Healthy Living

Genetics and Lifestyle Choices Both Play a Role in How Alzheimer's Develops

Social factors

Celebrate life in the company of others 

The level of social interaction may differ from person to person; some  are more comfortable at home with one or two close friends (even if they are actually fur friends), while others prefer the thrill of a crowd and company. Either way, complete isolation damages the soul and body. Research suggests that more social interaction equals greater quality of memory in older individuals, and loneliness may contribute to dementia.

Researchers at Rush University studied 800 people around 80 years old. The participants, none of which had dementia at the beginning of the study, were asked to rate their loneliness on a scale, and when the study ended four years later, the results were reviewed. The statistics overwhelmingly showed how devastating it is for a person to live a lonely life, “During the study 76 people developed Alzheimer’s-like dementia. People with the highest scores on the loneliness scale had more than twice the risk of developing dementia as those with social connections who had scored lower” (Diament). Humans were not made for solitude.