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www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 12 HEALTH November 7, 2025 The Maldives Bans Smoking For Everyone Born After 2006 T he Maldives this month barred people born after 2006 from smoking or purchasing tobacco prod- ucts in the country, making the archipelago the first country to implement such a law. “Individuals born on or after 1 January 2007 are pro- hibited from purchasing, using, or being sold tobacco products within the Maldives,” the country’s health min- istry said Saturday. The new law, ushered in by President Mohamed Muizzu, leaves those who were born in 2006 or earlier free to smoke. At least 21 percent of the archipelago’s population over the age of 15 smoked cigarettes daily, and more than 25 percent of the population used tobacco daily in 2022, according to estimates byWorld Health Organiza- tion’s global report on tobacco prevalence, published in October. The Maldives’ law around smoking was imposed to protect young people and align with theWorld Health Organization’s framework for tobacco control, the health ministry said. The smoking ban, which went into effect Saturday, also extends to tourists - hundreds of thousands of whom visit the Maldives every month, according to the country’s tourismministry. Alcohol, too, is banned on the local non-resort islands of the archipelago. The country is known for its picture-perfect beaches and thriving tour- ism industry. Last year, the Maldives banned the import, sale, distri- bution, possession and use of electronic cigarettes and vaping across all ages. That law also applied to visitors to the country. The smoking ban follows last year’s imposition of import duties on cigarettes in the Maldives, with the price of a pack of cigarettes jumping from roughly $7 to $16, according to the Maldives Independent, a local news outlet. The combination of bans and taxes has led to an increase in the smuggling of tobacco products and cre- ated a black market for cigarettes, with an estimated 400 percent profit margin for smugglers, according to local publications. Many countries have pursued legislation targeting generation-wide phaseouts of tobacco products, but the Maldives are, so far, the first to impose a ban. Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand, ushered in an anti-smoking law in 2023 that would have gradually phased out cigarette sales and licensing. Under the law, anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, would be banned from using tobacco products by 2027. The law was repealed later that year when a new right-wing government took over. One of the reasons cit- ed by ministers for the repeal was that it would increase tobacco-related crime. The United Kingdom is in the process of enacting a ban similar to the Maldives, seeking to prohibit the sale of tobacco, vapes and similar products to people born on or after Jan. 1, 2009. The legislation is now at the commit- tee stage at the House of Lords. Some cities are experimenting with banning smoking in public spaces. Milan this year banned smoking any- where except “isolated areas where it’s possible to respect a distance of at least 33 feet from other people.” Most of Europe bans smoking in indoor public spaces. The European Union last year encouraged members to expand their bans to outdoor spaces to “achieve a tobacco-free generation in Europe by 2040.” -TheWashington Post By Maham Javaid Here’s How Many Daily Steps May Help Delay Alzheimer’s Symptoms P eople at heightened risk of Alzheimer’s disease may be able to slow their cognitive decline by tak- ing more daily steps, a new study suggests. Researchers found people with early, presymp- tomatic Alzheimer’s disease who walked 3,000 to 5,000 steps per day appeared to delay their cognitive decline by three years in comparison with those who walked less. And people who walked 5,000 to 7,000 steps per day appeared to delay their decline by seven years, on average. (Depending on your gait, a mile takes around 2,000 steps.) “If you’re sedentary, even modest activity could help slow down that process,” saidWai-YingWendy Yau, the lead author of the study and a cognitive neurologist at Mass General Brigham. The study included close to 300 older adults, some of whom had brain scans that indicated they were at higher risk of Alzheimer’s due to the buildup of amyloid beta. The researchers followed participants for an average of nine years and found that those who took relatively more steps had a slower build up of tau, another type of protein that can tangle and disrupt the communication between brain cells. The researchers found an association between a person’s step count and the trajectory of their cognitive decline - not a cause-and-effect, Yau said. Still, the findings suggest regular physical activity may help slow the progression of early, presymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. Yau said she hopes the findings are empowering for people who are looking for practical ways to protect their brain as they age. “Exercise is a hard habit to build, but I like to tell my patients every little bit helps,” Yau said. “Every step you take in the right direction helps with brain health.” The paper, which was published in Nature Medicine, is part of the Harvard Aging Brain Study, which started 15 years ago to better understand how changes that can be detected on brain scans contribute to cognitive decline. And in this study, researchers wanted to understand whether physical activity - measured by steps taken per day - could protect against a decline in cognitive func- tion, Yau said. Physically active older people are less likely than sedentary people to develop Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of memory loss and cognitive decline. And studies in mice and rats suggest that greater physical activity can slow the progression of the disease. But it’s not clear whether exercise confers the same benefits in humans, Yau said. The participants, who ranged in age from 50 to 90 and didn’t have dementia or other memory issues when the study began, underwent PET scans so researchers could measure the amount of amyloid beta and tau in the brain. And the volunteers wore a pedometer for seven days at the start of the study to determine their average daily step count. Then, the researchers analyzed how a participant’s step count related to the levels in amyloid beta and tau in the brain, as well as their cognitive and daily function over time. Researchers don’t know exactly why exercise may be beneficial for cognitive health, Yau said. One plausible explanation is that greater physical activity may improve blood flow to the brain or reduce inflammation, which could slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, Yau said. One limitation in the study is that the pedometer measured steps taken per day but the researchers don’t know whether those steps were taken walking or running, Yau said. And they didn’t record whether participants did regular resistance training, swimming or other forms of exercise. “Other studies have shown that different types of physical activity, beyond walking, is beneficial for brain health,” Yau said. “An important next step to look at is to clarify what aspects of physical activity - intensity, duration, pattern - is the most important in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.” The study cohort also consisted of highly educated, predominantly non-HispanicWhite individuals, which may limit the generalizability of the findings, Yau said. Ronald Petersen, a professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said that the study has a “solid methodology” and that the findings are informa- tive but still just an association. “We must be cautious in generalizing to a broad popu- lation,” Petersen said. “We still do not know the mecha- nisms and influences of exercise.” Epidemiological studies show a lifelong habit of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, said John Thyfault, the director of KU Diabetes Institute and a professor of cell biology and physiology at the University of Kansas Medi- cal Center. But exercise programs for older adults who already have early signs of mild cognitive impairment have “mixed results” on slowing the progression of the disease. A person’s lifelong exercise patterns likely have a more ro- bust effect on delaying or preventing Alzheimer’s disease than a six-month trial, he said. No matter what, walking more - and regular exercise - “will promote hundreds of other positive adaptations in your body” that will mitigate or delay side effects of the disease to some degree, Thyfault said. “There will be no negative side effects to increasing walking time and physical activity,” Thyfault said. “All of the outcomes will be positive.” -TheWashington Post By Teddy Amenabar PHOTO:Saumya Khandelwal/ForTheWashington Post People spend time by the ocean in Malé, the Maldives, on Dec. 19.