Introduction

Dementia is a substantial public health issue and major societal challenge, and its prevalence is high and increasing. It is one of the conditions most likely to create fear and existential dread in people (McParland et al. 2012). Associations between neuropathology and the clinical condition are not fully understood. Such fear coupled with uncertainty has led to an industry of products and services claiming to ‘rewire your brain’ or ‘delay dementia by 10 years’. Much of this industry has no grounding in research evidence. The creation of myths around dementia prevention has to some extent damaged legitimate sources of evidence. It is tempting to make a plea to ignore such tensions and have a mature and balanced debate on the ‘actual evidence’. However, we must acknowledge that fear and dread are as much a part of the experience of being human as brain physiology; the body and mind form a dissociable whole. Much of what we will argue in this book is for population-targeted approaches aimed at behaviour change on modifiable factors, both risk and protective factors. This can only be achieved with a thorough appreciation of the nature of dementia and dementia prevention understandings among the population and how these understandings impact such attempts.