{"id":24041,"date":"2025-12-29T13:58:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T05:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=24041"},"modified":"2025-12-29T13:58:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T05:58:35","slug":"how-can-you-protect-your-brain-health-move-brush-regularly-check-your-blood-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=24041","title":{"rendered":"How can you protect your brain health? Move, brush regularly, check your blood pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is the 79th instalment in a<\/em> series<\/em><\/span> on dementia, including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers, and stories of hope.<\/em><\/div>\n
As the new year approaches, four doctors with a special interest in brain health describe the best ways to start safeguarding brain health now to prevent or delay the onset of dementia later.<\/p>\n
They also share the steps they are taking now to protect their own brain health.<\/p>\n
Just move<\/h3>\n
Dr David Ward is a research fellow in ageing and geriatric medicine at the University of Queensland in Australia. As a dementia researcher entering mid-life, he says he is \u201cacutely aware that it is the life phase in which risk factors begin to creep up on you\u201d.<\/p>\n
Those risk factors \u2013 which include higher blood pressure<\/span>, weight gain and loss of strength<\/span> \u2013 can contribute to faster ageing and make the brain less resilient to the changes in that organ that pose a dementia risk.<\/div>\n
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<\/div>Dr David Ward is a research fellow at the University of Queensland in Australia. Mid-life, he says, is the phase in which risk factors for dementia \u201cbegin to creep up on you\u201d. Photo: Dr David Ward<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Ward\u2019s brain-health resolution for 2026 is to move \u201cpurposefully\u201d. Regular physical activity, he says, \u201cis the most reliable way we have of tackling the cluster of cardiometabolic issues and mood-related risk factors that drive both frailty and dementia<\/span>\u201d.<\/div>\n
Exercise has been described as the most \u201ctransformative\u201d thing we can do for brain health.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2025\/12\/26\/65f777ac-36f3-46be-a18f-60786ad53193_9e84b9d5.jpg\" "\\"Dr")
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