Healthy habits in middle age may protect against neurological conditions

In middle-aged people, risk factors such as blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol that are not well controlled, combined with not following certain healthy habits including exercise, diet and sleep, have been linked to a higher risk of stroke, dementia or depression later. in life, according to a study published in the Oct. 23, 2024, online issue Neurology^®the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. These results do not prove that not having healthy habits increases the risk of these conditions, they just show a connection.

The eight cardiovascular and brain health factors, known as the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8, are: being active; eat better; maintaining a healthy weight; no smoking; maintaining healthy blood pressure; getting enough sleep; and controlling cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

Brain health is paramount to the optimal well-being of every human being, allowing us to function at our highest levels and continually adapt in the world. Our study shows that making these healthy lifestyle choices in midlife can have a meaningful impact on brain health later in life.”

Santiago Clocchiatti-Tuozzo, MD, MHS, study author from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology

For the study, researchers evaluated data from 316,127 people with an average age of 56 years. They were followed for five years.

Researchers looked at participants’ scores on the eight essential cardiovascular health factors and divided them into three categories: optimal, average and poor.

Of the total group, 64,474 people had optimal scores, 190,919 people had intermediate scores and 60,734 people had poor scores.

Researchers then reviewed health records to identify who developed one of the following neurological conditions: stroke, dementia or depression later in life. Poor brain health was defined as the development of any of these conditions during subsequent years.

A total of 1.2% of participants met the definition of poor brain health, with a total of 3,753 conditions. Of those with optimal Life’s Essential 8 scores, 0.7% met the definition of poor brain health, compared to 1.2% of those with intermediate scores and 1.8% of those with poor scores.

After adjusting for factors that could influence the risk of these three neurological conditions, such as age, gender, race and ethnicity, researchers found that people with poor scores on the healthy lifestyle factors were more than twice as likely to have one of the three develop neurological disorders. conditions compared to people with optimal scores. Researchers also found that people with an intermediate score had a 37% higher risk of developing one of the three neurological conditions than those with an optimal score.

“Because the risk factors we looked at are all factors that people can improve, our findings highlight the potential brain health benefits of using these eight cardiovascular and brain health factors to guide healthy lifestyle choices,” Clocchiatti-Tuozzo said. “More research is needed to understand this connection between lifestyle habits and brain health, as well as how social factors such as race and ethnicity may influence this connection.”

To confirm their findings, researchers repeated the study in a group of 68,407 people participants followed for a total of five years and found similar results.

A limitation of the study was that participants’ scores were measured only once at the beginning of the study. Therefore, possible changes in lifestyle during the five-year study are not taken into account.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.