Preventing Dementia

Restore Your Memory

Published in

Age of Awareness

5 min readMay 4, 2023

In recent years dementia has been on the rise. Dementia diagnoses had risen 40% between 2014 and 2019, and the number of cases globally are expected to triple by 2050.

This can be frightening to discover, however, there are ways to reduce your risk and prevent dementia. Here are a few ways in which you can prevent dementia, all while improving your memory.

Exercise –

Studies have continually shown that doing physical activity can resort the brain’s cognitive ability. According to the Alzheimer Society, the biggest lifestyle change one can make to prevent dementia is physical exercise.

Doing something simple such as stretching every day (Yoga) or skipping will compound and gradually increase your cognitive ability. Staying active for as little as 15 minutes a day will have a great effect in the long run. You do not need to spend hours in the gym.

Another benefit to bear in mind is that gradually physical exercise will also start to improve your physical appearance, which will then lead to increased confidence.

If you think ‘I don’t have 15 minutes a day’, just bear in mind that people make time for what they care, is your physical and mental health not important enough? If you go into your setting and check app timers, you can see how much time you have wasted on social media apps, how much time has been wasted on Youtube. This time could have been used to do something more productive and beneficial. You always have enough time.

Learning a second language –

learning a second language is daunting to most individuals in the west. This is may be due to how they were taught in schools (this is not the best method) or due to lack of discipline to do so. I will explain why learning a second language is good for improving memory then, give a few tips on how to do it.

Learning improves your memory because you are putting parts of the brain which are not normally used into practice. This is why when people have learned a second language, they usually find it easier to learn others due to part of the brain used for language (These include the angular, Wernicke’s area, insular cortex, basal ganglia and cerebellum.) being used more regularly.

The more you consistently you make your brain actively learn something the easier it will get and the information that it will retain. It doesn’t matter if you are not good at it. Nobody is at first, what matters is consistency.

“if you are not willing to be the foolish beginner you will not be the master”

Tip:

For learning another language do research about sentence structures/ the word order. All languages do not use the same sentence structure as English.

Helpful resources which I have used to learn languages are Pimsleur which helps mainly with the speaking element of a language and Memrise helps spelling and a wide range of vocabulary.

Journaling –

Journaling is a habit which I have only taken on in the past few months, however, I have noticed journaling daily has help increase my memory significantly, due to reciting what I have done on to paper.

While at the time of writing this article, I haven’t been able to find a study to show that journaling will help prevent dementia. I have found several websites and a study dating back to 2012 showing that it has been reported by those who try it, to improve memory.

Journaling your day does not have to be the only way of journaling though. You can Journal in anyway, either about thoughts you have had in the past, the way you are feeling, ideas about the future so you can make a plan etc.

Give it a go for yourself a see if your memory improves.

Meditation –

I have been meditating consistently for coming up to 3 years now. The benefits of this small habit have been most noticeable whenever I have missed a practice or have been under great stress.

The benefits of meditation that are most known are, reduced stress, clear mind, being present in the moment. All are fantastic and there are many more, however, there is a greater benefit that isn’t discussed as widely, and this is that it can improve your cognitive ability and memory.

Meditation has been shown to increase the grey matter which is associated with the ‘thinking part of the brain’. It is associated with those who have higher IQ. Meditation may also help protect against dementia because of increased brain activity.

By taking a few minutes every day to sit with your thoughts and clear your head, you leave your mind open to performing better. Due to the increased focus, you are able to both listen to others more to gain information instead of getting lost in your own head and retain more information due to having a clearer head.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. If you found it helpful and think someone else could find it helpful too, please share it and 👏🏽👏🏽.

I write mainly on self-development. I occasionally write on personal experiences, interest and other topics too. If you are interested in self-development, then please read some of my other articles (linked below). Enjoy.