Additional Resources Mentioned
Takeaways
We shared 3 tips:
Tip 1: Learn about the 10 health habits for your brain
Tip 2: Know yourself
Tip 3: Pick a place to start
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59. Protecting Your Brain Health: Three Essential Tips for Dementia Caregivers
Full Episode Transcript
Nancy
As a family caregiver, you worry about your loved one’s brain health. But what about your own? Good news. There are things we can do to improve our own brain health. In this episode, Sue and I are talking with Shelby Roberts, Senior Director of Public Health for the Alzheimer’s Association, about protecting your brain health and reducing your risk of cognitive decline and dementia. We are sharing three tips.
Sue
Welcome Shelby Roberts. Shelby, please tell us about your role and what the Alzheimer’s Association wants us to know about brain health.
Shelby
Thanks so much Sue and Nancy. I’m really happy to be with you all today and be able to talk with you and your audience about brain health. In my role at the Alzheimer’s Association, I work with state, local, and tribal health organizations where we talk with them about ways they can improve brain health in their community.
And oftentimes that involves learning about the 10 healthy habits for your brain. So the science around chronic disease prevention, we all know a lot about. More than likely someone has told you, a doctor, a commercial somewhere about exercising, eating right. And over time, we have started to learn that these things also help improve your brain health.
At the Alzheimer’s Association, we take our role in synthesizing the science very seriously. As part of my job, I lead the Public Health Center of Excellence on dementia risk reduction. And one of the things we do is we look at all of the science about dementia risk reduction. We take that evidence and we compile it to understand what it is we know and what it is we can say about different health behaviors and how they improve brain health.
So far, over the past 10 to 20 years, what we’ve been able to say is at a population level. So this has still been really great things and great messages. You may have heard, what’s good for your heart is good for your brain. And a lot of that research comes from synthesizing multiple studies that oftentimes look at populations. So what that is telling us is a population, so a group of people, let’s say in a state or in a community who have lower blood pressure, also have lower rates of dementia. What it wasn’t able to say was, Sue, if you went to your doctor and you said, will lowering my blood pressure lower my risk for dementia? We weren’t able to answer that question directly, right? And physicians take this really seriously. They don’t want to tell their patients something that is not, that’s not right. They want to be able to share this information in a way that they can say it’s directly gonna impact you. So the Alzheimer’s Association invested in a study to be able to say more about this. And so this is called the US pointer study. The results just came out this summer, this past summer. And the study was a randomized control trial that went on for two years. The randomized control trial means that there were two groups.
What happened in these two groups is that one of them was the control group and they were given the information about how to improve brain health. The other group that was the study group, they were in a structured lifestyle program that involved coaching and a specific brain health recipe that we’ll talk a little bit more about as we go through the podcast. But the amazing news is that both of these groups improved their brain health. So just having the information as well as having the information in the structured program. The group in the structured program though, they improved at an even greater rate that was statistically significant compared to the control group. So this was so exciting for us at the Alzheimer’s Association as we’ve been watching this evidence grow and build over the years to now have this clinical trial to show us
individuals making these behavior changes over time can improve their brain health. So there’s lots of details about the study and we’ll share more information about that. All of the individuals did have risk factors for cognitive decline. They were at risk for dementia. But I know your podcast is for caregivers of people living with dementia. And what we know about caregiving for dementia is that caregivers often have higher risk of cognitive decline because they have more of these risk factors than the general population. So while that statement may not apply to everyone listening, we know on the whole that caregivers are at a higher risk of cognitive decline.
Nancy
Did they decrease their cognitive? What would you say something about two years? What was that?
Shelby
Yeah, so the people who were in the study group who had the more structured lifestyle program improved their cognition by two years. So they were performing like someone who was two years younger than when they had started dementia. We’re sharing three tips.
