We have are fortunate enough today to expect to live about
20 years longer than our grandparents did. Since the 1950s,
we have enjoyed a two-decade increase in lifespan. The
downside is there is a big difference between lifespan and
healthspan, which is the number of years that you remain
healthy.
A new editorial in Archives of Internal Medicine looks at
the health of people reaching 100 years of age. Today there
are 55,000 centenarians in the US. The people that make it
that far today generally fare pretty well. That's because
it's still difficult to reach that status without some
strong genes and a healthy lifestyle.
But modern medicine is pushing more and more people to a
ripe old age. In fact, conservative estimates predict
800,000 centenarians by 2050. That's a lot of people
reaching 100 so the issue of healthspan becomes a very
important consideration. A specific component of
healthspan that most people care deeply about is their
brainspan, or the number of years you maintain a healthy
brain. Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia are
probably the most feared diseases we have. The vast
majority of people rate brain health at the top of their
list for quality of life indicators. The more fit your
brain, the better you feel.
Unfortunately, increases in brainspan have not yet
paralleled increases in lifespan. Over the age of 65, there
is still a 5% chance of having Alzheimer's disease. Over
the age of 85, those odds jump to 50%. But frankly, those
statistics are much scarier than they need to be. When
people hear statistics like that, they tend to feel
helpless, as if they are rolling the dice. However, when it
comes to your brainspan you can weight the dice in your
favor.
Saying that people over 85 have a 50% chance of having
Alzheimer's disease is a little misleading. The real
statement is that by the age of 85, 50% of people have
Alzheimer's disease. That may seem like the same thing, but
it's really a very different statement. Putting it the
first way, it seems that everyone has a 50-50 chance of
getting the disease, but that's not really true. Some folks
have a very high chance, while others are completely safe.
Your chance of developing Alzheimer's by the age of 85 is
not necessarily 50% - so what is it?
The new editorial cites a 2004 study that looked at
correlations between metabolic syndrome and cognitive
decline. Metabolic syndrome is a collection of problems,
including abdominal obesity, high cholesterol, high blood
pressure and difficulty controlling blood sugar (usually
insulin resistance).
About 1 in 5 (23%) adults have metabolic syndrome in the US
today, but almost 1 in 2 (43%) of folks over 75 find
themselves in this state, curiously similar to the number
of people with Alzheimer's disease at that age.
In fact, researchers found that those with metabolic
syndrome had a much greater chance of experiencing
cognitive decline. The good news is that metabolic syndrome
is highly preventable by simply eating better and
exercising. It just takes a little investment of effort to
dramatically shift the odds in your favor.
Now, this study was only observational, meaning researchers
can't conclude that metabolic syndrome causes Alzheimer's.
However, many other studies show that similar risk factors
are involved in both diseases and it's not a stretch to
think that if you take care of your body you will also be
taking care of your brain.
We understand perfectly well the relationship between
saving and investing money throughout your career to enable
a comfortable retirement. If you choose not to save
anything, you aren't surprised when you retire broke.
Yet, this association of investing in the health of your
body and brain doesn't seem to be as obvious to many folks.
Perhaps it's because we don't get monthly balance
statements to watch our 'health accounts' grow or shrink.
Yet, the relationship between lifestyle and late-life brain
health is clear.
This is more important today than ever. Since modern
medicine will likely help you stretch your lifespan by many
years, wouldn't it be nice to do the same for your
brainspan?
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