7 health metrics that can lower your risk for dementia

BOSTON -- Scoring well on seven health metrics could reduce your risk of dementia, and physical activity is one of them.

Researchers at the University of Mississippi studied more than 10,000 Americans and found that seven metrics called the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 were associated with dementia risk later in life.

The areas include physical activity, diet, obesity, smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. Scoring better in these areas in midlife was associated with a lower risk of dementia as they aged, even in people at high genetic risk for it.

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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