Doctors have all the tools to ward off dementia—but is it working?
Industry Buzz
“MDs have higher levels of substance use, depression, suicide, and other mental health diagnoses, which could increase risk for dementia. Their profession does not make them immune.” — Anna Chodos, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at the UCSF, Division of Geriatrics, and executive director at Dementia Care Aware
“People who have spent more time building cognitive skills may have some resilience against cognitive decline.” — Austin Perlmutter, MD, board-certified internal medicine physician and managing director at Big Bold Health
“We cared for a retired neurologist who knew the textbook signs of early dementia... His decline didn’t stem from a lack of knowledge. It came from years of compartmentalizing personal wellness. Many physicians are so conditioned to push through exhaustion that self-care becomes an afterthought for decades.” — Moti Gamburd, chief executive officer at CARE Homecare
There’s a running stereotype about doctors that seems to persist no matter how inane—and it’s that doctors don’t get sick. But as family physician Kristin Puhl, MD, says in a blog post, "Doctors are still people. People get sick… And the idea that doctors are somehow exempt from this is ridiculous on its face.”[]
And physicians don’t just catch colds. Physicians get cancer. They get autoimmune diseases. And they get dementia. Research has found that 28% of actively practicing American physicians over the age of 70 live with some form of mild cognitive impairment or dementia, according to Becker’s.[]
Yet research has shown that physicians could have a similar[] or lower risk of dementia[] than the general population. Could it be because they have access to knowledge and better healthcare? Here’s what your peers have to say about it.
Risk factors for dementia in physicians
There are some protective benefits to being a physician, says Austin Perlmutter, MD, a board-certified internal medicine physician and managing director at Big Bold Health. He says physicians’ deeper wallets may help. “Socioeconomic factors influence access to recreational exercise, healthy food, clean air, and low-stress environments.” Dr. Perlmutter notes that there could be something else at play as well: “The idea that people who have spent more time building cognitive skills may have some resilience against cognitive decline.”
Anna Chodos, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco, Division of Geriatrics, and executive director at Dementia Care Aware, says that while physicians do tend to have knowledge and good socioeconomic status, they’re still at risk for dementia due to other lifestyle variables.
“MDs have higher levels of substance use, depression, suicide, and other mental health diagnoses, which could increase risk for dementia. Their profession does not make them immune,” she says.
These health issues are very real for physicians, says Moti Gamburd, chief executive officer at CARE Homecare.
“We cared for a retired neurologist who knew the textbook signs of early dementia but had stopped eating regular meals and rarely left home,” he says. “His decline didn’t stem from a lack of knowledge. It came from years of compartmentalizing personal wellness. Many physicians are so conditioned to push through exhaustion that self-care becomes an afterthought for decades.”
Docs talk cognitive health
Dr. Chodos says everyone—physicians included—should do the following to ward away dementia: “Treat hypertension, stay at a healthy weight, ensure regular social and physical activity, address hearing impairment, treat depression, treat diabetes, avoid traumatic brain injury, and avoid smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.”
Dr. Perlmutter has a personal relationship to Alzheimer's disease, as two of his grandparents were diagnosed with it. “I make an explicit commitment to live a life designed to reduce my personal risk for the condition,” he says. His go-tos are purified air, daily cardio, and eating the Mediterranean diet.
Chelsie Rohrscheib, PhD, head sleep expert and neuroscientist at Wesper, developer of the Wesper home sleep disorder diagnostics technology, says sleep is key—especially for overworked physicians: “I focus on getting enough high-quality sleep per night. This is because deep sleep and REM sleep perform functions that maintain the neurons in our brain, clear the brain of waste products that build up and damage our brain cells, and maintain crucial cognitive functions such as focus, learning, and memory.”
“The most beneficial thing is that [physicians] are more able to advocate for an evaluation, diagnosis, and care,” Dr. Chodos says. For physicians who may need a dementia-related resource, she points them to the National Council of Dementia Minds, which offers a new group specifically for physicians to share their own experiences with dementia.
Read Next: Dementia rates are rising: Should physicians undergo mandatory cognitive screenings?