Though the terms often are used interchangeably, Tan told Prevention that they aren’t the same thing. Dementia is a broad category, and Alzheimer's disease falls within it.

“Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of diseases that are characterized by cognitive decline, and then Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia under that umbrella,” he said.

Tan told Prevention that diagnosing dementia is complicated because there’s no simple test that pinpoints a specific type. He said that the presentations vary widely from person to person, “so if you have two different people and they both have Alzheimer’s disease, their presentation may be quite different.”

Experts encourage people who notice possible signs of dementia to see a doctor for an evaluation that includes a medical history, cognitive testing and a neurological exam.

Tan told Prevention that most medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration for dementia are indicated for Alzheimer’s disease because it is the most common and most extensively studied form of dementia. He said clinicians may prescribe Alzheimer’s medications off-label for patients with other dementia types, including Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson’s disease dementia.

“The reason is that Alzheimer’s can co-exist with other forms of dementia and treating it with these medications may help the overall memory or thinking of the person,” he said.

Alzheimer’s disease typically begins with memory loss and is characterized by abnormal protein buildup in the brain that progressively impairs thinking, behavior, speech and movement. Early neuropsychological testing soon after the earliest symptoms appear may help preserve memory and slow disease progression. Experts recommend speaking with a primary care physician to determine if an evaluation is needed.

Read the complete article from Prevention.

Elam, 91, has been retired for 23 years from her job at United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770. And she is thriving, says Elam’s physician, Sonja Rosen, MD, chief of Geriatric Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, because Elam is doing retirement the right way.

“Carrie’s doing many of the things we encourage our patients to do as they age— keeping herself physically healthy and having a full social calendar,” Rosen said.

Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show nearly 20% of today’s workforce are 65 or older, up from 10% in the mid-1980s. And many older adults stay in the workforce for health—not financial—reasons. One analysis suggests that retiring earlier is associated with higher mortality, finding an 11% reduction in risk of death for each additional year of work.

So how can today’s older adults slow down or leave their careers without losing their health?

“Retirement from work is not retirement from life,” said Zaldy Tan, MD, MPH, medical director of the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders at Cedars-Sinai. “It’s not like there is a universal, specific age at which our bodies shut down or our brains slow down to a halt. That is not physiological. This idea of retirement is man-made.”

The key factor, Tan said, is not retirement itself—but what people do after they stop working. Retirees who remain socially and cognitively engaged often experience better physical health, slower biological aging and improved mental wellbeing than those who do not, Tan said.

Elam is a perfect example. Her days still have structure and purpose: volunteering on her church’s fundraising committee, walking in Fox Hills Park, attending the opera and sharing Sunday dinners with family.

“I like to get dressed, give back to my community and make sure I have a full day,” Elam said.

Rosen said that sense of routine and purpose can make a big difference in how people experience retirement.

How to Prepare for a Healthy Retirement  

For many, a job gives more than income—it provides routine, purpose and daily social interaction. When the job disappears, the transition can be challenging, particularly for people whose relationships and activities revolve around the workplace.

“Work is sometimes seen as negative,” Tan said. “But we shouldn’t look at work as evil and vacation or retirement as good. It’s really what you make of both situations.”

Retirement can even improve the health of some—especially those leaving physically demanding or high-stress careers. Rosen said that some of her retired patients find they have more time to focus on exercise, cook healthier meals, spend time outdoors or explore new interests.

But Tan said the transition works best when people prepare for it.

“People spend years preparing to enter the workforce, but retirement requires discipline, too,” he said. “If your friendships and routines are centered on work, you need to start building activities, social connections and interests outside the workplace before you retire so you don’t end up isolated.”

Rosen recommends that people who are considering retiring take stock of where they find meaning in their lives—whether that purpose comes primarily from work or from activities, hobbies and relationships outside the workplace.

“What matters most are a patient’s individual goals and preferences,” Rosen said. “It really depends on the individual and what they find most meaningful in their life.”

For those who do retire, Rosen said maintaining structure and healthy habits is essential. She recommends aiming for at least 150 minutes of cardio each week and strength training twice a week. She also advises retirees to build social activities into their routines, such as volunteering or scheduling regular get-togethers with friends, to stay socially connected.

Mental stimulation is another important piece. Work often provides daily intellectual challenges, and Rosen said retirees benefit from replacing that engagement with activities such as continuing education, mentoring or doing memory exercises.

Elam, for example, reads every day and keeps her mind active with small mental exercises. If she can’t remember the name of something, she runs through the alphabet until a letter triggers her memory.

When Retirement Isn’t the Right Fit

For Christine Maclin, retirement simply wasn’t a good match.

