When Fraser, a 41year-old father and researcher from Sydney, realised he couldn’t remember watching a movie he had just seen, alarm bells should have rung. Instead, memory lapses crept in slowly. He started forgetting conversations, becoming spooked when his teenage daughter was late, and relying on a diary to anchor his days. Two and a half years later he received the unexpected diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s. –
Fraser is not alone. Many Australians now find ourselves facing the personal and increasingly urgent reality of earlyonset dementia (EOD). -So, it’s worth taking a closer look at EOD, and what we can do about it.
Understanding EarlyOnset Dementia Down Under-
As of 2025, around 29,000 Australians live with EOD (diagnosed before 65), projected to rise to 41,000 by 2054. EOD cases account for about 7% of all dementia diagnoses, closely mirroring global rates. Twothirds of people with dementia continue living in the community, not residential care. –
Informal care (by partners, children, friends) is the backbone. Over 1.7 million Australians are unpaid carers, supporting basic tasks like meal prep or reading. These are real people, not stats. And unlike lateronset dementia, EOD often begins while individuals are still working, raising teenagers, paying mortgages, and even caring for their own elderly parents-.
Beyond Data: The Human Toll
Across Australia, the stories are all too familiar. When EOD occurs, partners often reduce hours or leave work entirely, pushing households into financial strain for decades. Informal care is worth billions yet remains largely unsupported and invisible.
Emotional exhaustion is rife. Caregivers describe “constant grief” and “losing someone while they’re still there.” Diagnosis delays of 1–4 years are common, especially among women, where menopause is too easily blamed, or highpressure men, where stress masks symptoms. Many caregivers say, “I knew something was wrong, but no one believed me.”-
When Brain Fog Isn’t Just a Hangover
In 2022, property coach Jim Rogers began suffering subtle cognitive slips, extended brain fog, misplacing items, fumbling executive decisions. After months of vague GP visits, it took a cardiologist noticing confusion over a mobile phone to escalate tests that confirmed youngeronset Alzheimer’s. Now co-hosting Dementia Australia’s –Hold the Moment podcast, Jim highlights grief, grief therapy, daily routines, and a different but dignified life after diagnosis. His vulnerability and openness offer valuable life lessons for those suffering from different forms of dementia, but also pathways for prevention.
Prevention Isn’t Just for Grandma
An article in the Sydney Morning Herald (“Want to maintain brain health as you age? Science says follow these simple rules”) neatly summarised recent global research and offers four simple rules that dovetail neatly with EOD prevention and midlife resilience strategies:
1. Love your heart: Heart health equals brain health. Manage blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes. Quit smoking (for real this time), eat well and stay active. Even middleage hypertension and obesity raise later dementia risk.-
2. Stay sharp: Challenge your brain daily, for example by learning new skills, doing crosswords, playing games, even changing your walking route. This is about building mental resilience (“cognitive reserve”).
3. Keep connected: Strong social ties reduce dementia risk. Isolation is linked to cognitive decline and emotional burnout, particularly for midlife carers.
4. Get structure and support: Recent trials (including U.S. POINTER with over 2,100 adults and Australia’s Maintain Your Brain with over 6,000 participants), show structured lifestyle programs combining coaching, cognitive training, diet, exercise and social elements outperform general advice. Participants showed cognitive improvements equivalent to slowing brain ageing by 1–2 years.
Tactical Midlife Response
These guidelines form a blueprint, not just for older folk, but especially for men in their 40s and 50s who want to keep their brains functioning to enjoy a healthy life, not just a long (and possibly difficult) one. The Lancet Commission suggests up to 40–45% of dementia cases are preventable or delayable through these types of lifestyle changes. So, let’s dive into some specific and practical examples of the things we can do day-to-day.
A) Mitigating Risk
Diet: Embrace a Mediterranean or MINDstyle approach. That means more leafy greens, whole grains, berries, fish 2–3 times/week, nuts, olive oil instead of butter. Cut processed foods wherever possible. –
Consumption: Reduce oversized portions. The Japanese phrase 腹八分目, often translated as “eat until you are 80 percent full,” encourages mindful eating and portion control. This practice, rooted in Okinawan culture, suggests stopping when you feel 80% satiated, leaving a small gap in your stomach. It is believed to contribute to better health and longevity.
Exercise: Aim for 150 minutes vigorous activity weekly (elevated heart rate). That can be as simple as a brisk walk. Strength and balance training also helps, as these have shown to boost neuroplasticity.
Sleep and mood: Our brains need seven to nine hours per night. Treat hypertension and insomnia, because poor sleep combined with high blood pressure accelerates brain aging.
Hearing: Untreated hearing loss is a major modifiable risk factor. Don’t ignore volume creep. Get tested and use devices early.
B) Spotting Early Signs
Persistent memory loss, confusion, planning difficulties, mood changes or speech issues in someone under 65 should not be dismissed. Insist on neurologist or cognitive clinic referrals, not just vague GP reviews. Persist if dismissed, even at the expense of personal embarrassment. Families in Australia and Singapore tell the same painful story: “No one believed me.”
C) Changing the Narrative
We can each help promote awareness of NDIS eligibility for under-65s, and promote Dementia Australia’s Key Worker Program among family and friends. We can advocate for ageappropriate services, because placing a 58-year-old in an 85+ home is isolating and damaging. Talking about EOD openly reduces stigma and shame.-
We can also encourage flexible workplaces, caregiver planning leave, phased roles. People diagnosed with EOD can still contribute meaningfully for many years. And if you know someone struggling with EOD, advocate for the use of assistive tech (reminders, wearables, voice prompts, routines) to support dignity and function.
D) Funding the Response
Australia has tools others don’t, like NDIS and other scalable interventions. What it lacks is stable, consistent funding across earlyonset pathways. We also need a national dementia-prevention campaign akin to Australia’s Slip, Slop, Slap for brain health. The medical advice is clear. We have the evidence, and we know that lifestyle interventions are cost-effective and scalable.-
Final Thoughts: Change Starts with Knowing and Doing
Brainhealthy habits aren’t just a cure-all mumbo-jumbo. They’re concrete, evidence–based, and actionable. Combining them builds a buffer, a cognitive reserve, that can delay, limit, or even deflect earlyonset dementia’s impact.- Love your heart, stay sharp, stay connected and invest in structure. For Australian men in midlife, it’s a reminder that dementia prevention can, and should, begin now, long before the fog sets in. Because as Jim Rogers so poignantly shares: “Dementia is hard, yes. But with the right support, it doesn’t have to be devastating.”
Useful resources
There’s a reason the podcast Don’t Let the Old Man In resonates with thousands of men in their 50s. It speaks to the quiet war many fight against obsolescence, irrelevance, and a determination to navigate life’s crossroads with clarity and confidence. And likewise, if you’re reading this, you haven’t given up. You’re still curious. Maya Angelou once said, “If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” Midlife career change isn’t about being extraordinary. It’s about being aligned—with yourself.
Stephen Keys is the Producer of the Don’t Let the Old Man In podcast. Listen on YouTube, Apple, Spotify or wherever you tune in. Find more thoughts on living gracefully (and disgracefully) in the second half of life at The Wisdom Vault, on LinkedIn, Substack and even (!) Instagram.
