In February 2025, police found actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, dead in their California home. Authorities now believe that Arakawa died from an infection. Hackman, who had dementia, appeared to have died a week later from an inability to care for himself.
Hackman was one of many Americans living with memory loss. Currently, almost 7 million Americans ages 65 and older are living with dementia. The number is predicted to almost double by 2060 while the amount of available caregivers is expected to decrease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Can any of these potential dementia cases be prevented? Researchers have been examining which lifestyle factors could help reduce a person’s risk of developing memory loss.
How Can One Prevent Dementia?
The brain is a complex organ, and although scientists understand how memory loss diseases impact cognition, there is still a lot they would like to learn about prevention and what people can do to reduce their risk.
“We don’t have that exact recipe today as to what might be the combination of behaviors that will be most healthy to us as we age. But we’re working on it,” says Heather M. Snyder, a molecular biologist and senior vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association.
Sleep, for example, is poorly understood by scientists, although they know it is crucial for memory processing and cognitive functioning. In recent years, scientists have learned it’s also crucial for preventing dementia. Research indicates that sleep disturbances like sleep apnea, insomnia, and circadian rhythm disorders may put a person at greater risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Younger people can prioritize sleep as a preventative measure against dementia, but older people may not be able to do the same. Changes to sleep quality are considered a part of the aging process. Being aroused more easily during sleep stages, for example, is a normal experience for many aging people. Researchers are trying to better differentiate when sleep issues among older people should be considered pathological or par for the course.
Read More: Annual Dementia Cases Are Anticipated to Double in the U.S. by 2060
Can Exercise Prevent Dementia?
Although sleep is still being studied as a preventative measure against memory loss, scientists have found more firm evidence that exercise can help temper the disease’s progression. In a March 2025 review in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, researchers reported how studies have shown that exercise can stave off dementia by interrupting inflammatory cell death from necroptosis.
In one study reviewed in the article, mice were put through a four-month exercise regimen in which moderate to intense exercises were added to their daily mice agendas. The mice were a special type of mouse (SAMP8) that isn’t genetically modified but has an accelerated aging process compared to other mice. They resemble older humans in both the physical sense (hair loss, limited physical abilities) and in how SAMP8 mice can have “spontaneous” cognitive impairment.
The study found that the mice who did the four-month exercise regimen had less inflammation and cognitive decline than the control group. The authors concluded that exercise can prevent age-related cognitive decline during the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Mitigating Memory Loss
In addition to physical exercise, researchers are seeing promising studies supporting how cognitive workouts can reduce the risk of memory loss. Practicing a foreign language, learning new information, or taking on a challenging puzzle can protect a person’s neuroplasticity (AKA the ability for neurons to connect, reorganize, and rewire).
“Building an increased connectivity in your brain may insulate you from Alzheimer’s or other memory loss diseases,” Snyder says.
Listening to a lecture online or attending a class at the library can help a person maintain their neuroplasticity while also helping them socialize and avoid becoming isolated, which researchers associate with an increased risk of memory loss.
“There has been a number of studies that find isolation may increase someone’s risk of dementia. Exactly why is unclear,” Snyder says.
A person might self-isolate because they are aware they are experiencing memory loss. It’s also possible that a lack of socialization means a person isn’t receiving the cognitive stimulation needed to maintain a strong neuroplasticity.
Promising Science
As researchers learn more about which behaviors a person can adopt to reduce their risk of memory loss diseases, they are also testing if pharmaceuticals can help. Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1) that work by simulating hormones that slow a person’s digestion and their drive to eat. Scientists are currently studying whether GLP-1 drugs could be used to treat dementia.
Researchers are also looking at data from people taking GLP-1s to see how they compare to the larger population. In one study, data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs examined patients who had taken GLP-1s in a six-year period from 2017 to 2023. The people in the study appeared to have reduced cognitive decline, which may be from the drug’s ability to curb inflammation.
Other long-term studies are in the works. Snyder says the Alzheimer’s Association has funded a long-term study that examined interventions such as nutrition, diet, and overall medical monitoring. The study’s first report will be released later this summer.
As science works on the answer, Snyder says it’s important that people take their brain health seriously with proper sleep and exercise (both physically and mentally).
“It’s never too late to start. It’s those little things that we do in our day-to-day life that may have benefit,” Snyder says.
Read More: Ozempic and Other GLP-1s May Have Broader Health Benefits but Greater Risks
Article Sources
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Emilie Lucchesi has written for some of the country’s largest newspapers, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and an MA from DePaul University. She also holds a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Illinois-Chicago with an emphasis on media framing, message construction and stigma communication. Emilie has authored three nonfiction books. Her third, A Light in the Dark: Surviving More Than Ted Bundy, releases October 3, 2023, from Chicago Review Press and is co-authored with survivor Kathy Kleiner Rubin.
