If you can stop the chickenpox virus from waking up again in your nerves, it might calm down brain swelling and reduce harmful protein buildups that lead to memory problems and dementia.

Getting the shingles shot when you're in your late 70s might lower your risk of getting dementia by about 20% over the next seven years—maybe because the virus that causes shingles could also be involved in brain changes that lead to dementia.

When the varicella-zoster virus becomes active again, it can cause inflammation in blood vessels, which is associated with a higher likelihood of stroke or heart attack.

Getting the shingles vaccine might help lower your risk of dementia—not because it treats shingles with pills, but because it stops the virus from waking up in your body, and that could be good for your brain.