Dementia, a brain disease affecting memory and cognition, often begins years before symptoms appear, with nearly 40% of its risk linked to modifiable factors like blood pressure, diabetes, and lifestyle choices. Early recognition, timely intervention, and robust support systems for individuals and families are crucial for preserving independence and quality of life, while brain-building activities like learning and social connection enhance resilience.

Dementia, a brain disease affecting memory and cognition, often begins years before symptoms appear, with nearly 40% of its risk linked to modifiable factors like blood pressure, diabetes, and lifestyle choices. Early recognition, timely intervention, and robust support systems for individuals and families are crucial for preserving independence and quality of life, while brain-building activities like learning and social connection enhance resilience.

Dementia, a brain disease affecting memory and cognition, often begins years before symptoms appear, with nearly 40% of its risk linked to modifiable factors like blood pressure, diabetes, and lifestyle choices. Early recognition, timely intervention, and robust support systems for individuals and families are crucial for preserving independence and quality of life, while brain-building activities like learning and social connection enhance resilience.

A close friend recently spoke to me about her brother, now in his mid-70s, who left the stove on, twice within a fortnight. Nothing untoward happened, and she initially dismissed it as absent-mindedness triggered by ageing. For several months, neither of them imagined that it could be anything more.

That is often how dementia enters a household, not through a diagnosis, but through small changes that are explained away because the possibility of something more serious feels difficult to confront. We tend to think of dementia as a disease of memory, when it is, more fundamentally, a disease of the brain. Moreover, dementia is not a single disease but a group of conditions that affect memory, thinking and daily functioning, of which Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause.

As neuroscientists have known, changes within the brain can begin quietly over many years, as abnormal proteins accumulate, inflammation develops and tiny blood vessels are gradually affected. By the time symptoms become visible, the underlying process may already have been unfolding since midlife. This long and largely silent beginning is deeply concerning, yet it also offers hope, since it creates a meaningful window in which brain health can be protected.

A growing body of evidence suggests that close to 40 per cent of dementia risk is linked to factors that can be modified. Controlling blood pressure in the 40s and 50s is especially important, as midlife hypertension remains one of the strongest predictors of cognitive decline later in life and continues to be underdiagnosed across India.

Managing diabetes, remaining physically active, treating hearing loss, reducing harmful alcohol use and sustaining strong social connections also influence the way the brain ages. While there is still no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, recognising the early signs and seeking timely evaluation from a physician or a specialist memory clinic can make a meaningful difference, allowing treatment, planning and support to begin much earlier.

One of the most encouraging developments in neuroscience is our growing understanding that the brain retains an extraordinary ability to adapt throughout life by forming new connections, a quality known as neuroplasticity. Although this ability naturally slows with age, it never disappears, and regular movement, lifelong learning, meaningful relationships, conversation and a continuing sense of purpose help strengthen what scientists call cognitive reserve, allowing the brain to remain more resilient as we grow older.

The conversations sparked around World Alzheimer’s Day are an important reminder that dementia deserves far greater public attention than it currently receives. Yet, in India, where close to nine million people are estimated to be living with dementia, families continue to shoulder most of the responsibility with very little formal support. At our hospitals, this has shaped the way we have developed our geriatric medicine services and memory clinics. Early cognitive assessment, cutting-edge neuroimaging and fluid biomarker assessments, multidisciplinary specialist care, including amyloid targeted therapy, caregiver counselling and home-based support are designed to help families navigate every stage of the condition while preserving independence, dignity and quality of life for as long as possible.

Our experience has reinforced an important truth, that dementia is not simply a condition to be diagnosed, but a journey that requires timely intervention, continuous care and sustained support for both individuals and their families. Above all, the real challenge before us is not simply to help people live longer, but to help them preserve their independence, their dignity and the richness of their relationships for as long as possible. Protecting brain health early, recognising dementia sooner and supporting families throughout the journey are all part of that responsibility.

Memory lies at the heart of who we are. Protecting it is ultimately about preserving the lives we have built and the relationships that give those lives meaning.

Dr Preetha Reddy is Executive Vice Chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited.

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