<strong>Why Self-Advocacy Is Self-Care When It Comes to Brain Health </strong>

Reported by Women's Health Magazine.

Every person with a brain is at risk for Alzheimer's disease. That's not a scare tactic — it's the opening line Maria Shriver delivered from the stage at the Women's Health Lab, and she meant it as a rallying cry. Shriver watched her father, Sargent Shriver — the architect behind the Peace Corps, Job Corps, and Upward Bound — lose the very mind that built those legacies. "The idea that this brain had come up with all of these things and now couldn't decide what a fork was, or who I was, was extraordinary to me," she said. That dissonance sent her looking for answers doctors weren't ready to give her.

When Shriver first suspected Alzheimer's disproportionately affected women, she was told she was wrong. Decades of advocacy later, she has been proven right. Two-thirds of Alzheimer's diagnoses are in women — a fact now backed by Shriver's work founding the Women's Alzheimer's Movement at Cleveland Clinic. According to Women's Health Magazine, a recent study published in Biology of Sex Differences analyzing data from over 17,000 adults found that heart and metabolic risk factors hit women's cognition harder than men's. Scientists still can't fully explain why, but the data is no longer deniable. A woman's brain cycles through puberty, postpartum shifts, and menopause — it is, as Shriver put it, "an ongoing, living, breathing organism, like a chia pet." That biology deserves serious medical attention.

What You Can Actually Do About It

Here's where the story pivots from alarming to actionable. Shriver is clear: roughly half of Alzheimer's cases are preventable. Research from the Alzheimer's Association's POINTER study points to physical exercise, cognitive engagement, nutrition, and whole-body health monitoring as meaningful interventions. The Lancet has identified 14 modifiable risk factors that together account for a cumulative 45 percent reduction in dementia risk. Sleep, movement, limiting alcohol and smoking, staying socially connected, and learning new things all count. Shriver herself is in bed by ten, up by five, and lifts weights four days a week at 70. Start smaller — a daily 30-minute walk, a standing lunch date, a book of crosswords. The compounding effect is real.

Self-advocacy at the doctor's office matters just as much. Jen Oleksiw, group vice president and neuroscience officer at Eli Lilly — a company that has invested in Alzheimer's research for 35 years — frames it simply: brain health should be part of every annual wellness visit, the same way a mammogram is routine. If you're 55 or older, bring it up explicitly. Ask about your personal risk factors. Request cognitive assessments or blood workups. The earlier you have the conversation, the more options remain on the table. Stigma is still a barrier — Oleksiw notes it actively delays people from getting help — which is why even talking openly about Alzheimer's with friends and family is a form of prevention.

Shriver is calling for nothing less than a brain moonshot, and the science is finally catching up. The bottom line: advocating loudly for your own brain health isn't anxiety — it's the smartest thing you can do with the one you've got.

Read the original at Women's Health Magazine.