We move now to "Your Brain Health Matters."

In 2024, the medical journal The Lancet published an eye-opening report, which found that lifestyle choices can prevent or delay 45% of dementia cases.

It's information that two Las Vegas women are determined to spread.

One is living with Alzheimer's disease, and the other is a long-time caregiver of people with cognitive impairment.

They go by Dangle & Dot, and they want to change how you view dementia.

-Well, hi.

(Nancy Nelson) Hi.

I'm Nancy.

Oh, and I'm Dangle.

(Kat Hartley) Yes, and I'm Kat.

Oh, yeah, Dot.

-She's Dot.

-And together we dare to do dementia differently.

-Nancy Nelson and Kat Hartley, known as Dangle & Dot on their YouTube channel, are Alzheimer's advocates who joined forces after multiple chance meetings in Las Vegas.

-We just really-- -Said, hey, this is more than just synchronicity.

This is something that we need to do.

-The mismatched earrings Nancy likes to wear inspired their nicknames.

Nancy is Dangle with the dangle-style earring, representing people living with dementia; and Kat is Dot with the dot earring, giving a voice to the care partners of people with dementia.

-There's at least two people going through a difficult journey, right?

One is the person living with the diagnosis, and then the care partner on the other side.

And we're both individuals.

So that's where-- -Early diagnosis comes.

Early diagnosis, which mine was very early, it gives you an opportunity to do some of the things that you don't do under duress.

And then, if it's early, you can do something about it.

Now we know we really can do something about it.

-Making some lifestyle changes can really help: exercise, Mediterranean-style diet, getting away from inflammatory foods, staying social, continuing to learn and educate myself, good night's sleep, meditation.

-Nancy, when were you diagnosed?

-I was diagnosed when I was in 2018.

No, wait a minute.

I'm sorry.

In 2013 I had a brain-- or open heart surgery, and I was diagnosed in 2013.

-I think it's 2013 is what I read.

And then 2018 another diagnosis?

-Yes, mild cognitive impairment.

So it changes for many people, and most people get the different diagnosis as they go along.

And so when I got my first diagnosis, I all of a sudden began waking up between 3 and 5 a.m.

each and every morning.

And words were just coming to me from up above.

And they were just pouring down, and I would write them on this yellow pad that I had, and I would write and write.

-Nancy would turn those words into three books of poetry titled Blue.

River.

Apple.

-So I engaged my brain from that point forward very early.

And I do believe that the writing and the caring for other people have helped me in my being able to say I have done this for 13 years.

-We're excited!

We're excited!

We're excited!

-Shh.

-To talk about dementia.

-The videos Dangle and Dot make aim to help others survive and thrive with dementia while challenging the stigma surrounding it.

-And know it's just not gonna be as bad as you think it might be.

-When did you both become aware of the need to try and address the negative stereotypes?

-I was in a networking group, business morning networking group of 50 people.

And so when I had gotten my poems ready to publish, I took the first poem I ever wrote, "Blue.

River.

Apple."

And you know how you give, every six months, you get to say who you are and who would use your product and whatever.

And I thought, what a good place to delve into this.

And I read my poem.

There was dead silence.

And what I learned very quickly is that that moment life changed for me in the business world in that arena, because people did not know how to respond.

-Kat, when did you become aware?

-Just being out in the community.

I saw so many people really suffering with shame and like quiet about their loved one having, having it.

Afraid to even tell their friends, their good friends or family, that my husband... I've had so many quiet conversations, people calling me, Oh, I can't tell my friends.

With the sense of shame, which is so painful to me, because you really need community in this disease, particularly the caregiver.

I can't wait for the day when someone gets a diagnosis and it's like cancer; you have like Facebook groups and people cheering you on to support you.

But this is a quiet, dark disease at times, and that actually makes me really sad, because it's behind closed doors, people.

And even the smallest gesture can make a big difference.

Or finding that resource, that makes all the difference in the world.

-Today we wanted to talk about if you do get diagnosed, resources.

-Dangle & Dot hope to act as at least one of those resources.

They say their lived experiences inform the videos they make, and the process of making them is its own gift with nuggets of knowledge revealed that sometimes surprise you.

-Being present with one another, I think, is the top skill for caregivers to learn.

And so Nancy and I have a blast making these videos, and we want to use props and play and color to show something different.

-And we wrote a book about that, and I do have a secret that I use.

Are we sharing?

-Yeah.

[laughter] -I, long ago, started wearing red panties.

Feng shui says that it brings passion and it brings good joy and it brings an awareness.

And so when I feel-- When I speak, I put on a pair of red panties.

-I bet you didn't see that one coming.