As Gow tells me, “If people don’t believe change is possible, it’s very unlikely that they’re going to be open to an intervention… Increasing the knowledge of what we can do to protect and promote brain health, whatever age we are, is fundamental”. For instance simple actions could be trying a new exercise, finding a new hobby or joining a book group.

And for anyone ready to take these steps, combining changes in diet, exercise, cognitive training and cardiovascular health have been shown to have a significant improvement on brain health for older adults at risk of dementia.

This was shown in the landmark Finger (Finnish Geriatric Intervention) study, which involved 1,260 participants aged 60 to 77 who were randomly assigned into either an intervention group, where they underwent a two-year programme of lifestyle interventions, or a control group, who simply received regular health advice. The study found that compared to the control group, participants in the intervention group showed up to 25% greater improvement in overall cognitive function, as well as improvements in memory and problem solving.  

And finally, when I ask Gow what his suggestion is for how to think about making lifestyle changes, he says it’s about making “marginal changes today” and that there’s no magic bullet. It’s therefore clear that improvements across different areas of our life all add up and will provide us with lasting benefits, now and into the future.

* Melissa Hogenboom is BBC Global’s Senior Health Correspondent.

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