The One Thing You Can Do Each Day To Prevent Alzheimer’s That Takes Less Than 2 Minutes
Prevention has become a priority for everyone.
Екатерина Шумских from Pexels | Canva Pro The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that there are currently almost seven million people living with the disease, which is the fifth-leading cause of death for people 65 and older.
If there were a way to improve your chances against this horrible disease, wouldn’t you do it? Apparently, there is, and it just takes a minute or two.
A woman whose mother lives with Alzheimer’s explained that the disease is related to one’s metabolic function.
Rachel Daugherty, known as @bootyandbrains.co on Instagram, described herself as someone who promotes “fitness and brain health.” In one reel, Daugherty shared a simple step you can take to prevent Alzheimer’s.
“Here’s what I learned as a daughter of a woman with Alzheimer’s,” she said. “One, it’s worse than anything you can imagine, and you can’t even imagine how awful it is. So it’s worse than anything that you can’t imagine.”
After painting this terrible but realistic picture of Alzheimer’s, Daugherty revealed an action step you can take to try to protect yourself from this disease.
“Two, in the majority of cases, Alzheimer’s is a metabolic disorder,” she continued.
This is something that was confirmed in an article published in the Yonsei Medical Journal.
“As an individual’s metabolism gets weaker with age, metabolic alterations are feasible consequences of aging and potential causes of [Alzheimer’s diseases],” the authors wrote.
“Cool. What is a metabolic disorder, and how do I not have one?” Daugherty asked, voicing the question on everyone’s minds.
“Single most important component of your metabolic function is insulin sensitivity,” she said. In an article published in the journal Nutrition, this was confirmed. “Insulin is an important regulator of glucose, lipid and protein metabolism.”
Daugherty acknowledged that many will feel this doesn’t apply to them because they aren’t in danger of developing diabetes. She said this is actually a false belief.
“A recent study found that only … 12% of the population is metabolically healthy,” she revealed.
This study, performed by the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, found that “only one in eight Americans is achieving optimal metabolic health.”
Working to improve your metabolic function is relatively easy if you do squats after meals, Daugherty shared.
Daugherty said that becoming more metabolically healthy does not require a major “overhaul” of your life, where you completely change your routine so that it is as healthy as possible in the new year.
Rather, there are small, simple steps you can take any time to work on it.
“Here’s what you can do today,” she said. “You can do squats after any meal. Or all the meals. I dare you. 30 air squats.”
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She explained how this works.
“What’s this gonna do? It’s going to use your muscles,” she said. “Muscle helps pull the glucose out of your bloodstream so your insulin doesn’t have to deal with it. It’s going to help your insulin sensitivity.”
Exercise that focuses on your muscles has been proven to benefit metabolic function. According to WebMD, “You do have some control over some things that affect your metabolic rate, such as how much muscle your body has and how much you move.”
Furthermore, an article published in Comprehensive Physiology stated, “Skeletal muscle is essential for metabolism, both for its role in glucose uptake and its importance in exercise and metabolic disease.”
Simply doing 30 squats after a meal can help prevent Alzheimer’s due to its link to metabolic function.
“You can add 30 squats after breakfast as your one habit,” Daugherty said. “And maybe next week it’s 30 squats after breakfast and lunch. And maybe next week, it’s 30 squats after breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then you’re just like that weird squat person.”
But, she insisted being the “weird squat person” is totally fine, especially if it’s going to benefit your long-term health.
“Yeah, get weird,” she encouraged. “That’s great. We love weird. We don’t love Alzheimer’s.”
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.