Air pollution and Alzheimer's disease prevention: The science and a prevention plan

Today, approximately 7.2 million people have Alzheimer's disease in the United States. That number is expected to double by 2060 if a preventive approach is not undertaken. Globally, those figures are also predicted to increase. As we’ll soon discover, air pollution and other aspects of climate change are a predominant cause of this remarkable surge. The purpose of this article is to examine the scientific basis of pollution and suggest that an evolutionary lifestyle medicine program may help mitigate and slow down its negative effects on brain health. This review examines existing literature on pollution, and lifestyle as well as other aspects of a lifestyle medicine program, including diet, exercise, stress reduction especially via yoga and meditation, good sleep and essential and spiritual well-being, thus investigating their potential to enhance awareness of the issue and prevent the increase in Alzheimer's disease predicted to arise from air pollution and other forms of climate stress. Air pollution, and the potential for global warming, presents a critical emergency. Scientific evidence indicates that these factors contribute to an elevated risk of Alzheimer's disease, along with other neurological, mental, and physical health challenges. Our hypothesis is that an evidence-based lifestyle medicine program can potentially prevent, slow, or reverse multiple medical problems that are tied to Alzheimer's disease prevention. It is hypothesized that once practitioners of this program become aware, they can reach out to their family, friends, communities, country and globally to attend to the issue with strength, wisdom and clarity.