With that, let’s move into the first tip, which is actually learning about the Alzheimer’s Association 10 healthy habits for your brain that you introduced. While many of us as caregivers feel like we don’t have any more time to add one more thing or develop one new habit, the research is really clear that this is one of the best things we can actually do for our brain health. Yeah. the good news here is
Learning about the 10 healthy habits for your brain, hopefully the things in the 10 healthy habits, there’s not a lot that you need to learn. Things like exercising, eating right, getting enough sleep, knowing your blood pressure, having your blood pressure under control. These are things that at some point a doctor or a friend or someone has probably told you, these are things that are good for your health, whether it was good for your heart health or many of the things also are behaviors that help reduce risk for many chronic diseases. So what’s new about this is learning the impact they have on your brain health. And that can sometimes be an even better motivator for people or an additional motivator for people to want to change a habit. Because as you mentioned, it’s hard to start a new habit. And especially when you’re a caregiver, it can be even harder to think about adding something new into your regular routine.
Let’s start with something that’s near and dear to both Nancy and me. We love to exercise, so why don’t we start there? Yeah, so exercise is one of the 10 healthy habits for your brain. The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends that all adults get 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. So that’s thinking about aerobic activity, things that are getting your heart going, helping you sweat.
When I think about this one, I think that the important part of exercise and brain health is getting that blood pumping to your brain. So when we’re talking about aerobic activity, we want to really get a sweat on, get your heart pumping, and that’s when you know you’re doing exercise that’s good for your brain health.
Nancy
You know, I also find that exercise reduces my stress. good for brain health and as a dementia family caregiver you’re always looking for a way to sort of calm yourself down and reduce your stress. I can still remember when my husband was early stage dementia before we had caregivers, I needed to be, I really needed to be with him all the time. So I had to take my normal jogging routine and back it all the way up to 4.30 in the morning while he was still sleeping. I had headlamps on, I had a vest with lights on it and I would go out and get my run in so that I could be back before he woke up for the day. Eventually I had to get a treadmill and stick it in a room at the house so that I could still get my run in because his nighttime habits weren’t that consistent. But the other thing that I found also as a dementia family caregiver that falls into these 10 habits, which is interesting in terms of exercise is strength training. So another good reason why I needed to get into the habit of strength training was to just manage caregiving for my husband, helping him with change clothes or helping him with toileting and all the things that I need to be stronger to do. And I’d never been good at doing strength training, but I actually hired a personal trainer for a couple of months to teach me how to do strength training because it’s also one of those things you don’t want to start without having proper technique because you can actually hurt yourself if you don’t do it correctly. So I guess what’s interesting about all of this is it’s good for your brain health, but these are good habits for dementia family caregivers just to be good dementia family caregivers.
Shelby
Yeah, sure.
They absolutely are. And just like our bodies need exercise, so do our brains. So let’s talk about great cognitive exercises and why that matters. Yeah, so first off, it’s really interesting. You mentioned strength training in addition to aerobic exercise. So one of the things we learned in the US pointer study, that’s part of the US pointer recipe, which we’ll share. I’ll share that link with you so you can share it with all of your listeners. They did aerobic exercise as well as strength training and flexibility and stretching. Another thing they did as part of the US pointer study was brain games and brain challenges and also working together in groups that they were going through their coaching with. So challenging your mind is one, it’s actually two of the 10 healthy habits because stay in school is a 10 healthy habit. The more formal education people have, the lower rates of cognitive decline and dementia. And then I always joke that eventually, we stop going to school for some of us that last longer than others, but hopefully we all get to that point where we stop going to school. So at that point, it’s really important to learn new things. And the hard part about this is it’s usually easy to find the first new thing to learn, but then we have to remember once we get really good at that thing, you have to pick something new to move on to. You can still keep doing that new fun thing you learned how to do, but we’ll keep moving, keep challenging your brain.
