Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 13, 2019 Page 25
QQQ
SIGN THE MAIL’S PETITION AT...
CHANGE.ORG/DEMENTIACARE
Figures from the Office for
National Statistics last week
showed dementia is responsi
ble for one in eight deaths.
Around 850,000 adults live
with the condition, which
experts say is the ‘biggest
health crisis of our time’.
The Daily Mail launched a
campaign last month urging
the Government to end thefriends, saying: ‘Keep up your
social networks. Loneliness is
a big issue – people who are
lonely are twice as likely to
develop dementia.’
Learning a new musical
instrument or a language
could also help.
Professor Burns said there
were several risk factors that
‘tend to club together’, for
example, high blood pressure
and cholesterol, diabetes and
being overweight.
There are around 225,000new diagnoses of dementia in
England each year. If Profes
sor Burns’ predictions are
accurate, about 75,000 could
potentially be prevented.
Referring to the impact of
lifestyle changes on patients
who already have dementia,
he said: ‘After someone gets a
diagnosis, they kind of with
draw into themselves.
‘But social networks – sing
ing for the brain, swimming
for the brain – are really
important. It doesn’t slowdown the biology of the dis
ease but in terms of the
effects, these things will be
very helpful indeed.’
Professor Burns added:
‘Although NHS England
recently recorded the highest
monthly dementia diagnoses
on record, there are still peo
ple living with dementia who
do not have a diagnosis.
‘This is why the Daily Mail’s
campaign is so important as
it’s helping to raise awareness
of the condition.’NHS expert:
Healthy living
could prevent
a THIRD of
dementia cases
FALLING asleep in the daytime could be an
early warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease,
according to research.
It found brain cells that help keep us
awake during the day are the first to go in
those affected by the illness.
Researchers discovered that an accumu-
lation of a protein called tau kills off these
brain cells.
Regular dozing in patients has previously
been reported by both researchers and
carers long before their memory prob-
lems began to unfold.
Now a US team who analysed the brains
of dead patients has discovered disease-
related neural changes may lead to thedaytime sleeping. Lead author Dr Jun Oh,
based at the Memory and Ageing Centre
at the University of California, San Fran-
cisco, said: ‘It is remarkable because it is
not just a single brain nucleus that is
degenerating, but the whole wakefulness-
promoting network.
‘Crucially this means the brain has no
way to compensate because all of these
functionally related cell types are being
destroyed at the same time.’
The study, published in the journal Alzhei-
mer’s And Dementia, found three areas of
the brain that boost wakefulness had lost
up to 75 per cent of their neurons. They
also had a significant build-up of tau.Daytime naps ‘sign of Alzheimer’s’
TENS of thousands could
avoid dementia by making
basic changes to their life
style, according to a senior
NHS doctor.
Professor Alistair Burns said
up to a third of cases were
potentially preventable as they
were linked to diet, inactivity or
poor brain health.
He stressed that a combination
of ‘simple lifestyle interventions’ at
any age would dramatically reduce
a person’s risk.
These include learning a new lang
uage, walking a little further each
day, controlling blood pressure and
cholesterol levels and staying in
touch with loved ones.
Professor Burns, the national
clinical lead for dementia in the
NHS, said these interventions
would also help patients already
diagnosed with the illness.
While exercise and social activi
ties will not halt the disease’s bio
logical advance, they can help alle
viate the withdrawal and isolation
that can come with it, he said.‘It’s never too
late to start’
As he hails Mail’s campaign on care costs...
By Sophie Borland
Health EditorHot to foxtrot, the f irst lady of Strictly
Family home: With her husband on the Longleat estatePicture: SPREAD PICTURES
Toned: Emma Weymouth on holiday in St TropezWITH her Strictly Come
Dancing debut only a few
weeks away, Emma Wey-
mouth is clearly already
in good shape for the
gruelling challenge.
The 33-year-old viscount-
ess showed off her physique
in a leopard-print bikini
during a holiday in St
Tropez. She is enjoying
some family time on the
French Riviera with her
sons John, four, and Henry,
two, before she begins
training for the BBC1 show.
A contributing editor to
Vogue, she is married to
Ceawlin Thynn, Viscount
Weymouth, the son of the7th Marquess of Bath. The
BBC has not revealed who
will partner the aristocrat.
‘I can’t wait for the danc-
ing and the fabulous out-
fits,’ she said when her
appearance was revealed.
Another of this year’s
competitors, Olympic
rower James Cracknell,
revealed he was banned
from taking part during his
marriage – for fear of the
show’s relationship curse.
Cracknell, 47, split from
TV presenter Beverley
Turner, 45, last year.By Alisha Rouse
Showbusiness Correspondentscandal of families having to
pay for their loved ones’ care.
Professor Burns, a psychia
trist who specialises in
dementia, described the cam
paign as ‘important’.
He said: ‘There are huge
opportunities in terms of the
potential of tens of thousands
of people preventing demen
tia if we take some simple life
style interventions.
‘There’s no doubt that many
people don’t realise that but I
think things are changing. It’s
never too early to start and
it’s never too late to start.’
He added a good diet is
‘really important’, along with
exercise. This could simply
be choosing to walk up stairs
or get off the train or bus a
stop before your destination
and walk the final stretch.
On alcohol, Professor Burns
advised moderation, explain
ing: ‘What we say is a glass of
wine a day prevents demen
tia, a bottle of wine gives you
dementia.’ He also stressed
the importance of family and