Research Reveals 3-for-1 Brain Protection "Checklist"
By
Corey Wassum
Posted May 7, 2025
Age-related brain diseases—including stroke, dementia, and depression—threaten our quality of life. They can take the shine right out of your Golden Years.
But you don’t have to take these threats lying down.
While there are no guarantees in life, there are steps you can take to turn the odds in your favor—especially when it comes to your health.
Luckily, that’s precisely the case with these three age-related threats.
In fact, new research reveals that reducing your risk for any one of these devastating conditions slashes your risk of all three.
And a recent study has given us a handy “checklist” to do precisely that.
In a new meta-analysis published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, researchers analyzed 59 previous studies to uncover any overlapping risk factors associated with stroke, dementia, and depression.
Once they crunched the data, they found that at least 60 percent of stroke, 40 percent of dementia, and 35 percent of depression cases are attributable to modifiable risk factors.
They pinpointed 17 of these shared between at least two of the three conditions. Addressing any ONE of these risks could lower your chances of developing all three diseases:
- High blood pressure
- Severe kidney disease
- Elevated fasting plasma glucose
- High total cholesterol
- Excess alcohol use
- Poor diet
- Hearing loss
- Chronic pain
- Physical inactivity
- Lack of purpose in life
- Poor sleep (including insomnia and sleep apnea)
- Smoking
- Limited social engagement
- Chronic stress
- High BMI/obesity
- Air pollution exposure
- Limited cognitive leisure activities
They found that high blood pressure and severe kidney problems packed the biggest punch when it came to increasing risk.
However, on the flip side, staying physically active and keeping your brain engaged with things like puzzles, reading, or learning new skills is linked to a lower risk of disease.
What’s really exciting is that this research clarifies the connections between these brain conditions. It reminds us that preventing disease doesn’t have to be as complicated as it seems.
This list of modifiable risk factors provides a practical game plan for protecting our brains as we age. Instead of becoming overwhelmed with trying to prevent stroke, dementia, and depression separately, we can focus on tackling these shared risk factors.
It’s like a three-for-one deal: Three health benefits for the price of one lifestyle change!
P.S. Drive-thru disaster hits fast forward on aging.
Source:
Senff J, Tack RWP, Mallick A, et al., Modifiable risk factors for stroke, dementia and late-life depression: a systematic review and DALY-weighted risk factors for a composite outcome, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, April 2025. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2024-334925
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