In this episode of Truth, Lies & Alzheimer’s, we explore a powerful truth: dementia doesn’t just happen overnight—it is often influenced by the daily choices we make years, even decades, earlier.

Lisa breaks down how brain health is built over time and what you can start doing today to protect your cognitive future. From movement and nutrition to sleep and stress, this episode offers practical, actionable steps that support long-term brain function.

You’ll learn:

• Why blood flow and oxygen are critical for brain performance
• How strength training supports cognitive resilience
• The connection between walking and mental clarity
• The impact of blood sugar on brain health
• Why sleep is essential for clearing brain toxins
• How chronic stress affects memory and focus

This episode is a reminder that small, consistent habits can make a significant difference. You don’t have to wait for symptoms to start caring for your brain—you can begin right now.

Bottom Line:

You don’t “catch” dementia—you move toward it or away from it through your daily habits.

Have a look at our updated website - https://www.mindingdementiasummit.com/

About the Host:

Author Lisa Skinner is a behavioral specialist with expertise in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. In her 30+year career working with family members and caregivers, Lisa has taught them how to successfully navigate the many challenges that accompany this heartbreaking disease. Lisa is both a Certified Dementia Practitioner and is also a certified dementia care trainer through the Alzheimer’s Association. She also holds a degree in Human Behavior.

Her latest book, “Truth, Lies & Alzheimer’s – Its Secret Faces” continues Lisa’s quest of working with dementia-related illnesses and teaching families and caregivers how to better understand the daunting challenges of brain disease. Her #1 Best-seller book “Not All Who Wander Need Be Lost,” was written at their urging. As someone who has had eight family members diagnosed with dementia, Lisa Skinner has found her calling in helping others through the struggle so they can have a better-quality relationship with their loved ones through education and through her workshops on counter-intuitive solutions and tools to help people effectively manage the symptoms of brain disease. Lisa Skinner has appeared on many national and regional media broadcasts. Lisa helps explain behaviors caused by dementia, encourages those who feel burdened, and gives practical advice for how to respond.

So many people today are heavily impacted by Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. The Alzheimer's Association and the World Health Organization have projected that the number of people who will develop Alzheimer's disease by the year 2050 worldwide will triple if a treatment or cure is not found. Society is not prepared to care for the projected increase of people who will develop this devastating disease. In her 30 years of working with family members and caregivers who suffer from dementia, Lisa has recognized how little people really understand the complexities of what living with this disease is really like. For Lisa, it starts with knowledge, education, and training.

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Hello everybody, and welcome back to another

brand new episode of the Truth, Lies and Alzheimer's show. I'm

Lisa Skinner, your host. Today, we're going to be talking about

something that is actually pretty compelling, that you

might want to pay close attention to, because did you

know that what you do at 40 decides your risk of dementia at

70? Yes, this is a true statement, because memory loss

is not random. It's built slowly through daily choices. It starts

with poor blood flow, inactivity, metabolic damage,

long before any symptoms show up. So here's what we can do to

protect our brains. One cardio feeds our brains oxygen. Our

brain runs on oxygen and nutrients delivered through

blood. Why that works? Regular cardio exercise boosts

circulation, supporting neurons and brain efficiency. So it's

recommended to do this, zone two cardio, two to three times

weekly, 30 to 45 minutes walk daily to keep your blood moving

and add a 20 minute interval session Weekly. Strength

training protects cognition. Lifting benefits more than

muscles. It supports brain health. Why that works? Because

exercise boosts brain derived neurotropic factor, which

strengthens our neural connections. So to accomplish

that, try this strength train three to four times per week.

Focus on compound full body lifts. Keep sessions under 60

minutes. Remember we're doing this at 40 now. Walking also

builds mental resilience. Movement keeps our body and mind

sharp. Why does that work? Because walking reduces dementia

risk and improves executive function. So what should you do

to accomplish that 8000 to 10,000 steps, daily morning

sunlight exposure during walks is hugely beneficial, and walk

during calls or breaks, another thing blood sugar control

absolutely matters elevated blood sugar damages brain tissue

over time. Why? Because glucose spikes increase inflammation and

accelerate cognitive decline. What should we do about that?

