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Preventing dementia is a key goal for many midlife and older adults.

Medications and supplements have shown limited success.

A groundbreaking study identifies the lifestyle changes that could dramatically reduce your risk of dementia.

We might all make changes based on the low-cost approaches they developed.

My prior blog posts addressed whether you have dementia, how lifelong factors may protect against dementia, and the role of genetics in dementia. But everyone wants to know, “What can I do to prevent dementia right now?”

A caveat: Check with a healthcare provider before you make lifestyle changes. An online blog educates the public about new research but not what is right for you.

Researchers have long known that poor health behaviors and environmental factors put people at risk of dementia: low education, chemical toxins, lack of sleep, stress, social isolation, being sedentary, and poor diet (put those potato chips down and get off the couch when you finish reading this).

But does a combination of positive health behaviors prevent dementia?

Recent research suggests that a full-life makeover might help prevent dementia, and even reverse some of the cognitive declines of late life.

The Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute on Aging completed an ambitious research endeavor: the US POINTER Trial (U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk). The goal: To find a constellation of effective lifestyle changes to combat cognitive impairment and dementia.

It involved a herculean effort. Scholars at five research sites recruited over 2,000 adults aged 60 to 79 who were at risk of cognitive impairments. Participants engaged in the study interventions for two years.

Before they started, these people spent most of their time sedentary and ate a poor diet. And they had at least two of these factors: family history of memory impairment, high blood pressure,........

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