Sanjula Singh is a physician-scientist whose career has been devoted to understanding and preventing some of the most feared brain diseases: stroke, dementia, and late-life depression. A principal investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School\u2019s Brain Care Labs, Singh believes these conditions are not inevitable. \u201cThe most common misconception that a lot of people have is that Alzheimer\u2019s or depression or stroke is like a train coming down the tracks,\u201d she explained. \u201cThere\u2019s so much you have in your own hands that you can do to remain healthy and happy. \u2026 It\u2019s so simple, but I think that\u2019s what makes it so powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Singh\u2019s path to science was not straightforward. Born into a family of doctors in the Netherlands, she originally studied music before returning to medicine. During her Ph.D. work on stroke, she realized that research could help save lives but might not stop the diseases from happening. That realization pushed her toward prevention. After advanced study in epidemiology at Oxford and mentorship under leading neurologists, Singh became a driving force in the field of brain health prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Singh\u2019s research has helped show that up to 80 percent of strokes, 45 percent of dementia cases, and 35 percent of late-life depression may be preventable through changes in behavior. Recently, she and her colleagues identified 17 modifiable factors that influence all three conditions. Addressing even one of them can make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The factors are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
High blood pressure and severe kidney disease are especially powerful drivers, while exercise, cognitive activities, and social engagement all offer protective effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The overlap of these factors explains why stroke, dementia, and depression are often linked. \u201cDementia, stroke, and late-life depression are connected and intertwined, so if you develop one of them, there\u2019s a substantial chance you may develop another,\u201d Singh\u2019s colleague Jasper Senff noted. By working on these 17 areas, people can cut their chances of developing multiple conditions at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Singh emphasizes that change does not require perfection, only action. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter where you\u2019re starting. What matters is that you begin. Improving \u2014 even just a little \u2014 is the way forward,\u201d she said. For her, prevention is about empowering people with tools they can use daily. Her lab has developed the Brain Care Score, a measure that helps individuals track their habits and make small, realistic improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She urges people to start with one change, no matter how small. \u201cStart with something small and doable,\u201d she said. \u201cThose first steps can create momentum \u2014 and over time, they can lead to powerful change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To make these tools widely accessible, Singh is also working on creative solutions, from AI coaching avatars to products that help people remember medications. Her vision is to bring brain health into everyday life in ways that are simple and even enjoyable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Singh, brain health should be seen with the same urgency as heart health. She believes people have the power to lower their risks and live longer, healthier lives. \u201cHealthcare is increasingly complex,\u201d she said, \u201cbut these findings remind us that preventing disease can be very simple. Why? Because many of the most common diseases share the same risk factors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who is Sanjula Singh Sanjula Singh is a physician-scientist whose career has been devoted to understanding and preventing some of the most feared brain diseases: stroke, dementia, and late-life depression. A principal investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School\u2019s Brain Care Labs, Singh believes these conditions are not inevitable. \u201cThe most common misconception that a lot of people have is that Alzheimer\u2019s or depression or stroke is like a train coming down the tracks,\u201d she explained. \u201cThere\u2019s so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,19,10,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-aging","category-natural-remedies","category-preventative-care","category-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7016,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7014\/revisions\/7016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}