Occasional memory lapses in the course of an individual`s life are an inevitable occurrence, especially among the elderly people. This could occur in a simple manner such as forgetting what happened recently, or even a few minutes ago. It is commonly alleged that such occurrences are normal, however, when they are recurring, this culminates into a perturbing problem necessitating medical intervention. In the article “Healthy Lifestyle May Reduce Dementia Risk,” Nicholas Bakalar the author focuses on a study undertaken on 2 specific variables, genetic risk and healthy lifestyle. This critical review will identify the major arguments, ideas, strengths, weaknesses and also conclusions posed by the author.
Summary
Research Question and Hypotheses
The following critical question is paused by the author, “Is a healthy lifestyle associated with lower risk of dementia, regardless of genetic risk? This is an aspect that emerged after a research study was conducted on 196,383 individuals who were aged above 60 years within the same cohort (Bakalar, 2019) . The investigation involved assigning a polygenic risk score to each of the participants. Specific genetic variants related to dementia were identified and utilized in the research to assign the variants. This in tandem with healthy lifestyle was used as a precursor for establishing causative agents of dementia. While specifically alluding to healthy lifestyle, Bakalar bases this on certain behaviors observed in individual participants such as: Physical activity, smoking, diet and alcohol consumption (Bakalar, 2019). In this respect the hypotheses which can be established from this article is “If one has high genetic risk factor and also leads an unhealthy lifestyle, there is a great likelihood that they will suffer from dementia.” This means that both the genetic constitution of an individual and their lifestyle are contributing factors to their acquisition of dementia. In terms of genetics, one can discern that if they come from a family with a history of dementia, there is a possibility that they may also suffer from the disease at some point in their lives. If they lead an unhealthy lifestyle, this further increases the degree of risk.
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Major Arguments/ideas, Strengths/Weaknesses, and Conclusions
The major arguments established by Bakalar are an extension of a study conducted by British researchers on the subject of dementia. All the participants of the research were observed over a duration of up to eight years. According to Bakalar, individuals found to be highly susceptible to acquiring dementia were those who bore the greatest risk factors. He argues that there is a 91% higher risk for such people to acquire dementia in the long run in comparison to individuals bearing the lowest risk factors. Bakalar further focuses on healthy living amongst the participants of the study. After the research was complete, it was observed that healthy lifestyle also played a significant role to acquiring dementia. Individuals with the worst lifestyle had a 34% risk of suffering from dementia compared to those who led the healthiest lifestyle. It was further established that when both components were placed together an even more devastating impact was bound to transpire amongst participants. People leading the unhealthiest lifestyle and also with the greatest genetic risk factor were almost three times more likely to suffer from dementia compared to the participants posing the best risk scores while alluding to both variables (Lourida et al., 2019). The strength of this research is based on the idea that it covers a large number of participants. Conversely, the weakness is based on its inability to address the occurrence of the disease within other cohorts such as among young individuals.
Critical Evaluation
The study which Bakalar uses as a basis for his article was extracted from a research conducted on participants of European ancestry by British researchers. It involved a cohort of individuals aged at least 60 years. A 2.83 hazard ratio for all-cause dementia was obtained from the individuals within the study who exhibited a high genetic risk while compared to those bearing low genetic risk ( Lourida et al., 2019 ). Despite being no significant relation between the variables: Genetic risk and healthy lifestyle, it was generally discerned that people living a healthy lifestyle had a lower risk of acquiring dementia. It was agreed that even though genetic factors was known to contribute towards dementia, the magnitude of individual lifestyle involvement was almost negligible or unknown. Amongst the 196383 participants, the mean age was 64.1 years and 52.7% was composed of women. Moreover, out of all those who participated, 68.1% led a favorable lifestyle, with 23.6% falling under the intermediate lifestyle category and 8.2% in the unfavorable lifestyle group (Citroner, 2019). Out of the study it was concluded that both genetic risk factors and unhealthy lifestyle were connected to higher dementia risk.
Other relevant Sources
To establish the significance of the above study it is fundamental to delve into other studies conducted on the subject of contention. In another study also published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and conducted by the University of Exeter in England, it was agreed that people with genetic risk of acquiring dementia could lower this risk by leading a healthy lifestyle (Citroner, 2019). This further strengthens the argument established in the article regarding the viability of living a healthy lifestyle. It can also be observed that the same researchers obtained a 32% likelihood for individuals leading the worst lifestyle acquiring dementia compared to those who led the healthiest lifestyle which is close to the 34% chance established study under review, thus indicating that this is a viable viewpoint. The second study related to this study was also published in JAMA by Tianjin Medical University researchers in China. This research was, however, more focused on the aspect of lifetime on the memory loss of individuals. It emerged that seniors who bore the highest lifetime cognitive reserve were 39% less likely to suffer from dementia compared to individuals bearing the least reserve (Citroner, 2019). A healthy lifestyle composed of restful sleep was found to lower the possibility of individuals acquiring dementia. In a third study undertaken by the National Institute of Aging, it emerged that aging is a strong component in the acquisition of Alzheimer`s the leading cause of dementia. In addition to this, it was observed that lifestyle and genetic factors played a critical role in determining whether one acquired the disease thus further reinforcing the argument posed. To further hypothesize the relevance of the claims made by Bakalar in his article, one can infer to the research conducted by Krellman a renowned clinical psychologist on Alzheimer`s. In this research it was observed that modification of individuals` lifestyle by introducing healthy diet and social engagement is bound to minimize the risk of suffering from Alzheimer`s which has further results into dementia.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, this article has contributed some resourceful aspects which have provoked my understanding and development of knowledge on the subject of dementia. Prior to reading this research one would have stuck to theories such as the idea that dementia is transmitted only through the ancestral lineage. Research undertaken on the subject of dementia has manage to unearth the critical factor of individual lifestyle as a significant proponent of the disease. Bakalar alleges that Dementia can result from unhealthy lifestyle and genetic factors. He further argues that a combination of both aspects is bound to increase the degree of risk for acquiring dementia. Finally, based on other studies conducted on the same subject, it can generally be agreed that the lifestyle of individuals acts as a significant determinant on whether one will suffer from dementia in addition to genetic factors borne by individuals.
References
Bakalar, N. (2019, July 16). Healthy Lifestyle May Reduce Dementia Risk. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/well/mind/healthy-lifestyle-may-reduce-dementia-risk.html
Citroner, G. (2019). Can a Healthy Lifestyle Reduce Your Dementia Risk Despite Genetics? Healthline journal .
Lourida, I., Hannon, E., Littlejohns, T. J., Langa, K. M., Hyppönen, E., Kuźma, E., & Llewellyn, D. J. (2019). Association of Lifestyle and Genetic Risk with Incidence of Dementia. JAMA .
