\n\t\t\t\t\tNot everyone is keen to take statins but new research shows they can play a role in protecting the brain. Here’s why Geir Selb\u00e6k takes them\u00a0\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
At the age of 60, Geir Selb\u00e6k, a professor and research director at the Norwegian National Centre for Ageing and Health<\/a>, reluctantly decided to start taking statins. \u201cMy father and his two brothers had all needed a coronary bypass operation at 60,\u201d says Selb\u00e6k. \u201cSo when I reached the same age, I started thinking about this, and some examinations revealed I had some plaques in my coronary arteries.\u201d<\/p>\n But despite his family history, Selbaek\u2019s reluctance to take statins stemmed from the reported side effects of the cholesterol-lowering drugs which can include digestive problems and aches and pains. Like many users, he began to worry that the drugs were causing him muscle and joint stiffness.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to tell because the side effects are similar to what happens anyway with age,\u201d he says. \u201cLast autumn, I forgot to renew my prescription, and had six weeks without statins, but my joints were still stiff. So I eventually concluded that for me it\u2019s not the drugs, I\u2019m just getting older.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Selb\u00e6k, not everyone is keen to take statins<\/a>, but a fascinating new study may add to their appeal. Beyond their well-characterised effects on LDL or \u201cbad\u201d cholesterol, they seem to play an additional role in protecting the brain.<\/p>\n Using data from several hundred thousand people in South Korea, the research showed that statins appear to reduce risk of dementia by 13 per cent, even in people who already have low cholesterol levels.<\/p>\n A separate study by Stanford University, published on Thursday, also found the strongest evidence yet that the shingles vaccine helps cut dementia risk too \u2013 those who had the jab were 20 per cent less likely to be diagnosed with dementia than those not vaccinated. <\/p>\n For Selb\u00e6k, a scientist known as Norway\u2019s leading dementia expert, the statins finding was particularly intriguing, and he suggests that it may be related to wider benefits for the heart and its connecting blood vessels. \u201cWhat is good for the heart is good for the brain,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you look at the risk factors highlighted for dementia, a lot of them concern the health of blood vessels or the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n Right now, Selb\u00e6k is not convinced there\u2019s enough evidence to start offering statins<\/a> to protect everyone from dementia. However he predicts that in the near future, health systems will be able to offer more personalised recommendations for people in their fifties and sixties to protect them from cognitive decline, which in some cases could involve statins.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, the evidence for statins is still much stronger for coronary heart disease than dementia,\u201d he says. \u201cSo that\u2019s the reason I\u2019m taking them. But in future, we\u2019ll be able to take people, and make pretty precise predictions based on their life history, their genetic risk factors, blood tests for biomarkers like p-tau217 which correlates with the amount of amyloid plaques<\/a> building up in your brain. So that will allow very sophisticated predictions for whether you\u2019re one of those people who will really benefit from statins to reduce your dementia risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, for now Selb\u00e6k is relying on a collection of positive lifestyle choices to stave off his own risk of cognitive decline<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wearing a hearing aid<\/p>\n Just like coronary artery disease, hearing loss also runs in Selb\u00e6k\u2019s family. \u201cMy father and his brothers all developed hearing impairments in their late fifties,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n As part of an international team of researchers who collate the latest evidence on dementia risk factors<\/a> for the prestigious Lancet Commission, Selb\u00e6k was well aware of the connection between untreated hearing loss and cognitive decline. The diminishing auditory stimulation to the brain is thought to accelerate the deterioration of various vital structures.<\/p>\n \u201cBy hearing things, you\u2019re consistently training the brain,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I think that\u2019s the main reason why hearing impairment is associated with increased dementia risk. But also there are indirect effects. If your hearing is bad, you tend to isolate, become lonely, and maybe depressed, and all of these things are risk factors of dementia in themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2023, a major study showed that wearing hearing aids can cut dementia risk<\/a> by 50 per cent in high-risk older adults, and Selb\u00e6k took the decision to get an aid himself after coming to the realisation in his fifties that his own hearing had become impaired.<\/p>\n \u201cI was walking in the woods with my wife, and she pointed out a beautiful birdsong, and I thought she was joking because I didn\u2019t hear anything,\u201d he says. \u201cI understand why people get hearing aids but leave them in the cupboard because to start with it\u2019s quite a weird sensation. It takes time for the brain to become accustomed. But now it\u2019s fantastic. Before I would give lectures and I\u2019d be exhausted afterwards as I was struggling to hear what the students were saying. It\u2019s been very important for my health.\u201d<\/p>\n Finding a way to enjoy exercise<\/p>\n Living in Lillehammer, which hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics, Selb\u00e6k has long cross-country skied in the winter, but until turning 50, he hated running, leaving him with few viable forms of exercise during the spring and summer.<\/p>\n But then in his fifties, he made a decision to try and improve his enjoyment of running. \u201cI think it\u2019s extremely important to exercise regularly, and I\u2019ve made myself a rule,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t try to run faster or longer than I can, so when I finish, I don\u2019t feel bad and I can look forward to the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n He also began doing regular strength or resistance training, something which has been found to play a surprisingly important role in protecting brain health in later life, protecting various subregions of the hippocampus, the brain structure involved in learning and memory which degenerates during Alzheimer\u2019s and other dementias<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is one of the big changes for me,\u201d he says. \u201cI find it extremely boring, but again I\u2019ve found I can get through it by listening to a nice podcast or something. But it\u2019s important, so I now exercise three or four times every week, and I do a 50:50 mix of aerobic exercise, either skiing or running, and resistance training.\u201d<\/p>\n Being mindful<\/p>\n Selb\u00e6k points to the impact of daily stress as being particularly toxic for the brain. \u201cIt\u2019s probably the reason why depression and loneliness are associated with dementia risk<\/a>,\u201d he says. \u201cWith depression, the stress levels measured in terms of the hormone cortisol are huge. Our brain does not like this over time.\u201d<\/p>\n While his job can be particularly stressful, directing a busy research hub, Selb\u00e6k says that he now tries to take pauses and put his life in perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I wake up, I try to spend five minutes just thinking about how lucky I am,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are so many things happening in the world now, but we\u2019re also privileged in many ways. So I try to think about that, and then when I get stressed during my working day, I try to stop, and ask, \u2018Is this important? Should I be stressed?\u2019 And usually I find out that it\u2019s not so important. So I try to add these small pauses of reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n Training prospective memory<\/p>\n Prospective memory is often described as \u201cremembering to remember\u201d and is crucial for many aspects of daily life, such as remembering tasks, appointments or names. Studies have found that the extent to which your prospective memory declines with age predicts your future risk of dementia.<\/p>\n