Sue
And the example that I had when I was caring for my husband, I wanted to learn something new and our community had programs that you could take and I wanted to learn Spanish. So I was able to find someone to come and share some time with him and I went into the community to one of their programs to learn Spanish and it was really interesting. I struggled a little bit because then I had to go practice and I was trying to, you know, like be intentional about practice, but the learning of it, and it was in the environment, it was around other people, and I really didn’t enjoy that, and it was something I hadn’t done it. Years before, I’d learned French, but this really challenged a different part of me, and I really liked that because it got me out of what I had been thinking about and focusing on, because you really have to pay attention, and I liked it.
Nancy
That’s actually another good point, which is, as a dementia family caregiver, we know this is good for your brain, awesome, but it’s also a good way to get out of your environment and get with a different group of people and do something different and get some respite if you will, just by changing what you’re focused on. once again, double duty, which is great.
Shelby
Yeah. Yeah. Those are great examples and congratulations for trying. That’s really hard to do.
Whenever we work with health departments, one of the things that often comes up is talking with the local community colleges in their areas because sometimes there are ways to take discounted classes or to offer classes for older adults or people who are not seeking a degree and are just wanting to learn more. So definitely check that out in your community or bring that up as an example of a way that a college in your community could help to serve the residents.
Sue
And then let’s talk a little bit about nutrition. And one of the areas that you prioritize is the mind diet. So let’s talk about what is the mind diet and why is the mind diet so important for our brain health?
Shelby
Yeah, so in the US Pointer study, another part of the recipe was food, right? We all know it’s really important what we put into our body. And the participants in US Pointer followed the mind diet, which is a Mediterranean diet, and also has lower salt intake, or you may have heard the DASH diet before. As a former nutrition major, I always feel it is just so important that if those words stress you out, that’s okay. And you don’t have to follow that diet exactly as it is written. The important parts of it are that you are getting lean proteins, you’re eating lots of fruits and vegetables, and you are limiting your processed foods as much as possible. None of us are ever perfect on every single day, but if you’re taking those important tenets of the MIND diet or the DASH diet, then you can really improve the nutrition and the fuel that you’re giving your body so your body can do a better job of taking care of itself because it has those right nutrients going into it.
Nancy
And you know, I will say along those same lines, I know what I should eat. I love to cook. So I try to be really careful and intentional about what I cook. But sometimes, especially when you’re a dementia family caregiver, knowing what you should eat, if you write that down and knowing what you did eat, you write that down, they’re not always the same thing. Because sometimes we stress eat and we just don’t have time to focus on ourselves.
That kind of leads us to tip two, which is to know yourself.
Shelby
Yeah, whenever we think about changing a habit, one, as we just talked about, it’s important to know what are the right things to do or what are the things we can do that can improve our brain health. But then the second thing is that you have to know where you are in that journey. You have to know if you are getting, you how much sleep do you get a night? Have you tracked that? And again, if tracking your sleep and your food stresses you out, I don’t want anyone to just stop right here.
But even just doing it for a day or two really gives you a better idea of how much physical activity did I get today? If you have a way that your phone or your watch tracks your steps, just look at that data for the last few days and you can start to understand your habits a little bit more, which gives you more knowledge about which habits you could change. We have a new tool at the Alzheimer’s Association that can help you with this, which I’m really excited to share with you all. It’s called the Brain Health Habit Builder. And we’ve not talked about every single one of the 10 healthy habits today, but this tool goes through all 10 and lets you tell it how you’re doing on each one. And then once you go through that, it’s very quick. It’ll tell you different areas that you could focus on and habits that you could potentially improve, or it’ll also tell you, great job, you’re doing a really good job at that thing. My favorite part of this tool is that you don’t even have to put in your email, it will just spit out your report right to you. And it’s really easy to go through. I hope that you’ll all give it a try. And we’re interested to hear which habits you are doing well at and which ones that you want to focus on.
Nancy
It told me to wear a helmet more often when I ride a bike.
Shelby
‘That’s really important. That’s a healthy habit we haven’t talked about.
