Actor Chris Hemsworth has defied odds this year. Not as everyone’s favourite God of Thunder, but as himself – or the strongest version of himself – in a new Disney Plus docuseries called Limitless, which sees the Thor actor testing the limits and strengths of the human body, and coming face-to-face with his own mortality.
View this post on Instagram
In the fifth episode of the series, the 39-year-old actor receives a concerning warning about a heightened risk of Alzheimer’s disease, after undergoing a batch of DNA tests for the show.
The gene which proved a cause for concern, ApoE4, comes up in one of every four people. Hemsworth’s DNA carries two, which makes the actor one of the 2-3% of the entire population to have two copies of this same gene, indicating a high risk of Alzheimer’s.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hemsworth says:
“The show, which initially was an exploration of longevity and, of course, should be fun, became even more relevant and important for me, even more poignant than I ever thought it would be. It was a really good catalyst to dive into everything I needed to be doing in either the prevention front or the management front or however you want to classify it.”
Hemsworth also confirms that the warning is not a diagnosis, and not determinant in any way.
Getty
“If you look at Alzheimer’s prevention, the benefit of preventative steps is that it affects the rest of your life…”
He goes on:
“It’s all about sleep management, stress management, nutrition, movement, fitness. It’s all kind of the same tools that need to be applied in a consistent way.”
Hemsworth has taken the preventative approach after wrapping up with the show, and expresses his concern about the news of his risk towards Alzheimer’s being overdramatised and manipulated in the public eye.
“It’s not like I’ve been handed my resignation.”
In the same breath, the warning triggered the actor to take a break from acting, to spend time with his wife, Elsa Pataky, and their three children – India, 10, and twin boys Sasha and Tristan, 8.
He explains further that “it really triggered something in me to want to take some time off. ”
Chris has not been diagnosed Alzheimer’s, and is taking the preventative steps to avoid it. If we learn anything at all from Hemsworth’s private health risks made public, it’s that we need to build and maintain healthy lifestyle habits focused on our mental and physical wellness, because we don’t all get the opportunity to discover our health risks on time.
ALSO SEE:
At 99, the world’s oldest primary school student died and left a great lesson behind
Feature Image: Getty
