shutterstock

Most people know all about the harmful effects of drinking too much beer, but did you know that there are some great benefits that come with drinking beer in moderation? Just like a glass of red wine a night can be good for your health, so too can drinking a nightly brewski.

While keeping in mind that bingeing on any type of alcohol has more negative effects than positive, consider the following benefits:

Because beer has high levels of silicon (especially pale ales) drinking it in moderation can help strengthen your bones. This is true for up to two beers a night. Beware, though: those who drank more than two beers a night actually had a higher risk for fracturing bones. 

Like wine, beer can also contribute positively to heart health. A pint of beer daily has been shown to reduce the risk for heart disease, though bingeing increases the risk. It’s also been shown that moderate drinking reduces the risk of heart attacks and death from cardiovascular disease by up to 40%. This is because beer contains HDL, which can help raise good cholesterol and prevent artery clogs. This also means a lower risk of stroke.

Benefits of drinking beer include a lower risk of stroke.
Image: Shutterstock

A brewski or two a night can also boost kidney health. The risk for kidney stones can be reduced by nearly 40%, though researchers are unsure whether this is due to alcohol’s high water content or the hops’ ability to slow calcium leeching from our bones.

Drinking beer also helps prevent brain health problems like Alzheimer’s and dementia by up to 20 percent. Moderate drinkers also have a reduced cancer risk, since beer and wine are both high in antioxidants. Beer-marinated steak was found to have 70% fewer carcinogens as well, which researchers theorize is due to the beer’s sugars.

Beer can reduce the risk of developing
Alzeheimer's & dementia by up to 20%.
Image: Shutterstock

Since beer contains high levels of vitamin B6, B12 and folic acid, drinking one or two a night leads to boosted vitamin levels. Drinking small amounts of alcohol also increases insulin sensitivity, so adults who have one or two per day have a 25% reduced risk for developing type 2 Diabetes.

Lastly, drinking beer helps lower blood pressure, meaning a lower risk for heart attack and other stress-related problems. Moderate drinkers tend to live a longer life as well, since they are at a reduced risk for so many health problems.

This is good news for the people who are involved in ownership of the big brewery companies.  People like Peter Coors and Eric Molson are still involved in the family companies that bear their names. Brian Grossman is heavily involved in his father’s Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, and breweries like the Bavaria Brewery often act as important parts of the portfolios of families like the Santo Domingos (which include members Tatiana and Andres Santo Domingo.)

All of these effects are relevant only for one or two drinks per day. Drinking more than that often has an adverse effect, putting beer drinkers at a higher risk for some problems. But for moderate drinkers—rejoice (and don’t feel bad for having a pint or two)!

Afternoon Exercise May Be The Best

Afternoon might be the best time for exercise.
Image: Shutterstock

It turns out that the best time to exercise might be in the afternoon, according to a new study published by the LA Brain Research Institute in the Journal ofPhysiology. Our bodies have an endogenous circadian rhythm, an internal clock, which controls everything from our hearts to our brains. Sometimes that clock gets out of whack, and researchers say that exercise can help put it back on the right track.

The preliminary results, based on results on mice, suggest that midday is the time when exercise most affects our circadian rhythm in a positive way. We have cells within our brains that help us tell what time of day it is, which influences when we naturally sleep and wake, among other things.

Signals from light and darkness cause genes within these cells to produce proteins and release them into the body. From there, they move to all our vital organs and keep them synchronized.

The problem is, sometimes our internal clocks don’t function like they ought to. They get confused and off because of things like artificial light in the evening; even aging makes the internal clock less functional. When this happens, we have a harder time falling asleep, sleeping through the night, and staying awake during the day. More severe consequences are a higher risk for diabetes, obesity, some types of cancer, memory loss, and mood disorders.

Exercising can help get our circadian rhythms back to normal.
Image: Shutterstock

But Dr. Christopher Colwell and his colleagues believe that exercising may be the key to getting our circadian rhythms back to normal. After several weeks of letting healthy mice run on a regular basis, they found that their circadian protein production was up, meaning their internal clocks were being regulated effectively.

Excercise, whenever it happens, is good for us (duh)!
Image: Shutterstock

Some mice had malfunctioning internal clocks, so the researchers had these mice exercise at different times of the day to see if running would also help “fix” them. As it turned out, these mice also started producing more of the proteins, especially those who ran during the equivalent to our “afternoon.” Their internal clocks were functioning better than they had been before.

What this study tells us is that exercising in the morning and afternoon does help our internal clocks regulate. Colwell says that some evidence he’s gathered suggests that late-night exercise might actually be harmful to our sleep rhythms, though. More research will need to be done before the specifics can be nailed down. But one thing’s (still) for certain: exercise is good for us!

Cities, Exercise, and Brain Damage: 411

Cities are full of beautiful things: lights, culture, people, food, and more. But they’re also full of some not so great things like stress, pollution, violence, and crime. The vast majority of Americans live in cities dotted around the country. But while we may be used to the negatives that come with city living, it’s important to remember that our bodies may still be affected negatively.

The stress, polution, violence and crime typical of city life can cause many health problems.
Image: Shutterstock

I’ve certainly never met anyone who is immune to stress, though some people seem to be better at managing it than others. Cities tend to stress people out in many ways. There is often overcrowding, poverty, violence, and crime—all of which can contribute to an elevated level of stress. Those of us who live in cities also know that life tends to move very fast, so just keeping up can be hard sometimes.

Cities are also hard to navigate because they are so complex in layout. All these stressors combined together can be a catalyst for mental illness and other stress-related health problems.

Exercise can reduce stress, but exercising in a polluted
area can be dangerous to your health.
Image: Shutterstock

Many things can counter stress, and one of my favorites is exercise. Not only does exercising on a regular basis keep your body active and healthier, but it also sends doses of mood elevating endorphins to your brain. It is a natural anti-depressant and de-stressor. Unfortunately, there are some concerns about exercising in cities as well.

With so many people living in close proximity, there is bound to be pollution. Some cities have it worse than others. According to the State of the Air 2012 report, California cities take the top five spots for America’s most polluted cities: Bakersfield, Hanford-Corcoran, Los Angeles, Visalia, and Fresno. On the other hand, Santa Fe-Espanola, NM; Cheyenne, WY; Prescott, AZ; Tucson, AZ; and Albuquerque, NM are the least polluted cities in the U.S.

Exercising in urban areas is still worse for you than exercising in rural ones, though, no matter how clean your city is. A recent study has actually linked brain damage to people who exercise outside in cities as compared to those who exercise outside in rural areas. Air pollution lowers response time and attention span, increases inflammation markers in the blood, and can prevent us from getting some of exercise’s best benefits: brain plasticity, comprehension, and mental health.

Exercise in rural areas is less likely to cause brain damage
than exercising in polluted areas.
Image: Shutterstock

So should you stop exercising outside and instead stay inside and inactive? Absolutely not. But Blisstree does have some good tips from researcher Romain Meeusen for those of us who still need to get our run on:

1. Brave rain and wind. These climates blow the fine particles away so you’re not left inhaling them.

2. Avoid rush hour. The more cars, the more pollution from exhaust fumes.

3. Head to the park. The more trees between you and the road, the better.