Well, try eating more protein and vegetables first in your

meal. Avoid sugary snacks and drinks include healthy fats for

steady energy. Next, sleep significantly clears waste that

accumulates in our brains. Did you know that your brain cleans

itself during deep sleep. Why? Because during deep rest,

cerebral spinal fluid flushes out toxins that degrade

cognition. So how do you accomplish that? By getting

seven to nine hours of sleep per night, keep your bedroom dark,

cool and quiet, create a consistent bedtime routine. Did

you also know that stress shrinks our memory centers? Yes,

long term stress shrinks key memory regions like the

hippocampus. Why? Because chronic cortisol exposure harms

focus and our recall. So try this practice, daily recovery,

walks, journaling, stillness and set boundaries with work and

devices. Try taking full rest days weekly. The bottom line

here is you don't catch dementia. You build toward it or

away from it. You. Daily habits. Decide, I wanted everybody to be

aware that the air outside our windows might actually be the

dementia risk factor that our doctors have never mentioned

now, most people do associate air pollution with one disease,

the brain connection is far less discussed, but much more

alarming. Here is what the evidence now shows that fine

particle matter crosses our blood brain barrier. It's called

PM 2.5 and their particles are smaller than 2.5 microns. They

enter the bloodstream through our lungs. They cross into brain

tissue directly and trigger neuro inflammation. Now this is

the same inflammatory pathway that drives neurodegeneration.

The brain has no mechanism to expel them the way the lungs can

partially clear larger particles. The numbers are

significant. A study of 130,000 older adults found a 92%

increased dementia risk with high PM 2.5 exposure over time.

So living near a major roadway can increase dementia risk by

approximately 12% even after controlling for other factors.

The Lancet Commission now lists air pollution as one of the 14

modifiable modifiable dementia risk factors, because it

accounts for roughly 2% of global dementia cases, which, in

absolute numbers, equates to millions of people. Also, indoor

air is often worse than outdoor cooking with gas, using candles,

certain cleaning products and poor ventilation concentrate

pollutants indoors. Most people, interestingly enough, spend 90%

of their time indoors. HEPA filtration in bedrooms is one of

the most practical and underused interventions we have available

to us today. This is a health equity issue. Living in

communities near highways, industrial sites and ports face

disproportionate exposure. Now the same communities often have

less access to health care that could detect early cognitive

changes. These studies show air quality and dementia risk are

distributed unequally across zip codes in every major city. So

what we can do to help protect ourselves? Here's a couple of

suggestions. Monitor the air quality index before you

exercise outdoors. There are free apps that you can load onto

your phones or your devices that take 10 seconds, use HEPA air

filters in your bedrooms, your brain clears amyloid during

sleep, clean air during that window absolutely matters,

reduce indoor pollutants by ventilating when you're cooking,

reduce synthetic fragrances, exercise in green spaces when

possible, rather than traffic adjacent routes. Now this isn't

a reason to stay indoors or live in fear. Please note that it's a

reason to add air quality to the brain

health conversation the same way we've added sleep, exercise and

diet, but right now, it barely shows up there, so hopefully

this has been valuable information for everybody that

just had no idea that air pollution, both inside and

outside, can increase our risk of developing Alzheimer's

disease and dementia significantly. Thank you to Dr.

Risa GOMI for providing that very, very insightful

information. So that'll wrap up this episode for the truth lies

at Alzheimer's show. I'm Lisa Skinner, your host, and I, of

course, I will be back next week with another new episode for

you, and in the meantime, I wish you all a great rest of your

week, stay healthy and come back and see me for another new

episode next week, see you then, bye, bye.