A new review from The Cochrane Library, based on six trials involving 289 people, has concluded that exercise can improve cognition and the ability of older people with dementia to carry out daily activities, such as walking short distances or getting up from a chair.

There are five healthy behaviors that appear to significantly reduce the risk of dementia,

A pilot study involving 17 older adults with mild cognitive impairment and 18 controls (aged 60-88; average age 78) has found that a 12-week exercise program significantly improved performance on a semantic memory task, and also significantly improved brain efficiency, for both groups.

A study that followed 800 Swedish middle-aged women from 1968 to 2005 has found that high levels of stress in middle age increased Alzheimer’s risk by 21% and risk of any dementia by 15%.

A study comparing blood serum levels of the DDT metabolite, DDE, in 86 patients with Alzheimer's disease (average age 74) and 79 controls (average age 70), has found that levels of DDE were 3.8 times higher in 74 of the 86 Alzheimer’s patients (86%).

A small study involving 52 people aged 32-72 has found that those whose parents both had Alzheimer's disease showed more severe abnormalities in brain volume and metabolism and 5-10% more amyloid plaques in certain brain regions, compared to those with either a father or mother, or neither paren

Data from the population-based Finnish Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Incidence of Dementia (CAIDE) study has revealed that healthy dietary choices in midlife may prevent dementia in later years. Out of 2,000 participants, 1,449 took part in the follow-up.

A mouse study has found that mice (genetically engineered for Alzheimer’s) who were sleep deprived for eight weeks, not only showed significant cognitive impairment, but also showed a significant increase in the amount of tau protein that became phosphorylated and formed tangles.