17-07-2025
Real Health podcast: A neuroscientist's guide to caring for someone with dementia
Dr Sabina Brennan, neuroscientist, psychologist and author of Still Me: A neuroscientist's guide to caring for someone with dementia, joins Karl Henry on this week's episode of The Real Health podcast.
Early in the conversation, the caregiver explained that there are many different types of dementia.
'There are several kinds of dementia that occur and are associated with later life. Alzheimer's disease is the most common one, representing 60 to 70% of all cases of dementia. Then you have vascular dementia which is related to the health of your cardiovascular system. Basically, it's a dementia that can occur as a consequence of stroke or mini-strokes,' Dr Brennan explained.
'This is the brain being blocked from getting sufficient oxygen. Then you have Lewy body dementia which is associated with a protein called Lewy Body with specific symptoms like hallucination.'
I was interested to find out how lifestyle can reduce the likelihood of developing dementia.
'40% of all cases of Alzheimer's disease cases are attributable to 12 modifiable risk factors. So there are things you can do to avoid developing dementia.
"There are 50 million people globally living with dementia, we could reduce those cases by 40% by changing people's lifestyle factors and stop them developing dementia.'
You can listen to the full episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.
