What if you could lower your risk of developing three common brain-related diseases \u2014 stroke, depression, and dementia \u2014 with a single set of behavioral changes?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the question Sanjula Singh, MD, PhD, and her research team set out to answer when they analyzed the data from 59 studies, published between 2000 and 2023, that identified modifiable risk factors for these three diseases. Singh\u2019s team discovered a surprising overlap of lifestyle choices that can reduce the risk of their\u00a0onset.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re starting to work on one of [these behavioral changes], very often you\u2019re actually improving multiple [health markers] at the same time,\u201d Singh, a principal investigator at the Brain Care Labs at \u00adMassachusetts General Hospital, tells The New York Times. \u201cThat\u2019s a great way to start<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Because vascular damage in the brain may contribute to all three diseases, modifiable factors \u2014 dietary choices, cognitive activity, social \u00adconnections, exercise \u2014 can make a difference. Research shows the \u00adcumulative effect of these adjustments may reduce the chances of developing hypertension, high blood-sugar and cholesterol levels, chronic loneliness, and unmanageable stress<\/a> \u2014 any of which can contribute to cognitive decline.<\/p>\n Controlling those baseline conditions, earlier research notes, can delay or prevent 60 percent of strokes, 40 percent of dementia cases, and 35 percent of depression diagnoses in later life.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are striking numbers,\u201d Stephanie Collier, MD, MPH, a geriatric psychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., tells the Times.<\/em> \u201cIf you can really optimize the lifestyle pieces or the modifiable pieces, you\u2019re at such a higher likelihood of living life without disability.\u201d<\/p>\n Supporting long-term brain health can be as simple as joining a friend for regular walks<\/a> around the neighborhood, a routine that offers both exercise and social connection, or challenging your cognitive muscles with puzzles, word games, or other mental gymnastics.<\/p>\n When it comes to working with a healthcare provider, Singh and her team discovered that controlling hypertension offers the greatest benefits to overall brain health<\/a>. High blood pressure almost triples the risk of stroke. And in a recent research study, participants who lowered their blood pressure into healthy territory were 15 percent less likely than their hypertense counterparts to develop dementia.<\/p>\n Physical activity and dietary changes, as well as stress management<\/a>, are other effective strategies to bring hypertension under control. For older adults, however, the stiffening of blood vessels can require pharmaceutical intervention.<\/p>\n No matter how you decide to \u00adaddress these conditions, Collier counsels against procrastination. The best time to start, she says, \u201cis generally not older age \u2014 it\u2019s middle age.\u201d<\/p>\n This article originally appeared as \u201cSTROKE, DEPRESSION, AND DEMENTIA: The Overlapping Risks \u2014 and Antidotes\u201d in the September\/October 2026 issue of<\/em> Experience Life.<\/p>\n The post The Overlapping Risks \u2014 and Antidotes \u2014 of Stroke, Depression, and Dementia<\/a> appeared first on Experience Life<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What if you could lower your risk of developing three common brain-related diseases \u2014 stroke, depression, and dementia \u2014 with a single set of behavioral changes? That\u2019s the question Sanjula Singh, MD, PhD, and her research team set out to answer when they analyzed the data from 59 studies, published between 2000 and 2023, that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-life"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-25 18:24:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}