MUSCATINE, Iowa–A doctor of internal medicine for many years, Dr. Hamid Sagha always had an interest in helping people live their healthiest lives and prevent chronic conditions, including dementia. However, after his father developed cognitive impairment, he grew quite passionate about finding ways to potentially prevent and treat dementia and researched them extensively. After using what he learned to help his father and his patients, he wanted to share his knowledge with a wider audience. As he explained it, “rather than doing it one by one in the clinic, we can take it to the community.” Sagha provided an overview of how healthy lifestyle choices can lessen risk factors for dementia and slow progression in people with the condition at a first event in January. Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m. at the Musser Public Library (408 East Second Street in Muscatine), Sagha will make a second presentation on how exercise promotes brain health and reduces the risk of dementia.

Though people often encounter lots of health information encouraging exercising, sifting through all of it to understand how it promotes good overall physical and neurological health and how to get started can prove challenging. People can feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to incorporate exercise into their own lives in a way that will help them achieve their health goals and avoid disease. In his second seminar, Sagha will break down how exercise benefits the brain, reducing the risk for dementia and helping people already diagnosed with the condition. He will also address the different sorts of exercise people can do and how each will boost their health. By breaking a huge topic into smaller, more easily understood pieces of information and showing their relevance to lowering the risk of dementia, Sagha believes people will feel empowered to start incorporating more exercise into their lives. “It can be helpful, and we can do something to make a difference at least reducing some of the risk factors,” he emphasized.

Free and open to the public, anyone interested in learning more about the benefits of exercise and its relation to preventing dementia may register for this event. Because of limited space, people wanting to attend should save their spots by , by emailing Angie Koppe, or by calling 563-264-9482. Sagha’s first presentation had a full house, so those who would like to attend the second one should register for it without delay.

Because Sagha has researched many aspects of dementia prevention and treatment and found that several facets of people’s lifestyle can influence their risk for dementia, he plans to hold additional presentations focusing on other areas such as sleep, stress reduction, pollution avoidance, socialization, and lifelong learning and mental stimulation. Since the first installment had such good attendance, Sagha would like to see many in the community come out to the February presentation and all that follow. “I’m encouraging them to come to all seven sessions to give them that hope and to give them that information.”