Published and edited by: Cheng Yu

WUST News - On May 15, the team led by Zeng Yan from the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Wuhan University of Science and Technology (WUST) published an article titled Effects of self-managed lifestyle behavioral changes on cognitive impairment control in Chinese older adults: a population-based prospective study in Translational Psychiatry.

Dr. Zhang Jingjing and Professor Liu Dan from the Advanced Institute for Brain Science and Technology at the Faculty of Medical Sciences are co-first authors. Professor Zeng Yan from the Hubei Province Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Medicine Research Center at the Faculty of Medical Sciences is the sole corresponding author, with master's student Liu Jing and others as co-authors.

The paper highlights the positive impact of healthy lifestyle behaviors on cognitive function, demonstrating that proactive behavioral adjustments lead to greater cognitive improvements for all participants, with particularly pronounced effects observed in individuals with dementia.

From 1990 to 2017, the years of life lost and the number of deaths attributable to cognitive impairment (primarily Alzheimer's disease) in China more than doubled. However, the development of a robust and scalable method to effectively reduce the risk of cognitive impairment in real-world settings remains a significant challenge.

The study's findings suggest that proactive self-management in later life, particularly in areas such as social engagement, physical exercise, cognitive activities, and sleep, can induce short-term improvements in cognitive status. The research provides quantitative assessments and specific behavioral adjustment recommendations related to dementia risk, offering effective and targeted pathways for public health policy implementation and personalized self-health management.

This research was supported by the Science and Technology Innovation 2030 Major Project (2022ZD0211600) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82371444, 82304172, 82071272, and 72174159), as well as the Hubei Province Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Medicine Research Center. (Faculty of Medical Sciences)