If you are interested in enrolling in a course to learn how to prevent dementia, classes will be held again in the future. If you are interested in enrolling to try it out, please contact the Wellmark YMCA at  515-282-9622 or go to  http://bit.ly/SaveYourBrain2021 .

Here are links to some reliable resources where you can learn more about how you can prevent dementia.

Websites:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Healthy Brain Initiative: https://www.cdc.gov/aging/healthybrain/index.htm 

World Health Organization Dementia Reduction Initiative: https://www.who.int/health-topics/dementia#tab=tab_1

Overview:

● What is Alzheimer's Disease?, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. October 1, 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/aging/aginginfo/alzheimers.htm 

● Alzheimer’s Disease, National Institutes of Health. April 24, 2018. https://www.nih.gov/research-training/accelerating-medicines-partnership-amp/alzheimers-disease 

● Mild Cognitive Impairment, Mayo Clinic. August 23, 2018. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mild-cognitive-impairment/symptoms-causes/syc-20354578 

● Seven steps to keep your brain healthy from childhood to old age, American Heart Association. September 7, 2017. www.newsroom.heart.org/news/seven-steps-to-keep-your-brain-healthy-from-childhood-to-old-age

Eat Well:

● The MIND Diet—Fighting Dementia With Food, Judith C Thalheimer. July/August 2015 www.todaysgeriatricmedicine.com/archive/0715p10.shtml

Get Moving:

● Exercise and Physical Activity, National Institute on Aging (NIH). May, 2019. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/exercise-physical-activity  En Espanol: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/ejercicio-actividad-fisica-forma-vida 

● A 1-Hour Walk, 3 Times a Week, Has Benefits for Dementia, Gretchen Reynolds. May 24, 2017. www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/well/move/a-1-hour-walk-3-times-a-week-has-benefits-for-dementia.html

● Walk, Stretch or Dance? Dancing May Be Best for the Brain, Gretchen Reynolds. March 29, 2017 www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/well/walk-stretch-or-dance-dancing-may-be-best-for-the-brain.html

Other Factors:

● Loneliness in Older Adults, CDC, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/lonely-older-adults.html

● Shaking Off Loneliness, Jane E. Brody. May 13, 2013 www.well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/shaking-off-loneliness/

● The joy of puzzles. December 16, 2014. www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2014/12/brain-training 

● Sleepless Nights May Put The Aging Brain At Risk Of Dementia, Patti Neighmond. August 27, 2012. www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/08/27/159983037/sleepless-nights-may-put-the-aging-brain-atrisk-of-dementia

● DynaMed Plus. (2017, Feb 18). Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Ipswich, MA: EBSCO Information Services. March 29, 2017, http://www.dynamed.com/topics/dmp~AN~T113612/Mild-cognitiveimpairment-MCI.

●  Cognitive Reserve and Resilience: Possible Mechanisms of Dementia Prevention: Livingston G, Selbeck G, Rockwood K, Huntley J, Sommerlad A, Mukadam Naaheed, 2020, https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/alz.037931 

● The impact of resilience among older adults, Macleod S, Musich S, Hawkins K, Alsgaard K, Wicker E, 2016, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197457216000689 

Scientific Basis for the Recommendations Provided:

● 2021 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Alzheimer’s Association website. http://www.alz.org/facts/. Updated 2017. Accessed June 1, 2021. 

● Sindi S, Calov E, Fokkens J, et al. The CAIDE Dementia Risk Score App: The development of an evidence-based mobile application to predict the risk of dementia. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment, & Disease Monitoring. 2015; 328-333. 

● Alzheimer’s Association. 2017 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Alzheimers Dement 2017;13:325-373. 

● Alzheimer’s Association. 2016 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Alzheimer’s & Dementia 2016;12(4). 

● Morris M, Tangney C, Wang Y, Sacks F, Bennett D, Aggarwal N. MIND diet associated with reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia 11. 2015; 1007-1014. 

● Morris M, Tangney C, Wang Y, et al. MIND diet slows cognitive decline with aging. Alzheimer’s & Dementia 11. 2015: 1015-1022. 

● DiFiore N. New MIND Diet May Significantly Protect Against Alzheimer’s Disease. Rush University Medical Center. March 16, 2015. https://www.rush.edu/news/press-releases/new-mind-diet-may-significantlyprotect-against-alzheimers-disease. Accessed March 30, 2019. 

● Singh B, Parsaik A, Mielke M, et al. Association of Mediterranean diet with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s disease: A systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Alzheimer's Dis. 2014; 32(2): 271-282. 

● Morris MC. Nutrition and risk of dementia: overview and methodological issues. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2016:1367:31-37. 

● Ngandu T, Lehtisalo J, Solomon A, et al. A 2 year multidomain intervention of diet, exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk monitoring versus control to prevent cognitive decline in at-risk elderly people (FINGER): a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. 2015:385(9984):2255-2263. 

● Rovio S, Karehold I, Helkala EL et al. Leisure-time physical activity at midlife and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Lancet Neurology. 2005; 4:705-11. 

