- Author and journalist Maria Shriver is raising awareness about brain health.
- When her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she made it her mission to inform others about what they can do to lower their risk of cognitive decline.
- As a longtime advocate for Alzheimer’s, Shriver wants people to take agency over their brain health.
Maria Shriver wants women to know that they’re nearly
Now, she’s teamed up with Eli Lilly’s Brain Health Matters campaign to raise awareness about the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, and how early detection and intervention can make a big difference.
For Shriver, spreading awareness is a gift. “[Particularly] to women who say that once they find out that they’re vulnerable, they’ll change how they’re walking through their life, but they need the information,” she told Healthline.
She wants everyone to know there are proactive strategies to help support brain health.
“I’m really hopeful that people will actually take away from this, that their brain health matters, that there are things that they can do, and go from… feeling like there’s nothing I can do to feeling there are things I can do,” Shriver said.
Since she first started advocating for Alzheimer’s, the research on brain health has come a long way.
“[There] was no hope, and there was nothing you could do, and you just felt powerless, and you felt it was something that just happened to you as you aged,” said Shriver. “There’s been a sea change in that.”
The science, Shriver said, will only continue to advance. “I do believe that in my lifetime, there will be a cure, but I’m excited about what we know today. I’m excited that the conversation includes brain health,” she said.
Genetics plays a complicated role in Alzheimer’s disease, said Heather Snyder, PhD, senior vice president of Medical & Scientific Operations at the Alzheimer’s Association.
“[There’s] still a lot that we don’t know and a lot that we’re understanding about risk and what may make somebody’s risk higher related to their genes, or lower,” Snyder told Healthline.
For example, having a first-degree relative with Alzheimer’s, such as a parent or sibling, can increase your risk of developing the disease, but does not guarantee it.
“Most people with a family history will not necessarily develop Alzheimer’s,” said Snyder.
Researchers have identified over 100 genetic variants linked to a greater chance of late-onset Alzheimer’s (age 65 and older), the most common form of the disease. The known genetic factors for Alzheimer’s have started influencing treatment and research.
The most well-studied risk gene is ApoE4 (apolipoprotein E4). Snyder shared how the gene may influence risk:
- You inherit one copy of the gene from each parent.
- One copy of ApoE4 raises risk; two copies raise it further (with some variation across populations).
- DNA surrounding the gene may also modify a person’s risk level.
- Having ApoE4 variants increases risk but doesn’t determine outcome one way or the other.
- are likely to develop Alzheimer’s
- may develop Alzheimer’s at a similar age to when their affected parent developed it
- may experience Alzheimer’s onset much younger
If you’re concerned about your own genetic risk, your doctor can connect you with a genetic counselor who can help guide you through the genetic testing process and explain the results.
While genetic factors are outside of your control,
Most studies on lifestyle modifications and how they affect brain health are about cognitive decline and dementia. “So all causes, not necessarily just Alzheimer’s disease, but other causes of cognitive decline in dementia,” said Snyder.
Conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes are linked to increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia, but not everyone with these conditions develops Alzheimer’s.
As with genetics, Snyder said this is a risk factor, not a guarantee, and there is variability in why one person progresses to cognitive decline and dementia while another with similar conditions doesn’t.
However, she noted that research has shown that getting good sleep, knowing and managing your heart and metabolic numbers, and eating a nutritious, balanced diet are beneficial to brain health.
“What we’re seeing now is more translating from those associations into specific recommendations or specific steps that we can take,” Snyder said.
Snyder cited the Latin American Initiative for Lifestyle Intervention to Prevent Cognitive Decline (
The findings indicate that lifestyle interventions improved memory, thinking, and overall cognitive function in older adults at risk of dementia across various Latin American countries. The strongest gains were seen in participants receiving structured support and coaching. These interventions included:
- physical activity
- healthy eating
- cognitive training
- social engagement
Shriver said when it comes to lifestyle factors, she takes what she can control to heart.
“I meditate every morning. I pray; that’s my go-to meditation, and I exercise kind of first thing every morning,” she said. “Those are my three kinds of non-negotiables — and coffee.”
She also prioritizes challenging her brain by learning new things at work and playing games.
“I’m now kind of deep in Mahjong,” Shriver said. “[That] brings me to social engagement. I’m in a Mahjong group with younger people, so that helps me keep and make new friends, which is also an important thing.”
Shriver believes her father would be amazed at how far science has come, but she said he would be more focused on pushing her to keep making a difference.
“[He’d] tell me to get on it and, you know, find the cure,” Shriver said. “So I think that’s kind of how I am, as well…let’s fund the research that will get us to the finish line.”
She feels both hope and urgency as she advocates for more answers and new treatments.
“That’s why I think it’s really important to continually talk about [the] information available to us today that did not exist five years ago,” said Shriver.
Informing adults about the importance of brain health during midlife, she said, is her top priority.
“Alzheimer’s is a disease of midlife,” she said. “Alzheimer’s, or other dementias, are in your brain for more than 20 years before you’re symptomatic, so if you’re in your 30s, or your 40s, or your 50s, or your 60s, it’s important to be focused on your brain health now, not sit there and say, Oh, I can focus on my brain health when I’m 70 or when I’m 80.”
Snyder agreed. She encourages people to prioritize a healthy lifestyle to help lower their risk of dementia.
As researchers explore the disease’s pathology, new screening options have become available.
In the last several years, four new blood tests were cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Three new treatments were also FDA-approved. Additionally, the number of clinical trials studying Alzheimer’s increases yearly.
“It’s incredibly exciting when you think about that landscape,” said Snyder. “Then you [add in] behavioral interventions and the idea that we might be able to do things to protect our brains before we see disease or before we see the cognitive changes, and you can see incredible momentum for [change].”
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