Smoking
Smoking has long been a risk factor for many terrible conditions and diseases, including cancer, hypertension, heart disease, and stroke. Smoking tobacco is never good for your health, and here is yet another reason to stop. A Finnish study found that heavy smoking (more than two packs a day) during the midlife, around the ages of 50-60, could double the risk of dementia. The study concluded after 23 consecutive years and found that 25 percent of the participants who smoke had dementia. Fortunately, the same study found that smoking less than ½ a pack a day did not affect one’s risk for dementia.
Smoking can also increase the risk of vascular dementia, since smoking plays a hand in stroke. It is believed that oxidative stress and inflammation within the body caused by the tobacco and other chemicals can trigger development of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
