Reducing Risk of Dementia through Cognitive Reserve

Cognitive impairment such as dementia is an increasingly important public health issue, and efforts to cure the progression of cognitive impairment are extremely costly and have yet to yield positive results.

Dementia is an increasing problem that affects close to 50 million people around the world. Recent guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) titled “Risk Reduction of Cognitive Decline and Dementia” emphasize that the risk of dementia can be reduced through exercise and maintaining healthy blood sugar levels, cholesterol and blood pressure. It is the WHO’s hope that the guidelines are used by health care providers, government and policy makers to develop policy and programs that encourage healthy lifestyles and reduce risk of dementia.

The IFA's Copenhagen Summit on Cognitive Reserve acknowledges that it is critical to identify cost-effective, accessible solutions to reduce cognitive ageing and enhance cognitive function by enabling alternative neuronal interconnections to compensate for change caused by cognitive ageing and severe cognitive pathologies.

The Summit, to take place from 24-25 October 2019 will feature three IFA experts:

• Professor Kaarin Anstey, Director of the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute
• Professor Michael Valenzuela, leader of the Regenerative Neuroscience Group at the Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney
• Scientia Professor Perminder Sachdev, Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), UNSW Sydney

Register for the Summit here and reach out to IFA experts for further information or comments for media on this important event.