Nancy
But it did tell me that. So I have to take that seriously. Of course, we will put the link in the podcast description to what, to the hat, to where you actually can go take it. It’s a really easy quiz to take. It’s kind of fun. think everybody likes to take a quiz about what, about what they do and about themselves. And like you said, the results are immediate. So it’s really exciting.
Sue
Shelby, a lot of this can lead people to feeling kind of overwhelmed. And when they start going toward that, what’s been your experience? What’s your advice to help people?
Shelby
So this is going to bring us to tip three, which is pick a place to start. And the place does not have to be all 10 healthy habits. The place does not have to be the full U.S. pointer recipe that you see that encompasses many of those 10 healthy habits. And the place to start is where you feel ready to start.
As part of my work at the Alzheimer’s Association, we also look at the science of behavior change in addition to the science of brain health. And these three tips that we’ve gone through with you today are really three of the important tips to behavior change.
First off, have to know, you have to have the knowledge, you have to have the information to even be able to make a choice.
Then you have to know about yourself and where you fit within the knowledge you just learned.
And then three, you just pick a place to start. And I know with a caregiving journey, sometimes that can feel impossible. And if you’re at a place where that feels impossible today, that’s okay. You know, wait until it feels that you do have the time and space to focus on yourself and pick a place that you want to start to change.
Sue
Shelby, thank you so much. You have given us a tremendous amount of really practical information today. And you’ve introduced us to a variety of different kinds of information. Could you share a little bit more about what the information is that you offer and where people can find it?
Shelby
Yeah, definitely. So I’ve been talking to you all about the Alzheimer’s Association and brain health today. And I want to you to know, I never end a presentation about this without saying the Alzheimer’s Association is also here to support you in whatever needs you have related to Alzheimer’s, any other types of dementia, or if you have more questions about brain health, we have a 1-800 number, 1-800-272-3900. Someone will answer that phone 24 seven to answer your questions.
And I always tell people it’s also there for people whose questions you are tired of answering. So if there is a family member that you wanna give that number to, it’s also there for them. You can find our brain health resources. We’ll share all of these links with you all, but all of our brain health resources are at alz.org/brainhealth.
And then there are specific links to the different tools and resources where you could print out the 10 healthy habits to hang it up on your wall if you want. So we’ll share all of that with you so you can find it more easily.
Nancy
You know, I did not appreciate early on that the Alzheimer’s association was supporting all kinds of dementia. And to me that’s huge. is. And you know, Alzheimer’s being 65 % of dementias is, you know, obviously the name appeals to most groups, but my husband had frontotemporal dementia and I found lots and lots of resources in the Alzheimer’s Association website. And Sue and I point to it in the Navigating Dementia Caregiving Roadmap. point you to many different types of resources to the direct page on the Alzheimer’s Association to find them. it’s a great website with lots and lots of good information on it.
Well, let’s summarize first, everything that we mentioned, of course, will be in the podcast description or commonly known as the show notes. So you don’t have to, you know, scramble to figure out how to get to these valuable resources that will all be there. And I want to thank Shelby for joining us today, educating us on brain health and really all the great things we can do to protect our own brain health and the brain health of our loved ones.
We shared three tips.
Sue
Tip one, learn about the 10 healthy habits for your brain.
Nancy
Tip two is to know yourself.
Sue
Tip three, pick a place to start.
Nancy
Love that one. Yeah. Cause that’s really it, right? Start somewhere. Just start somewhere. Exactly.
Now, if you have tips to help, now, if you have tips about brain health and how to get started, we’d love to hear them. Please share them on our Facebook page, our Instagram page. The links are in the podcast description. If you like this podcast, please share it with other people. Please. If you like this podcast, please share it with your friends. Please subscribe to it or follow it. We really, really appreciate it.
Sue
Every podcast also has a matching blog post. Okay, there you go. Every podcast also has a matching blog post on our website that brings you all the detailed notes of the episodes. You don’t even have to write notes. Even modest lifestyle changes can help protect your brain health. So it’s okay to start small. It’s important to just start.
We’re all on this journey together.
