Tackling these 17 factors could cut your risk of stroke, dementia and late-life depression

Alexandra Mae Jones · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 30, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

Making manner adjustments could assistance you chopped the hazard of processing a stroke, dementia oregon late-life slump each astatine the aforesaid time, according to caller probe that has identified 17 overlapping hazard factors for these brain-related conditions.

Addressing adjacent 1 of these hazard factors, which scope from precocious humor unit to loneliness, tin assistance with immoderate of the others, researchers say. For instance, taking up biking to summation your carnal enactment could assistance with precocious cholesterin and precocious humor pressure, which are besides hazard factors. 

"This is really rather a feel-good communicative astir however overmuch of these conditions could perchance beryllium prevented," Anthony Levinson, a prof astatine McMaster University successful Hamilton, Ont., who studies encephalon health, told CBC News. 

"The fig of radical with dementia unsocial is expected to benignant of triple by the twelvemonth 2050," helium added. "So astatine a colonisation and a nationalist wellness level, I deliberation it's truly important if we tin trim risks."

Previous probe has shown that addressing modifiable hazard factors could halt oregon dilatory astatine slightest 60 per cent of strokes, 45 per cent of dementia and 35 per cent of late-life depression. 

Aleksandra Pikula, a vascular neurologist with the University Health Network (UHN) successful Toronto and 1 of the authors of a caller survey published earlier this month, said that portion we've known for a portion astir idiosyncratic hazard factors for these 3 conditions, the overlap hasn't been intimately examined before. 

"The thought was truly to spot however we tin propulsion each the information that exists from meta-analysis studies to place the shared hazard factors," said Pikula, who is besides Jay and Sari Sonshine Chair successful Stroke Prevention & Cerebrovascular Brain Health astatine the University of Toronto and UHN's Krembil Brain Institute.

"And the thought was truly to spot however we tin gully into insights that tin usher the improvement of targeted interventions astatine the colonisation level."

17 modifiable hazard factors

This caller research, published successful the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, looked astatine information from 59 studies published betwixt 2000 and 2023 to make the database of hazard factors.

Four factors were identified that little the hazard of these brain-related conditions: 

• Regular cognitive activities (such arsenic speechmaking oregon doing puzzles).
• Moderate oregon precocious levels of carnal activity.
• A feeling that your beingness has purpose. 
• Low to mean intoxicant intake (consuming little than 1 portion a time showed a larger payment than consuming 1 to three).

Eleven factors were associated with an accrued risk: 

• High humor pressure.
• Kidney disease. 
• Smoking.
• High humor sugar.
• Poor oregon disrupted sleep.
• High assemblage wide index.
• Hearing loss.
• Depressive symptoms.
• General accent oregon stressful beingness events.
• Pain.
• High cholesterol.

And 2 factors were identified that could person protective or detrimental impacts: 

• Diet: a fare precocious successful vegetables, fruit, nuts, food and dairy decreased your risks of processing a brain-related condition, but a fare precocious successful reddish meat, sugary beverages, candy and excess brackish accrued the risk. 
• Social engagement: a ample societal web was recovered to beryllium bully for the brain, portion loneliness oregon isolation was atrocious for it. 

The survey included hazard factors linked to astatine slightest 2 of the 3 conditions, but lone looked astatine association, not causation. 

It's never excessively precocious to marque manner changes to amended your health, Pikula said, but the champion outcomes are shown erstwhile radical commencement minimizing their hazard factors successful mid-life, successful their 40s and 50s. 

'Cascade of factors'

It's nary astonishment that stroke, dementia and late-life slump would person truthful galore shared hazard factors, according to Levinson, arsenic patients with 1 of the 3 often make different aboriginal on. One benignant of dementia is triggered by mini strokes that termination parts of the encephalon tissue. 

While the "cause-effect aspect" isn't ever clear, helium said, 1 of the underlying threads for each 3 conditions whitethorn beryllium damaged humor vessels that compromise blood to the brain.  

This survey recovered that the azygous astir unsafe hazard origin for processing immoderate of the 3 conditions was precocious humor pressure, besides known arsenic hypertension, which tin cause this benignant of damage. 

"It's what we telephone a soundless killer," Pikula said, adding that galore radical aren't alert that they person precocious humor unit until it manifests arsenic a superior problem. 

It can besides beryllium tackled with medication, and a survey published past week successful the diary Nature Medicine suggests this tin person a measurable interaction connected dementia incidence. 

The survey looked astatine astir 34,000 patients successful China, and recovered that those who importantly reduced their humor unit with medicine were 15 per cent little apt to make dementia than those who didn't. 

Other hazard factors whitethorn person a biologic component, but could enactment successful tandem with different factors. Hearing nonaccomplishment whitethorn origin "under-stimulation of immoderate parts of the brain," but idiosyncratic with proceeding nonaccomplishment whitethorn besides beryllium "more apt to retreat from societal interactions," Levinson pointed out, expanding their loneliness and limiting their cognitive stimulation. 

"You tin ideate astir similar a cascade of hazard factors," helium said.

Which hazard factors to absorption connected first

A database of 17 factors mightiness beryllium a batch to absorb, but galore activities volition fto you code respective astatine once. 

For instance, joining a Tai Chi people would summation your societal engagement and your carnal enactment level, portion besides providing cognitive exercise through learning a caller skill, Levinson said. 

Lindsay Wallace, an adjunct prof astatine Dalhousie University who studies dementia and frailty, told CBC News that "the biggest bang for your subordinate successful presumption of preventing chronic illness is making definite you get capable carnal activity."

"Physical enactment is gonna little your cholesterol, little your humor sugar, little your humor pressure," she said. "It affects each these antithetic pathways that pb to age-related disease."

An investigation published past fall that looked astatine information connected much than 30,000 adults successful the Canadian Longitudinal Study connected Aging recovered that carnal inactivity was the astir superior hazard origin for dementia astatine a colonisation level, followed by proceeding loss, obesity and hypertension. 

WATCH | Looking astatine the risk factors for dementia successful the Canadian population: 

Empowering individuals to amended their wellness and chopped down connected their hazard is simply a bully outcome, but Wallace hopes these studies besides spur argumentation changes to tackle these conditions astatine a colonisation level. 

Government interventions similar expanding taxes and prices connected baccy products, introducing nutrient labelling that promotes healthier diets and supporting policies that make assemblage spaces and programs to marque carnal enactment and societal engagement much accessible volition marque lasting change, she said. 

In a 2024 survey Wallace co-authored, researchers laid retired grounds for 26 population-level interventions, including legislative ones, specified arsenic mandating proceeding protective instrumentality successful noisy workplaces.

"It's a batch to enactment the onus connected individuals," she said. "I deliberation determination has to beryllium a structural and societal alteration that mirrors that."