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Disease Prevention
Dementia, high blood pressure, diabetes: understanding these common conditions of later life early, and lowering your risk, is the first step to staying healthy as you age.
🧠 Lowering the Risk of Dementia
- Aerobic exercise for 30 minutes or more every day: it increases blood flow to the brain and helps protect nerve cells.
- Reading, writing and brain games: these can help keep your thinking skills sharp.
- Stay socially active: talking and spending time with others is linked to a lower risk of dementia.
- Get enough sleep (7 to 8 hours): during sleep, the brain helps clear away harmful proteins that build up.
- Quit smoking and drink less: smoking and heavy drinking can more than double the risk of dementia.
- Keep blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol under control: healthy blood vessels are closely tied to a healthy brain.
💡 About 10% of people aged 65 and over have dementia, rising to about 30% of people aged 80 and over.
Try the Dementia Risk Check to see where you stand today.
💉 Preventing and Managing High Blood Pressure
- Eat less salt: keep your sodium to 2,000 mg a day or less.
- Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit: foods rich in potassium help lower blood pressure.
- Watch your weight: keeping your BMI at 23 or below (the Korean standard) can help prevent high blood pressure.
- Regular aerobic exercise: 30 minutes a day, 5 or more days a week, is recommended.
- Manage stress: meditation, deep breathing and hobbies can help ease stress.
- Check your blood pressure regularly: if it is 130/80 or higher, talk to your doctor.
💡 For every 10 mmHg drop in systolic (top number) blood pressure, the risk of stroke goes down by about 30% and the risk of heart disease by about 25%.
🦡 Preventing and Managing Diabetes
- Cut back on refined carbohydrates: choose brown rice, mixed grains and whole wheat instead of white rice and white bread.
- Eat at regular times: have 3 smaller meals a day at set times.
- Take a walk after meals: a 15 to 30 minute walk after eating helps keep blood sugar from rising too much.
- Lose 5 to 7% of your body weight: for people with prediabetes, this can lower the chance of developing diabetes by 58%.
- Have your blood sugar tested once a year: if your fasting blood sugar is 100 mg/dL or higher, see a specialist.
- Look after your feet: check your feet every day to help prevent diabetes complications.
💡 In Korea, about 30% of adults aged 60 and over have diabetes or prediabetes.
Use the BMI Calculator to check your weight.