The Public Health Agency of Canada encourages Canadians to start a conversation about healthier living habits and behaviours #OneHabit

TORONTO, Jan. 24, 2023 /CNW/ - The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is continuing its efforts to raise awareness among Canadians about dementia. This year the campaign is focusing on risk factors and actions they can take to help reduce the risk of dementia.

The 2020 report from the Lancet Commission estimates that 12 modifiable risk factors account for 40% of cases of dementia worldwide. These modifiable dementia risk factors can be controlled by taking action, such as being active as often as possible, having a healthy diet, avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, and preventing and managing diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity.

Many Canadians already take actions to maintain and improve their health, but many may not know that the same healthy habits that are good for our bodies are also good for our brains, including reducing the risk of dementia.

"At any age or stage in our life, there are steps we can take to reduce our risk of dementia. These actions can also yield benefits for our overall health and well-being, and reduce the risk of many other chronic conditions to help us live a healthier life." says the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health.

PHAC has partnered with Jay Ingram as the English-spokesperson and Martin Carli as the French-spokesperson to encourage Canadians to join the conversation about dementia risk factors and challenge themselves to adopt #OneHabit for dementia risk reduction.

Jay's planned #OneHabit change is to shake off the isolation of COVID and make a determined effort to meet people in person, whether for work or pleasure and Martin's #OneHabit challenge is to get more hours of sleep each night by going to bed earlier.

Key Messages:

• There are two types of risk factors for dementia: non-modifiable and modifiable.
• Non-modifiable risk factors cannot be changed, like aging and genetics.
• Most cases of dementia aren't a result of genetic risk. Modifiable dementia risk factors are ones you can reduce by taking action.
• Most people can adopt healthy habits that are linked to reducing the risk of dementia, like being active as often as possible, having a healthy diet, managing diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity.
• It's never too late or too early to start taking actions that help reduce risk.
• Many Canadians are already taking action to reduce dementia risk.
• We can encourage our loved ones to adopt at least one new healthy habit to reduce the risk of dementia and also commit to doing that ourselves.
• What is good for the body is good for the brain too!
• For more information visit Canada.ca/dementia

For more information regarding on Dementia, visit Canada.ca/dementia 

SOURCE Public Health Agency of Canada

Please contact Cathy Fernandes at 647-201-6189 or by email at [email protected]