Maclin, now 79, originally retired from her job as a cook at age 69, planning to rest and enjoy her free time. But after six months, she realized she missed the learning and sense of purpose that work provided.

“I mean, how many movies can you go to? How many coffee shops can you go to?” Maclin said. “I love hanging out with my friends, but ultimately I felt like retirement was time wasted.”

She returned to the workforce through a staffing company, first working as a cook for the Magic Castle and the University of Southern California—and later as an associate on the sales floor at Nordstrom. In January 2025, she decided to try something new and took a 10-week course in professional caregiving.

“What Christine has done—finding work and continuing to learn—shows that some patients fare better when they work,” Tan, Maclin’s physician, said.

Now Maclin works twice a week as a personal caregiver—cooking for her client, socializing and helping with errands—while continuing to learn something new every day.

“I like having somewhere to go and having something to do,” Maclin said.

Keeping a Positive Mindset, Retired or Working

Elam and Maclin each attribute their good health to a resilient, positive mindset.

Maclin says occasionally forgetting things is a normal part of life and not something worth getting upset about. Instead of becoming frustrated, she focuses on solving the problem, as she recently did one morning when she couldn’t recall if she had taken her medication.

“Instead of getting angry because you forgot something, solve the problem,” Maclin said. “I decided that after I take my medication, I just turn the container upside down, so I know.”

Elam says she tries to approach the aging process with as much style and grace as possible and avoids worrying prematurely.

Retired or not, she believes the key to staying healthy is simple: “Find activities you enjoy, and always be grateful,” Elam said.

Read more from Stories and Insights: Why Exercise Is Important as You Age

Although the APOE gene is known to influence Alzheimer’s risk, experts emphasize that genetics alone cannot predict whether someone will develop the disease. Instead, experts recommend making healthy lifestyle choices to help maintain brain health.

Tan, the Carmen and Louis Warschaw Chair in Neurology and director of the Maxine and Bernard Platzer Lynn Family Memory and Healthy Aging Program, told Prevention engaging the brain in new and different activities is one of the best ways to reduce dementia risk.

“Brain games, crossword puzzles and Sudoku are meant to challenge specific areas of the brain, but our minds are complex, and different areas serve different functions,” he said. “Think of it like cross-training for the brain, because different activities give you a better chance of having the totality of your mind stimulated and engaged.”

Tan told Prevention regular physical exercise also stimulates the brain and “undoubtedly reduces the risk for heart disease, stroke and other vascular phenomena.”

He said certain vitamin deficiencies can affect memory and recommended speaking with a physician about whether supplements could help.

“If your vitamin B12 is low, it needs to be supplemented, because brain cells need B12 to function,” he said. “And there is a link between lack of vitamin D and dementia, so it can be good to take a supplement.”

Other ways to help reduce Alzheimer’s risk include managing stress, eating plant-based and lean proteins, improving sleep and staying socially connected.

Click here to read the complete article from Prevention.

“Our America: Unforgettable” follows three Latino families with loved ones experiencing Alzheimer’s. Tan and other experts explore the effects of the disease on this demographic—which is 1.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s—and on the patients, families and society at large.

“Alzheimer’s is a neurologic disease, meaning it’s a disease of the brain and nerves that affects memory and cognition, our ability to remember things, our ability to learn new things, and our ability to pay attention and plan and execute things,” Tan told ABC News. “It’s very subtle in the beginning, and then it progresses to the point that it becomes undeniable.”

Because Americans are living longer, the collective risk of losing memories and cognition is significant, Tan said. 

“Our memories and our minds are so important in our enjoyment of life and our self-identity,” Tan told ABC News. “So, keeping yourself intellectually stimulated…socially engaged is very important no matter what stage of life.”

Signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s include forgetting recently learned information, difficulty performing familiar tasks, confusion about time or place and changes in judgment or decision-making.

Click here to watch “Our America: Unforgettable” and read the related story on ABC7.com.

In July, the first direct-to-consumer blood test designed to assess a user’s risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease hit the market. The test, which has not undergone Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review, measures the level of a protein called beta amyloid, a key component of plaques that form in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, disrupting brain function.

Zaldy Tan, MD, MPH, medical director of the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders and the Carmen and Louis Warschaw Endowed Chair in Neurology at Cedars-Sinai, sat down with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom to answer questions about the test, as well as similar blood tests that are in development.

What do these new blood tests measure?

Blood tests for Alzheimer's disease provide a convenient way for patients to see whether they might be developing Alzheimer's-type changes or pathology in their brain years before memory issues even begin. The challenge here is that these brain changes do not necessarily mean that they have Alzheimer's disease, which is a clinical diagnosis. What blood tests do is to look at traces of certain proteins that are known to develop in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Who should take this type of blood test?

