7. Certain Health Conditions and Diseases
There are certain diseases and health issues that can increase your risk of getting dementia. There are several risk factors of this kind, but we’ll stick to the most common.
Cardiovascular disease, or CVD, damages the heart, making it hard for blood to flow around the body. But heart diseases can also make a person more likely to develop dementia. In other words, most risk factors for CVD are also risk factors for mental diseases.
The most important CVD risk factors that can increase the probability of getting dementia are high blood cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, being overweight and physically unfit, and increasingly blocked and stiff arteries (known as atherosclerosis).
These risks are most strongly associated with vascular dementia, which is caused by impaired blood flow to the brain.
Hearing loss can also make a person more likely to deal with dementia later in life. There may be a couple of reasons for this. One would be that people struggling with hearing issues are more likely to forego social situations and become more isolated. This can reduce their cognitive reserve.
Another reason is that the effort of straining to hear may make it difficult for other mental processes to function properly. Finally, another reason is that certain health issues that cause dementia can also affect hearing.
Traumatic brain injuries can also increase the likelihood of developing mental disorders. This happens because severe brain injuries can trigger a process in the brain where the substances that cause dementia build up around the injured area. Even if the traumatic episode happens when a person is young, it can still bump up their risk of developing mental disorders.
You may also want to read Hearing Loss: 6 Signs You Should Go Get Your Ears Checked.
