According to the 2024 Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention, and Care, up to 48% of dementia cases may be linked to key risk factors — many of which you can influence.

Loneliness is experienced by everyone at some point in life, whether after moving cities, following a breakup, or during major transitions like parenting, caregiving, or retirement. These transitions often converge in midlife and beyond, when caregiving increases, friendships shift, or the impact of past discrimination resurfaces. Loneliness has now reached epidemic levels in many countries and it is uniquely felt within LGBTQIA+ communities.

If you've been through a major upheaval, adversity, or trauma — particularly in midlife and beyond, when life transitions like divorce, caregiving, job loss, chronic illness, or bereavement can bring major disruption — you're likely to be familiar with the after-effects. Traumatic responses might include shock, numbness, and denial, the intrusive re-experiencing of memories and efforts to both avoid and bring meaning to those memories.