What's your Brain Care Score?
The story of your health is often told by the numbers. For example, you're healthy if your LDL cholesterol is below 70 mg/dL; your blood pressure is around 110/75; your fasting blood sugar is under 99; and you have a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9. And here's one more to pay attention to: your Brain Care Score (BCS).
A BCS is determined by evaluating how you're doing in three categories of modifiable risk factors.
-- Physically, by looking at blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and BMI.
-- In your lifestyle choices, concerning nutrition, alcohol, aerobics, sleep, and smoking.
-- And on your social-emotional spectrum, evaluating your stress management, social relationships and sense of meaning in life.
The higher your score, the lower your risk of dementia -- and of stroke and late-life depression, too. Even folks with a genetic predisposition for dementia and stroke lower their risks when they amp up their BCS number.
Research published in the journal Neurology looked at around 360,000 folks, ages 51-63, some with genetic predispositions for dementia, some without. Over a 12-year stretch of time, the study found that every five-point increase in BCS lowered the risk of dementia, stroke and late-life depression by about 30% for everyone.
You can explore the BCS online (Google it.). And for a simple outline of how to address those three categories of modifiable risk factors, look no further than the free newsletter at LongevityPlaybook.com, Dr. Mike's book "The Great Age Reboot," and Dr. Oz's article "4 Easy Ways to Protect Your Brain Power -- Now That's Smart!" at iHerb.com/blog.
Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb.com, the world's leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively. Together they have written 11 New York Times bestsellers (four No. 1's).
(c)2024 Michael Roizen, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
(c) 2024 Michael Roizen, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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