● Laurin D, Verreault R, Lindsay J, MacPherson K, Rockwood K. Physical Activity and Risk of Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Elderly Persons. Archives of Neurology. 2001; 58: 498-504. 

●Scarmeas N, Luchsinger JA, Schupf N, et al. Physical Activity, Diet, and Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. JAMA. 2009; 302(6): 627-637. 

● Arab L, Sabbagh MN. Are certain life style habits associated with lower Alzheimer disease risk? Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 2010; 20(3): 785-794. 

● Kivipelto M, Solomon A. Alzheimer’s Disease - the Ways of Prevention. The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging. 2008; 12(1): 89S-94S. 

● Cass SP. Alzheimer’s Disease and Exercise: A Literature Review. Current Sports Medicine Reports. 2017: 16(1): 19-22. 18. 

● Larson EB, Wang L, Bowen JD, et al. Exercise Is Associated with Reduced Risk for Incident Dementia among Persons 65 Years of Age and Older. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2006; 144:73-81. 

● Boyle P, Buchman A, Wilson R, Leurgans S, Bennett D. Association of Muscle Strength with Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and Rate of Cognitive Decline in Community-Dwelling Older Persons. Archives of Neurology. 2009; 66(11): 1339-1344. 

● Kiel DW. Falls in older persons: Risk factors and patient evaluation. In: UpToDate, Post TW (Ed), UpToDate, Waltham, MA. (Accessed on March 29, 2017.) 

● Falck RS, Davis JC, Liu-Ambrose T. What is the association between sedentary behavior and cognitive function? A systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2016;0:1-12. 

● Suzuki T, Murase S. Influence of Outdoor Activity and Indoor Activity on Cognition Decline: Use of an Infared Sensor to Measure Activity. Telemedicine and e-Health. 2010:686-690. 

● Sullivan AN, Lachman ME. Behavior Change with Fitness Technology in Sedentary Adults: A Review of the Evidence for Increasing Physical Activity. Frontiers in Public Health. 2017; 4(289): 1-16. 

● Sattler C, Toro P, Schonkenecht P, Schroder J. Cognitive activity, education and socioeconomic status as preventative factors for mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Psychiatry Research. 2012; 196:90-95. 

● Wilson RS, Bennett DA, Bienias JL et al. Cognitive activity and incident AD in a population-based sample of older persons. Neurology. 2002; 59:1910-1914. 

● Valenzuela M, Sachdev P. Can Cognitive Exercise Prevent the Onset of Dementia? Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Trials with Longitudinal Follow-up. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 2009; 17(3): 179-187. 

● Verghese J, Lipton RB, Katz MJ et al. Leisure Activities and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2003; 348(25): 2508-2516. 

● Wilson RS, Mendes de Leon CF, Barnes LL et al. Participation in Cognitively Stimulating Activities and Risk of Incident Alzheimer Disease. JAMA. 2002; 287(6): 742-748. 

● Freedman M, Alladi S, Chertknow H et al. Delaying Onset of Dementia: Are Two Languages Enough? Behavioral Neurology. 2014; 1-9. 

● Scarmeas N, Levy G, Tang MX, Manly J, Stern Y. Influence of leisure activity on the incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease. Neurology. 2001; 57(12): 2236-2242. 

● Bassuk SS, Glass TA, Berkman LF. Social Disengagement and Incident Cognitive Decline in Community Dwelling Elderly Persons. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1999; 131(3): 165-173. 

● Wilson RS, Krueger KR, Arnold SE et al. Loneliness and Risk of Alzheimer Disease. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2007; 64: 234-240. 

● Fratiglioni L, Wang H, Ericsson K, Maytan M, & Winblad B. Influence of social network on occurrence of dementia: A community-based longitudinal study. The Lancet, 2000; 355, 1315-1319. 

● Camozzato A, Godinho C, Varela J, Kohler C, Rinaldi J, Chaves M. The Complex Role of Having Confidant on the Development of Alzheimer’s Disease in a Community-Based Cohort of Older People in Brazil. Neuroepidemiology. 2015;44:78-82. 

● Macleod S, Musich S, Hawkins K, Alsgaard K, Wicker E.  The Impact of Resilience Among Older Adults. Geriatric Nursing. 2016;27:266-272.

● Topiwala A, Ebmeier K, Maullin-Sapey T, Nichols T, Preliminary Publication, 2021, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.10.21256931v1#disqus_thread

● GBD 2016 Alcohol Collaborators, The Lancet, 2018;392:1015-1035,https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31310-2/fulltext#%20 

The Save Your Brain program was put together by a group of individuals who are committed to improving the health of older adults. The initiative for the project and the structure of the classes come from Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, the State Epidemiologist - Emeritus of Iowa, in conjunction with Doctor Yogesh Shah, a Broadlawns Medical Center Geriatric Specialist. The website itself was designed and produced by Charles Love, a fourth-year medical student at Des Moines University.