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dementia is it inevitable or are there
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things you can do to avoid it oh
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thankfully I hope it's the latter all
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right let's climb this ladder of
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dementia welcome to talking with docs
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I'm Dr Brad weening and I'm Dr Paul Z
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forgot to introduce yourself there yeah
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right so I'm going to talk about a
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report okay a dementia prevention
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intervention and Care 2024 report of the
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Lancet standing commission demen
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prevented intervention say that five
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times vention prevention and prevention
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it Rhymes this is a big report okay but
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this is a summary of what this working
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group put together to teach people how
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they can avoid getting dementia and
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guess what percentage of dementia they
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estimate is preventable I'm going to say
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half 50% around 50% not half around 50%
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of dementias preventable the type of
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dementias we're talking about is
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Alzheimer's disease vascular dementia
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Louis body dementia frontal temporal
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dementia mix dementia all dementias lots
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of dementias it's a family of dementias
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when I think too like 40 years ago there
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weren't really task forces that talked
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about this for a host of reasons people
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weren't sick they didn't live as long we
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didn't know as much about it and now
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we're we're becoming overwhelmed the
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stats that I read in Canada in 2022
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750,000 people were living with
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Alzheimer's or some other type of
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dementia was listed to the number nine
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cause of death of all caused death
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guaranteed every one of our viewers
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viewers yes know someone who has
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dementia or know someone who is dealing
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with a family member with Dementia or
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may even have dementia themselves if you
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have some advice actually for people who
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are living with this or living with a
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family member please share a comment
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because this is a community that
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certainly can help support each other in
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a very difficult time absolutely okay
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all right so we just going to run
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through they came up with 14 modifiable
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risk factors okay so we're not going
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through the whole
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report it's too it's too big it's too
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big okay so 14 mod iable risk factors
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we're not saying that they're easy to
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modify it's just like your diet or
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changing your lifestyle say hey have
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less stress hey get more sleep you know
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these are modifiable don't get dementia
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but it takes it takes some effort and um
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you obviously do as many as you can yeah
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and you want to start early early as
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early as poss as you'll see with some of
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these risk factors okay so let's start
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with the first one that they identified
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uh if you have less education you're at
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increased risk of dementia and obviously
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this is a very difficult one because
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people don't don't choose to not go
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further in school necessarily no and the
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definition of education is varied right
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is it a formal education in school or is
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it some courses you take or something
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you teach yourself but in any case get
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your brain working keep your brain
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working okay it's not too late to get
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more education there's lots of free
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online courses you can take in a variety
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of subjects uh watch talking with docs
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that's educational yeah it is we're
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helping you y okay I like that one so so
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number two is is decreased hearing I
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suspect this is for for a host of
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reasons because you become less engaged
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you have a harder time probably learning
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and things like that so the way that
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this is modifiable obviously is get your
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hearing tested I'm not exactly sure the
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recommendations right now it probably
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depends on your symptoms um but as we
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get older hearing aids certainly are
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practical solution they're much less
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kind of uh large right now like they
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used to be really really big but they're
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they're very subtle nowaday it's very
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very common um Unfortunately they can be
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expensive um thankfully some of the uh
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government PL do cover them but yeah I
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think getting your hearing tested and
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dealing with reduced hearing or hearing
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loss is really important or just listen
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to Dr weening he talks loud I do talk
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loud and then the other thing I would
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say is for younger people who don't have
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this yet is wear protective hearing so
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when you're running a chainsaw or the
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lawn mower even at concerts or airpods
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whatever respect your hearing and try to
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protect it in advance that's a good one
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too it's not just wearing hearing aids
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but it's don't do the damage being
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around loud noises yes the next one is
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very common many of viewers have this
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are dealing with this hypertension
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hypertension was identified as a
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modifiable risk factor why is
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hypertension modifiable because you can
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take medications or do lifestyle changes
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that can bring your blood pressure down
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to a normal level and the reason that
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this matters for dementia is likely
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because of its effect on the small blood
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vessels that feed our brain that's right
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okay so that's number three number four
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is is smoking um obviously there are a
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zillion reasons to not smoke we
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recognize that this is very difficult
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takes multiple attempts at quitting an
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organized strategy but please don't
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start smoking if you have started please
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try to stop would you say there's a
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zillion in one now yeah maybe maybe okay
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the next one is and nobody's going to
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like hearing this is your body weight
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yep your body mass index if that is
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elevated this report identified that as
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a risk for getting dementia so if
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there's no other reason for you to try
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and lose weight let this be one of them
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okay very difficult to do but very
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important to do for a host of reasons
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obviously number six is depression so
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people that are depressed have a higher
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incidence of Alzheimer's and other types
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of dementia developing over time so do
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you say oh hey don't be depressed well
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it's obviously not that simple what's
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most important is that if you do have
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signs or symptoms of depression or know
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someone that does get them to see their
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primary care doctor and get appropriate
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treatment that's the thing depression is
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treatable you don't have to suffer on
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your own it is treatable through a
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variety of ways we're not experts in
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managing that but we do have a lot of
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patients who do live with depression y
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and this has been identified as a
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modifiable risk factor for dementia and
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becoming more common sadly and more
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recognized more socially normalized JY
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ads on TV there's a lot of there's a lot
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of social awareness now so just go get
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that treated if you think you have that
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okay the next one is none of our viewers
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suffer from this because we harp about
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it all the time physical inactivity
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physical inactivity is a risk factor for
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dementia okay if you haven't had a
