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ForewordWritten by: Gill Livingston
Professor in Psychiatry of older people, University College London, Chair of the Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care |
I urge you to read this book and act on it.
For many years people thought that dementia was an inevitable part of being old, or if not ordained was something which you could do nothing about. Our knowledge has changed hugely over my working life, and we now know there is an enormous amount you can do to reduce the chances of developing dementia or delay the onset. This means that taking the advice present in this readable book means that you are likely to have more years of a healthy life. Ironically, if you live to a cognitively healthy old age, you will never know whether you might have avoided dementia in any case. What you will know is that you have had a better quality of life by mixing more with others, increasing your physical activity, having new experiences and thinking more and being able to see and hear well.
Tackling low mood will enhance you and your family’s enjoyment. Some people will still develop dementia, but they will live longer lives without it and spend less time with it.
The goals may seem ambitious but changing one or more of these risks can begin a virtuous circle. For example, hearing better means that it is much more pleasurable to socialise, as it is always good to know what people say and embarrassing not to hear. Then you go out more, so become more active. This means that your mood may improve, you think more, perhaps lose some weight, become stronger, and with that your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar may drop.
You have also decreased your risk of stroke and heart attacks and falls by keeping your blood pressure, cholesterol, weight and blood sugar under control. Think that not only physical activity but better hearing and eyesight reduce the chance of falling.
The authors of this book have very kindly used the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care which I led, as the basis for their work. I wanted to mention that this is an international, multidisciplinary work produced by hard work and conceptual clarity of all the authors from Asia, Europe, UK, the Americas and Australia. In the prevention part I wanted to particularly shout out about the original research produced to add to and integrate with, our summaries of the literature – from Andrew Sommerlad, Naaheed Mukadam, Sergi Costafreda. Geir Selbaek and Jonathan Huntley. I want to add that all authors thought hard and debated and to also credit the other authors for remarkable insights and increasing knowledge of both what we know and what we don’t know and what it all means: Suvarna Alladi, David Ames, Sube Banerjee, Alistair Burns, Carol Brayne, Nick Fox, Cleusa Ferri, Laura Gitlin, Robert Howard, Helen Kales, Mika Kivimäki, Eric Larson, Noeline Nakasujja, Kenneth Rockwood, Quincy Samus, Kokoro Shirai, Archana Singh-Manoux, Lon Schneider, Sebastian Walsh, Yao Yao.
I hope you enjoy this book and act on it.
Gill Livingston
Professor in Psychiatry of older people, University College London, Chair of the Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care
For many years people thought that dementia was an inevitable part of being old, or if not ordained was something which you could do nothing about. Our knowledge has changed hugely over my working life, and we now know there is an enormous amount you can do to reduce the chances of developing dementia or delay the onset. This means that taking the advice present in this readable book means that you are likely to have more years of a healthy life. Ironically, if you live to a cognitively healthy old age, you will never know whether you might have avoided dementia in any case. What you will know is that you have had a better quality of life by mixing more with others, increasing your physical activity, having new experiences and thinking more and being able to see and hear well.
Tackling low mood will enhance you and your family’s enjoyment. Some people will still develop dementia, but they will live longer lives without it and spend less time with it.
The goals may seem ambitious but changing one or more of these risks can begin a virtuous circle. For example, hearing better means that it is much more pleasurable to socialise, as it is always good to know what people say and embarrassing not to hear. Then you go out more, so become more active. This means that your mood may improve, you think more, perhaps lose some weight, become stronger, and with that your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar may drop.
You have also decreased your risk of stroke and heart attacks and falls by keeping your blood pressure, cholesterol, weight and blood sugar under control. Think that not only physical activity but better hearing and eyesight reduce the chance of falling.
The authors of this book have very kindly used the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care which I led, as the basis for their work. I wanted to mention that this is an international, multidisciplinary work produced by hard work and conceptual clarity of all the authors from Asia, Europe, UK, the Americas and Australia. In the prevention part I wanted to particularly shout out about the original research produced to add to and integrate with, our summaries of the literature – from Andrew Sommerlad, Naaheed Mukadam, Sergi Costafreda. Geir Selbaek and Jonathan Huntley. I want to add that all authors thought hard and debated and to also credit the other authors for remarkable insights and increasing knowledge of both what we know and what we don’t know and what it all means: Suvarna Alladi, David Ames, Sube Banerjee, Alistair Burns, Carol Brayne, Nick Fox, Cleusa Ferri, Laura Gitlin, Robert Howard, Helen Kales, Mika Kivimäki, Eric Larson, Noeline Nakasujja, Kenneth Rockwood, Quincy Samus, Kokoro Shirai, Archana Singh-Manoux, Lon Schneider, Sebastian Walsh, Yao Yao.
I hope you enjoy this book and act on it.
Gill Livingston
Professor in Psychiatry of older people, University College London, Chair of the Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care
