The seven healthy habits that can reduce the risk of dementia in diabetics

A series of healthy habits, such as good sleep, frequent social contacts and regular physical exercise, can reduce the risk of dementia in people with type 2 diabetes, a new Chinese scientific study shows. A second British study confirms that a healthy lifestyle almost halves the risk of dementia in diabetics.

More specifically, these seven healthy habits are: not smoking, moderate alcohol consumption (up to one drink a day for women and two for men), regular physical exercise (at least 2.5 hours a week of moderate intensity or 75 high-intensity minutes), get a good night’s sleep (seven to nine hours), eat healthy (lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, but little meat), be as sedentary as possible (watch TV no more than four hours a day) and have frequent social contacts (participating in gatherings with friends or relatives at least once a month and in other social activities at least once a week).

The researchers, led by Dr Yingli Lu of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, who published in the American Academy of Neurology’s Neurology journal, analyzed data on nearly 168,000 people over the age of 60 with and without diabetes who did not have dementia at baseline and were followed for an average of 12 years. During this period 4,351 people were diagnosed with dementia. 4% of people followed none to two healthy habits, 11% three, 22% four, 30% five, 24% six, and 9% all seven.

It found that diabetics who followed at most two healthy habits were four times more likely to develop dementia than those who followed all seven. People with diabetes who followed all seven habits had a 74% greater chance of dementia compared to those without diabetes who followed all seven healthy habits.

Among diabetics who followed all seven habits, there were only 21 cases of dementia, or just 0.28 percent, compared to 0.69 percent among those who followed at most two healthy habits. After taking into account other factors (age, educational level, etc.), it was estimated that diabetics who followed all healthy habits had an average 54% lower risk of dementia than those who followed up to two habits. Each additional healthy habit was estimated to be associated with an 11% reduction in dementia risk.

Notably, the relationship between a healthy lifestyle and the likelihood of dementia was not found to be affected by the medications someone was taking or how well their blood sugar was controlled.

“Type 2 diabetes is a global epidemic affecting one in ten adults and is known to increase a person’s risk of developing dementia. We investigated whether a broad combination of healthy lifestyle habits can offset this increased risk of dementia and found that indeed people with diabetes who incorporate seven healthy habits into their lives have a lower risk of dementia than people with diabetes who do not healthy life. Our research clearly shows that for people with type 2 diabetes their risk of dementia can be significantly reduced if they live a healthy lifestyle. “Doctors treating people with diabetes should recommend such lifestyle changes to their patients,” Lu said.

The British study

The University of Glasgow researchers, who made the announcement at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual conference in Stockholm, analyzed data on 445,364 people with an average age of 56, followed for an average of nine years.

All had no diagnosed dementia at the start of the study, while 24,735 (5.5%) had type 2 diabetes. All answered detailed questionnaires about their habits, such as sitting time (for TV etc.), their level of physical activity/exercise, the duration of their sleep, alcohol consumption, smoking or not, their diet (unhealthy/healthy), etc.

Both diabetes and an unhealthy lifestyle were found to be associated with a greater risk of dementia. Diabetics were 33% more likely to develop dementia later in life than those without diabetes. People with the least healthy lifestyles had a 65% greater risk of developing dementia, compared to those with the healthiest lifestyles.

The healthier a diabetic’s lifestyle was, the lower the chance of later dementia. People with diabetes and the healthiest lifestyles were on average 45% less likely (that’s almost half the risk) to be diagnosed with dementia, compared to diabetics who lived unhealthily.

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