You may already know that shuffling your feet while walking can be an early sign of dementia, affecting someone’s ability to, say, go up the stairs.But scientists may have identified another possible early symptom that shows up in your stride. A 2022 study, published in JAMA Network Open, didn’t look at walking on its own; they compared older people’s hiking styles to their memory. The changes in walking didn’t mean much without a decline in certain cognitive skills, they say. But for those who notice differences in their walk alongside cognitive changes, referred to by the study as “dual decliners,” had a higher risk of developing dementia than the rest of the participants. How did it work?Researchers looked at data from 16,855 older participants in Australia and the US. They examined gait