The science behind INSPIRE

The 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care concluded that 45% of dementia cases worldwide are linked to 14 modifiable risk factors — things that can change over a lifetime. That does not mean 45% of dementia is preventable for any one person. It means the odds are not fixed at birth, and daily life is part of the equation.

• Less education in early life
• Hearing loss
• Untreated vision loss
• High LDL cholesterol
• Depression
• Traumatic brain injury
• Physical inactivity
• Diabetes
• Smoking
• High blood pressure
• Obesity
• Excessive alcohol
• Social isolation
• Air pollution

INSPIRE organizes daily life into a small number of habit areas — nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, purpose, and connection — because those are the levers that touch the most risk factors at once. Walking with a neighbor moves physical activity, social connection, blood pressure, and mood in the same half hour.

The program does not treat disease, prescribe, or replace medical care. It teaches, tracks habits, and gives you cognitive check-ins so you can see change in real numbers.

African American and Latino adults are roughly two to three times more likely to develop dementia than white adults, and are the least represented in brain health research. INSPIRE starts in these communities because the need and the evidence gap are both largest there.

• Livingston G. et al. Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission. The Lancet, 2024.
• Alzheimer's Association. 2024 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures.

Research describes populations, not individuals. INSPIRE does not guarantee health outcomes; lifestyle change may reduce risk, and results vary by person.