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reason before to get up your feet and
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jump around now you do okay get active
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and actually I was listening to a
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podcast with my wife yesterday about a
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whole bunch of things about anxiety and
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depression and this expert from Harvard
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was talking about something that you had
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said you know sitting is the new
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standing and about how sitting is the
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new SM sorry sitting is the new smoking
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sorry right sitting is not the this
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topic is dementia right so sitting is
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the new smoking and you just have to get
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up and do something and and start small
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it doesn't have to be something a really
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high intensity or for very long just do
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your best to do something get
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that's it okay number eight is diabetes
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um so diabetes obviously in the type one
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situation is not particularly modifiable
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that's very treatable the type two is
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probably the more modifiable of the two
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so trying to maintain a healthy weight
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and activity to reduce your chances of
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developing things like insulin
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resistance and type two diabetes so if
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you do have it try to modify it to get
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rid of it if you have it already see
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your family doctor and get a treated get
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it treated that will reduce your chance
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of demension do I have to say the next
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one you do actually
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reduce your alcohol intake it hurts me
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to say it because we talk about it all
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you're kind of joking around it's not
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like it's not like you drink a lot no I
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don't drink a lot but I know a lot of
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our viewers enjoy having some alcoholic
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beverages and we have been seeing more
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and more evidence talking about how bad
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alcohol is for you uh however the number
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in this report was not as daunting as
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some of the other uh health risks
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associated with alcohol here it's about
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10 drinks per week if you can just keep
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it under 10 drinks for this is which is
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a lot a lot more than the recommended
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amount sure specifically for dementia
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it's higher obviously dose dependent um
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but yeah we we've talked about we
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actually should do one specific video
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all about alcohol it would make people
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sad but I think it's important to know
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kill our Channel I think we would
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recognize that the safe amount is
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probably zero but then uh the lower
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amounts are are probably still within
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safety for certain things so for this
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risk factor for d this report identified
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a certain number of units of alcohol and
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it turns out to about 10 drinks per week
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keeping it under that will minimize your
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chance of demena right okay number 10 is
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traumatic brain injury OB if you already
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have one that becomes less modifiable
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but it's really in the prevention so
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wearing helmets for physical activity
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avoid concussion related activities and
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just do your best to protect your brain
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our brains are very fragile inside of
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our thick skulls right to our high
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school students watching the two of you
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high school students who watch our
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Channel maybe don't try and be captain
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of the football team be captain of the
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badminton team how about the two kids I
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saw going like 30 km an hour on E
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Scooters with helmets I'm like how is is
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that even legal you have to wear a
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helmet right uh I'm not sure what the E
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scooter rule is but I would imagine if
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wear one I think yeah up um so protect
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your brain yeah that's by protecting
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your head yes this one is a tricky one
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for some parts of the world pollution
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air pollution has been identified as a
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risk factor for dementia so you know how
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modifiable is that move if you live in
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an area try and spend as much time away
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from pollution as possible which you
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recognize it's not always a practical
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solution or on the days when they warn
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that the air quality is very very poor
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stay inside unfortunately um but I kind
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of joking when I said move yeah but I
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mean obviously you can people in the
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country are getting this probably a lot
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less frequently than City City Slickers
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city Folk City Folk okay number 12 is
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social isolation and this is a a
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critical one lots of Studies have shown
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that in order to successfully age as
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well as prevent dementia you need to
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stay connected whether that's with your
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family with your friends with a purpose
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of some sort volunteerism a job we need
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to stay connected and not be socially
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isolated and our phones and the internet
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have really exacerbated this and the
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pandemic highlighted it get yourself
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connected get connected leave a comment
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comment is kind of socially engaging
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part of our community that probably
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doesn't count unfortunately as far as
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not being socially isolated because
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people will use that say I got lots of
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friends I got like 00 friends on
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Facebook or something it's a start it's
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a start the next modifiable risk factor
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is vision loss okay how's this
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modifiable well wear glasses go see your
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eye doctor do what you have to do to
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keep your vision up and I think the
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vision loss and the hearing loss they're
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kind of tied into the social Isolation
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part of things right sure I think it
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also could decrease education right
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you're going to learn less you're going
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to read less you're read yeah get your
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eyes checked make sure your vision's
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good for a variety of reasons so you
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don't trip off the curb break a hip we
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see that all the time but in terms of
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dementia Vision poor vision is a risk
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factor okay the last of the 14 monop
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risk factors going to irritate a lot of
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people you're irritating me with this
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one okay so elevated LDL or low density
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Lev protein or high cholesterol
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essentially we know that a lot of people
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don't believe that this is the real
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thing well unfortunately science has
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proven that it is a very real thing yes
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cholesterol is necessary science damn
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you yes our bodies make it but excess
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levels are dangerous and they're part of
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what leads to plaque in our vessels
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particularly the vessels in our necks
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that feed our brains and can lead to
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dementia this was one of the later ads
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to this report yeah high cholesterol so
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however you want to do it try and get
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your cholesterol lowered now you know
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that's it 14 and it's it's a lot it's
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obviously stuff that's all part of a lot
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of it's part of living a healthy
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lifestyle so making better food choices
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being active like we talk about reduce
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your stress get a good night sleep stay
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connected be socially involved that's it
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that's the report now you know leave a
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comment if you um like or don't like any
00:11:37
of these and if you like this Channel
00:11:38
please like And subscribe to our Channel
00:11:40
yeah please subscribe if you're not
00:11:41
already and remember you are in charge
00:11:43
of your own health and it turns out
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you're kind of in charge of whether or
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not you're going to get dementia to a
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certain degree for sure we'll see you
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next time