While changes to an aging brain cannot be prevented, studies continue to show your lifestyle choices can pay dividends in the future in the return of a higher quality of life by decreasing dementia risk.

Using data from the UK-Biobank of approximately 431,924 participants without dementia at the time of enrollment and followed for 9 years, researchers found three lifestyle factors can lower the risk of dementia.

They found that sleep had a U-shaped association with dementia where sleeping too much or too little greatly increased dementia risk. The sweet spot was 7 hours of sleep per day.

Physical activity can also decrease dementia risk where high levels of moderate-to-high leisure-time physical activity can decrease the risk of dementia by 27%.

The final factor is sedentary time increased dementia risk. High levels of sedentary time led to a 22% higher risk of dementia.

SY Huang et al. Sleep, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and risk of incidence of dementia: a prospective cohort study of 431,924 UK Biobank Participants. Molecular Psychiatry (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01655-y