Study: Lifestyle habits affect the risk of stroke, dementia and depression! 3 ways to build a healthy lifestyle

2024 is coming to an end. Looking back on this year, have you maintained regular exercise, adequate sleep, and a balanced diet? Having healthy living habits can help reduce the risk of stroke, dementia and depression. In the new year, you may want to plan a new life for your health. According to a study published in the medical journal Neurology in October 2024, middle-aged people who fail to properly control risk factors such as blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, and lack healthy lifestyle habits, including exercise, diet and sleep, are at higher risk of stroke, dementia or depression in the future.

The study was conducted by scholars from Yale University. The researchers evaluated data from 316,127 participants with an average age of 56 and conducted a five-year follow-up study. The researchers also looked at their scores on eight basic cardiovascular health factors, including staying active, not smoking, eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight and normal blood pressure, getting enough sleep, and controlling cholesterol and blood sugar. They were divided into three categories: best, moderate, and poor. The number of people in each category was 64,474, 190,919, and 60,734, respectively. The researchers evaluated the participants' health records and found that 1.2% of the participants developed any neurological disease, such as stroke, dementia or senile depression, during the follow-up period. In terms of the three categories, the best was 0.7%, the average was 1.2%, and the worst was 1.8%.

The study also found that people who received "poor" scores for healthy lifestyles had more than twice the risk of developing these three neurological diseases as those who received "optimal" scores. Those with an "average" score had a 37% higher risk of developing neurological diseases than those with an "optimal" score. Research suggests that healthy lifestyle choices made in midlife can have a profound impact on brain health in later life.

Chiu Hongyi, director of the Institute of Population Health Sciences at the National Health Research Institutes, explained that the sample size of the above study is very large, so the results obtained are very worthy of reference. The research results are actually common sense that most people have. Through big data research, the researchers once again proposed empirical data to illustrate the necessity of healthy living habits. Chiu Hongyi emphasized that the more important task is how to implement and develop healthy behavioral patterns in order to truly help people prevent diseases such as stroke, dementia, or senile depression. He suggested that units at all levels actively promote health promotion practices for the people in order to achieve the effect that prevention is better than cure.

Maintain regular exercise and good sleep to avoid future diseases.

3 ways to build a healthy lifestyle

Yeh Ya-hsin, director of the Tung Foundation Mental Health Center, said that research shows that lifestyle in middle age affects the risk of stroke, dementia or depression in old age. The eight health factors mentioned in the study are all preventable and selectable. Among them, staying active and sleeping are easily disturbed by mood swings or psychological and interpersonal interactions. It is relatively difficult to maintain and requires more observation, record keeping and effort. In the new year, it is recommended that people can establish a healthy lifestyle through three ways:

1. Examine your life: Why don’t you sleep well, don’t exercise, eat high-starch foods, etc.? Find out why you can’t do it or don’t like it, overcome and adjust from it, think about how to turn dislike into like. When thinking about these problems, you will have the opportunity to help yourself improve or become better.

2. Create a sense of pleasure: Do not force yourself to do things you are unwilling to do. Find a balance between liking and controlling. Pleasant experiences help behaviors to continue. For example, switch from eating carbohydrates at every meal to only one meal a day. Reward yourself after achieving the goal, get happiness from it, and do it without thinking, then it will become a habit.

3. Maintain a normal mind: Develop habits in middle age. Don’t think about preventing stroke, dementia or depression in old age. Avoid being too stressed. Most people during this period need to spend time and energy taking care of their elders. You might as well learn from and examine their habits to find the driving force for your own life.