How Maintaining a Healthy Weight Can Reduce Your Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease
As we age, the fear of cognitive decline becomes a prevalent concern. According to experts from memory care in San Jose, many factors contribute to our brain’s health, and keeping a healthy weight is one of them. Yes, you read that right. Your body weight can make or break your mental fitness as well. But how?
Research shows that obesity lifts up the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, which affects millions worldwide. In this blog post, we’ll explore how keeping a healthy BMI can lower the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease and preserve your cognitive abilities for years to come.
Increased Weight Is a Sign of Cognitive Difficulty
As we age, it’s common to gain weight due to a slower metabolism. However, excessive weight gain may be an indicator of cognitive difficulty. Research shows that individuals with higher body mass index (BMI) scores tend to have lower brain volume and more white matter abnormalities, which are linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Physical stress resulting from taking on excessive weight can negatively impact our mental health as well by increasing anxiety levels or causing depression.
Therefore, maintaining a healthy weight is crucial not only for physical but also for cognitive health. By keeping your BMI within normal limits through regular exercise and healthy eating habits, you’ll help protect your brain from potential damage while improving your overall quality of life.
Too Much Fat Tissues Can Affect Brain Sharpness
Excessive body weight is not just a matter of aesthetics, but it can have severe implications for our cognitive health. Fat tissues are active endocrine organs that secrete hormones and inflammatory cytokines which disturb the brain’s chemical balance. Studies suggest that too much adipose tissue leads to chronic inflammation in the brain, impairing cognitive function and increasing the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Moreover, high levels of triglycerides in the blood due to obesity can cause vascular damage leading to reduced oxygen supply to brain cells.
Maintaining a healthy weight should be considered crucial for preserving cognitive abilities throughout life. Ensuring adequate physical activity and balanced nutrition may help prevent or delay age-related declines in cognitive performance while reducing risks associated with neurodegeneration.
Extra Insulin in Bloodstreams Interferes With Brain’s Energy Supply
When taking too much sugar, our body produces insulin to spread even the glucose levels in our bloodstream. However, when we consistently over-consume sugary foods or drinks, our body can become resistant to insulin – this leads to higher levels of insulin flowing through our bloodstream. Unfortunately, extra insulin in our bloodstream can also interfere with the brain’s energy supply. Insulin resistance has been linked with a reduced ability for brain cells to use glucose as energy – which is crucial for optimal cognitive function.
Additionally, high insulin levels in the brain can lead to inflammation and oxidative stress. These all are connected to various neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
The Bottom Line
Maintaining a healthy weight should be everyone’s standard of everyday life. In fact, it can be super beneficial for overall health and has a huge role in reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
As we have seen, increased weight can be an early sign of cognitive difficulty, too much fat tissue can affect brain sharpness, and extra insulin in our bloodstream interferes with the brain’s energy supply.…
