Happiness As Medicine: Well-being in Dementia Care

Join Dr Sam Moxon and guests, Dr Emily Willroth, Dr Kyrsten Hill, and Karysa Britton, from Washington University in St. Louis three of the people behind the World Happiness Report.

Together they discuss their research showing that higher levels of well-being can act as protective factors against dementia and improve the quality of life for those living with the condition. They highlighted the importance of mental health and well-being in dementia prevention and care, and the potential for public health policies and community programs to incorporate these findings. In the show our guests also emphasise the value of interdisciplinary collaboration in tackling dementia prevention.

In the 2024 issue of the World Happiness Report, the authors focus on the happiness of people at different stages of life. In the seven ages of man in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, the later stages of life are portrayed as deeply depressing. But happiness research shows a more nuanced picture, and one that is changing over time. In this show we focus on 'Chapter 4 - Supporting the Well-being of an Aging Global Population: Associations between Well-being and Dementia'. However, we encourage you to explore all of the 2024 report for the latest findings on the happiness of the world’s young, the old – and everyone in between.

Listen to the postcast, read the report and check where the place you live, sits in the global happiness rankings.

Resources mentioned in the show:

The World Happiness Report 2024

Where does your country sit in the rankings?

Well-being for dementia risk reduction

A transcript of this show, links and show notes and profile on all our guests are available on our website at https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk.

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We gratefully acknowledge the support of our funders: Alzheimer’s Association, Race Against Dementia, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

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