3 Things You Can Do Now to Decrease Your Risk of Multiple Sclerosis
World MS Day was May 30th, but it’s still a great time to talk about this common disease and spread awareness!
Multiple Sclerosis, or “MS,” often strikes people between the ages of 20 and 34— right in the very prime of their lives. Receiving this life-altering diagnosis can be scary, and many people wonder whether something they did caused it and whether there’s anything they can do to avoid disability.
If a friend or family member has the disease, you may be wondering whether you’re at increased risk. So, how do you know what your own odds are of developing multiple sclerosis, and is there anything you can do to prevent it?
In this article, we’ll cover those questions and more. Read on!
| What is Multiple Sclerosis? Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system where a person’s own immune system begins to attack the brain and spinal column. The resulting damage to myelin, the protective layer insulating wire-like nerve fibers, disrupts signals to and from the brain.National Multiple Sclerosis Society |
People with multiple sclerosis often suffer from a range of debilitating symptoms, including:
- Pain
- Intense fatigue
- Numbness or tingling
- Mood changes
- Memory issues
- Vision changes or blindness
- Decreased mobility or paralysis
The disease typically follows one of four courses, the most common of which is the “relapsing-remitting type.” In this type, periods of exacerbation (where symptoms are worse) are followed by periods of partial or total recovery.
Who gets multiple sclerosis?
As of 2020, there were about 2.8 million people living with MS around the globe. Of these, the majority of cases occurred in Europe and North America. In general, multiple sclerosis is much more common the further we get away from the equator.
The disease is about 3 times more common in women than in men, and most people are first diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40. In fact, a woman between the ages of 20 and 34 is roughly ten times more likely to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis than someone younger or older.
| Age | WOMEN | MEN |
| (years) | (Annual new diagnoses per 100,000 persons) | |
| <20 | 4.8 | 1.92 |
| 20-40 | 33.01 | 14.22 |
| 40-60 | 3.29 | 4.51 |
| 60+ | 0.75 | 0.59 |
Source: https://www.healthdata.org/gbd/
What puts you at risk for multiple sclerosis?
Currently, multiple sclerosis is believed to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Epidemiologists have identified a number of specific risk factors with the strongest evidence of a cause-effect association with multiple sclerosis:
| RISK FACTOR | HOW MUCH DOES IT INCREASE RISK? |
| Epstein-Barr virus seropositivity | 3.6x |
| Adolescent obesity | 2x |
| Smoking | 1.6x |
| Vitamin D deficiency | 1.4x |
| Low sunlight exposure | 2x |
| Shift work | 1.7x |
| Infectious mononucleosis | 2x |
Source: Nourbakhsh 2019
Most of these risk factors are quite common. The effects—and increased risks—may add up or even amplify each other.
To demonstrate, let’s take a practical example…
Let’s say you’re a 20-year-old woman. As a baseline, your risk of developing multiple sclerosis within the next 10 years is 1 in 510. However, if you:
- were infected with the Epstein-Barr virus,
- were obese as an adolescent, and
- smoke…
Your risk can go up to 1 in 63. That’s a huge difference!
This is exactly why understanding your risks and making positive changes now is so important to ensure you’ll have the healthiest possible future.
How can you decrease your risk of developing multiple sclerosis?
We talk a lot about risk factors, but the flip side of those are called protective factors. Briefly, these are the things you can do (or changes you can make) to actively decrease your personal risk of developing a specific disease.
Taking the same example from before, let’s say you’re a 25-year-old woman, but you:
- were never infected with the Epstein-Barr virus,
- maintained a healthy BMI as an adolescent, and
- do not smoke…
Your risk of developing multiple sclerosis in the next 10 years goes down to 1 in 725.
It’s clear that lifestyle choices play a big role in determining the kind of future you’ll have. But as you may have noticed, you have more control over some of the risk factors mentioned above than others!
If your entire family lives in Maine, it might be impractical to consider packing up and moving to a sunnier climate. You can’t go back in time if you were already overweight as a teenager. And despite your best hygiene efforts, you may still catch the Epstein-Barr virus.
However, there are 3 easy, healthy changes you can make right now to decrease your risk of developing multiple sclerosis in the future, no matter how many risk factors you have!
- Don’t smoke— or quit now.
(Decrease your risk by 1.6x)
Smoking not only increases your risk of developing multiple sclerosis, but also leads to less favorable disease progression and earlier disability in people already diagnosed. That’s plenty of motivation to finally break the habit! If you need help, there are lots of tools and resources available.
- Get enough sunlight— or take Vitamin D another way.
(Decrease your risk by 1.4x)
Adequate Vitamin D levels are protective against multiple sclerosis Here’s how to make sure you’re getting enough:
- Use this map to discover which months of the year you’ll be able to get Vitamin D from sun exposure in your location. During those months, concentrate on safely meeting the recommended length of exposure. (Remember, prolonged exposure to UV rays puts you at risk for other diseases like skin cancer!)
- During the months when you won’t be able to get Vitamin D from the sun, consider including foods high in Vitamin D in your diet (like salmon, sardines, beef liver, and egg yolks)
- Taking a high-quality D3 supplement to maintain your levels.
- Choose a job without shift work.
(Decrease your risk by 1.7x)
While your options certainly depend on your occupation, whenever possible opt for a “standard” schedule (keep your working hours between 7 am and 6 pm) to cut your multiple sclerosis risk. By ensuring you’re able to clock plenty of good-quality sleep, you’ll also decrease inflammation throughout your body and improve your energy levels.
How much can you decrease your risk?
Let’s quickly take a look at how the risk factors discussed above could impact your personal risk of developing multiple sclerosis over the next 10 years.
- If you:
- smoke,
- were obese as an adolescent,
- had Epstein-Barr virus,
- don’t get enough vitamin D, and
- have shift work,
your risk could be as high as 1 in 24.
- If you:
- never smoked,
- have never been obese,
- never had Epstein-Barr virus,
- get adequate vitamin D, and
- have a job without shift work,
your risk could be as low as 1 in 13,719.
Most likely, you don’t fit perfectly into the “best case” or “worst case” scenarios described above, meaning your individual risk will be somewhere in the middle.
Calculating personal risk is a complex science, but understanding your risks and how you can reduce them is one of the smartest things you can do for your health. The more you know, the more you can do… and the healthier you’ll live!
HealSkill: helping you reduce your risk of 200+ diseases
We hope you’ve found the information in this article helpful. With a few healthy choices, you can take an active role in preventing multiple sclerosis and many other diseases.
At HealSkill, we believe everyone deserves access to tailor-made health information. That’s why we’ve developed the most comprehensive, personalized health platform on the market. Learn your risks for over 200 different diseases, follow easy suggestions, and tip the odds in your favor!
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