First, it is important to remember that the test currently on the market has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. Neither have any of the other, similar tests that are in development. And these blood tests should really be reserved for people who are at risk or are having early symptoms of memory issues. These types of blood tests do not have a place for people who do not have significant risk factors for developing memory problems, or are not having any functional or social issues related to cognitive change.

Does a blood test alone provide enough information to diagnose potential memory issues?

A blood test will not answer that question. Only a trained clinician can. So, for people who are interested in these kinds of blood tests, I would suggest that patients first speak with their healthcare professional to see if these tests are right for them.

Alternatives to these newer-on-the-market tests are things like cognitive testing, a neurologic examination, or consultation with memory specialists. These blood tests provide just one data point or piece of information among many that need to be collected to know if someone is having early signs of Alzheimer's disease.

Do these blood tests help patients qualify for some of the new Alzheimer’s disease treatments such as lecanemab?

Currently, we confirm the presence of amyloid beta in the brain and qualify patients for these treatments through a PET scan of the brain or a lumbar puncture to test cerebrospinal fluid. These blood tests will need to be tested further and will need to be cleared by the FDA to make sure that they are reliable before they can be used to qualify patients for these new treatments. 

What are the risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease?

Age is one of the main risk factors for developing dementia later in life. Others include family history, especially having dementia diagnosed in a first-degree relative. People who have had traumatic brain injury or have had a stroke or have Parkinson's disease or other neurologic conditions may also be at increased risk of developing dementia.

What can people do to reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s disease?

So, what we need to do is to make sure that our brains get the blood supply that they need, and that is best assured by a healthy lifestyle: good diet, good sleep, exercise, increased socialization to make sure those connections between brain cells are nice and healthy. And of course, protecting your brain from trauma by wearing a helmet when you cycle or skate, wearing a seatbelt when you're driving, is important. So, it's really a combination of things in order to reduce the overall risk. Just like we do for our hearts and our bodies, we need to have a multimodal approach to risk reduction of brain disease, including Alzheimer's disease.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Am I at Risk for Dementia? What You Need to Know

About 5.8 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number is expected to triple to nearly 14 million by 2060. Tan told ABC 7’s Denise Dador that nationally, Los Angeles County has a high percentage of residents with Alzheimer’s disease (13.2% of residents). 

California has the seventh highest rate of older adults with Alzheimer’s in the country, which could be related to environmental factors that can increase an individual’s risk of developing the disease.

“Pollution has been related to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and we know that sometimes our air quality is not the best,” said Tan, who holds the Carmen and Louis Warschaw Chair in Neurology at Cedars-Sinai. He added that car-bound Angelenos don’t walk as much as residents of other cities.

Tan, who attended the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Amsterdam in July, told Dador that research presented at the conference on donanemab, an experimental immunotherapy drug, showed promise in slowing the progression of the disease. A study presented at the international conference showed donanemab reduced the progression of Alzheimer’s by 35%. Studies of lecanemab, the Alzheimer’s medication recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, showed it reduced disease progression by 27%.

While there may be more new treatments in the future, Tan said it’s important to prioritize Alzheimer’s prevention. “It’s really about a healthy lifestyle and getting good sleep, lowering stress, preventing head trauma and eating a healthy diet,” Tan told Dador.  

Click here to watch the complete segment from ABC 7.

Lecanemab, which must be given through an intravenous (IV) infusion, has been shown to slow disease progression in patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s who have elevated levels of beta-amyloid proteins in their brain. The drug removes these proteins, which are thought to cause Alzheimer’s.

While the medication holds promise for more than 1 million people with early-stage Alzheimer’s, it comes with caveats, Tan told NPR host Jon Hamilton. The treatment takes 18 months to work and only slows memory loss by about six months.

“’So, what does that six months mean to them?’ is my question,” Tan told Hamilton, “and whether that is worth showing up for an infusion every two weeks and risking brain bleeding and swelling.”

Tan, who also holds the Carmen and Louis Warschaw Chair in Neurology at Cedars-Sinai, explained that one of the obstacles to offering the treatment is meeting the guidelines imposed by private insurers. Patients will be required to undergo an evaluation and diagnostic testing—not fully covered by insurance—to determine whether they can be treated.  

“If that requirement becomes very restrictive, then only specialized centers will really be able to do this,” Tan told Hamilton. “And because of the limited capacity, I anticipate there will be a wait to get this medication.”

Though lecanemab is not a cure, Tan said it’s a step in the right direction. “It is a positive thing, because if we are going to get eventually to an effective and safe therapy, we need to start somewhere,” he told Hamilton.

Click here to read and listen to the complete segment on NPR.