Updating ‘The Essential Guide to Avoiding Dementia’
We frequently read in the headlines about research efforts that hold out the possibility of a cure once we have found the elusive ‘cause’ of dementia, but in the 10 years since I wrote The Essential Guide to Avoiding Dementia it has become ever clearer that we are no nearer to finding either the cause or a cure.
It now looks as if there is no one cause and current research seems to point to the accumulation of multiple factors all contributing to the risk until perhaps an individual reaches a ‘tipping point’ and dementia symptoms develop.
So, in this new edition of the book I have looked at the many risk factors that are known and also at the strong empirical evidence for other factors which might play a part.
There has been much new research in the last 10 years but interestingly, none of it appears to refute the conclusions drawn back in 2013 about risk factors highlighted in the first edition of Avoiding Dementia. What is of interest is the new emphasis laid lifestyle factors and the suggestions that have arisen as a result of the social restrictions during the ‘Covid era’.
Dementia does not go away when people socialise less – it gets worse – and I have found myself busier than ever, working in the field of dementia support.
I am fortunate in being able to spend time, so often not available to other health professionals, having in-depth conversation with those whose lives have been affected by the diagnosis. As people talk about their experience of dementia certain factors come up again and again – physical and mental trauma, illness, stress, nutritional habits, lifestyle options, polypharmacy, sleep disturbances and, lately, the lack of social interaction.
Not all of these factors have been heavily researched but as I have listened to case histories and put together information about risk factors, I have noticed a number of what I call ‘connections’. Many others are interested in these connections too, and in the theories and viewpoints about some of the treatments which have empirical evidence behind them, as well as the hard evidence that comes from medical trials. I have written this book for those people and for anyone who is worried about the possibility of developing dementia.
In Part One of this book I review evidence about the known risk factors and some of the research in those areas. Part Two allows you to make a personal assessment of how these risk factors affect you and in Part Three we discuss, in the light of this knowledge, what steps you personally can take to play your part in dodging dementia.
We don’t know if we can avoid developing dementia but some of us would like to have a jolly good try at doing so! This book is a tool to help you in that aim.
Mary Jordan
