At 65, Oscar winner Julianne Moore is on a mission: “Something we don’t talk about often enough”
A decade on from her Oscar-winning performance in ‘Still Alice’, Moore has become the face of a major public-health campaign.
Hollywood star Julianne Moore celebrates her birthday today, Dec. 3, having recently become the face of a major public-health drive. In September, the 65-year-old joined the dementia-awareness campaign Brain Health Matters - just over a decade on from her acclaimed, Oscar-winning turn as a woman dealing with Alzheimer’s disease.
“Take charge of brain health”
In 2014, Moore scooped Best Actress for her lead role in Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland’s drama Still Alice, a portrait of a university professor who, aged 50, is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Now, Moore has teamed up with pharmaceutical company Lilly on a “multi-year” campaign that encourages people to “take charge of their brain health and lower their risk of dementia from conditions like Alzheimer’s disease”.
What is Alzheimer’s disease?
Alzheimer’s is defined by the U.S. Alzheimer’s Association as a disease that "affects memory, thinking and behavior”. It is a neurological disorder that gets progressively worse: from causing mild memory loss in its early stages, to leaving sufferers unable to hold a conversation or respond to their surroundings in its latter stages.
“Symptoms eventually grow severe enough to interfere with daily tasks,” the Alzheimer’s Association says.
Alzheimer’s is by far the most common form of dementia - a group of diseases that cause a loss of brain function. Named after the German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer, the illness accounts for between 60% and 80% of dementia cases.
In all, nearly seven million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s today, the Alzheimer’s Association says. Like other forms of dementia, the disease is most common in senior citizens: Per the Mayo Clinic, about one in nine people over 65 in the U.S. has Alzheimer’s.
Early-onset Alzheimer’s - a diagnosis of the disease before the age of 65 - affects just 110 out of 100,000 Americans between the ages of 30 and 64, the Mayo Clinic says.
What to know about Brain Health Matters
“Brain health is something we don’t talk about often enough,” Moore said as she joined Brain Health Matters, which urges people to talk to their doctor about the factors that can raise their risk of developing dementia.
While some risk factors are genetic and unavoidable, other influences - such as lifestyle habits - are within our power to change. “Staying active, eating smart, and being social are good for the brain,” Brain Health Matters says.
The campaign also encourages people to take regular cognitive tests “to help catch early signs of decline”.
“Something that we don’t ordinarily prioritize”
Speaking to NBC in November, which was Alzheimer’s Awareness Month in the U.S., Moore bemoaned the fact that proactive action on brain health is "something that we don’t ordinarily prioritize”.
“You might have a mammogram, you have a colonoscopy, you get your blood pressure checked, but you don’t often get a cognitive assessment,” she said. “And it should be part of your regular wellness plan.”
She added: “And honestly, there are things that you can do with your physical health that pertain to your brain health as well: diet, exercise, social engagement, learning new things, any kind of brain stimulation.”
In a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Moore offered up an unusual method of cerebral stimulation: “Somebody told me once: Just walk backwards. She would have me do it on the treadmill sometimes, too. Or [you can] just walk backwards uphill.
“You’re looking for things that engage you, that are new. Any time you learn something. Social engagement, intellectual engagement. All of those things are great for your brain.”
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