Natalie Morales Is Always 'Checking' in on Her 'Own Health' After Watching Her Mother-in-Law Battle Alzheimers Disease: 'I Take Charge'

Natalie Morales knows that life is precious, especially after her mother-in-law was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in her mid-50s.

"Healthy aging to me is really being proactive about it in life now, in my mid-50s. I’m certainly aware of all the right foods and the right things that I need to be eating and drinking, and supplements that I should be taking or not taking. All of those things, of course, I talk to my healthcare providers about regularly, but I’m also getting my physicals every year. Birthdays, to me, are a time for me to do a check on my own health: What do I need to schedule in terms of not just my appointments, but also what are some of those things that I need to be doing to take charge of my own life and my own health plan?" the TV star, 54, who teamed up with Eli Lilly and Company, exclusively tells OK!.

"I used to put it off all the time. I don’t do that anymore. Now I take charge and I schedule it almost a year to the day out from when I had my last physical. I do everything. I exercise pretty much an hour a day, every day, in some way. Even if it’s just walking my dogs, if I can’t get out to do an actual physical workout or if I’m not feeling up to a workout. I do a lot of yoga, Pilates and also weightlifting, because as you get older, you need to be doing weight-bearing exercises. So I’m doing that as well and just taking care of my body. We are our own best healthcare providers when it comes down to it. You need to take charge of your own health. As they say, put the oxygen mask on yourself before you pass it on to your kids. That’s what we need to be doing, especially as we get older in life," she continues.

Morales, who shares two sons with husband Joe Rhodes, also makes sure to spend time with her loved ones to fill her cup.

"It’s not just the physical health part of it. The emotional health part is very important. Making sure that I have a social network and friends that I can count on as well to support me, but also just being able to engage socially and connect. I do lots of activities outside of work that allow me to connect with my friends in great ways. These are all things that we know help with your brain," she says.

The host is very open about her family's experience with her mother-in-law, Kay Rhodes, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in her mid-50s to encourage adults who are experiencing memory and thinking issues to talk with a doctor to determine whether they could be due to early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (ESAD). Her goal for Healthy Aging Month is to spotlight how acting early can make a difference: the sooner adults talk to a doctor and discuss their memory and thinking issues, the more options they may have.

Now, she wants to raise awareness about early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (ESAD) and discussing evaluation and testing options for memory and thinking issues with a doctor.

As a journalist, Natalie, who was a co-host on The Talk, in addition to working for NBC News for 22 years, has always had to ask the tough questions, but now she's the one in the hot seat.

"When we were going through the Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis with Kay, the whole process, I was very open and reported on it at the Today show. I even had a story about my mother-in-law featured. These were all things that I think helped break down any barriers. People see, 'Oh, Natalie is going through this.' If she can help me in any way, I hope that I have that connection with people still, that they feel like they can trust that I’ve done the research on a lot of these topics and that I also partner with companies that are important to me," she shares.

"I know Sandra Bullock has talked about her caregiving experience as well with her partner," she says of the actress who was a caregiver for Bryan Randall before he died from from complications related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). "The more people know that we’re real people, you’re going to go through life and change and aging and death like everybody else. The more we share about our journey, I think the more connected we are and the more help we can give one another, prop each other up and support one another. That was really key when it came to the caregiving part with my father-in-law and Kay, but also having that early connection with our neighbors, the people around him who lived near him, who could pitch in and help out, help deliver meals, help take my mother-in-law on walks around the neighborhood. There were so many people who came together. It takes a village not just to raise a child, but it takes a village to get older, too."

She adds, "As you’re going through things that are difficult in life, you hope that village is going to be there to help you. And that village was there for my family and for my father-in-law. It didn’t matter if we were doing it in front of the camera, behind the camera or out of view of the camera. People we really trusted helped out."

Over the years, Natalie had "certainly done my share of reporting on Alzheimer's disease, and when it affected my own family, that’s where my journalist brain, my research abilities — everything — came in."

"It really hit home when Kay, my mother-in-law, was 53 at the time that she was diagnosed with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. That was in the early 2000s. There weren’t a lot of options in terms of treatment available for her then. Also, her diagnosis didn’t come for two years. She was showing early symptoms, memory and thinking issues, but it wasn’t until two years later that we got a conclusive diagnosis," she says. "She was diagnosed at 53. I’m now 54 years old. All of that made me realize the importance of managing healthy aging and knowing how important early awareness and being able to have early clinical testing or assessment can be in giving you and your family more options for treatment. We now know with Alzheimer’s disease that there are incredible diagnostic tools. Within the last two years, there are now blood tests available that are FDA-approved to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. These are all things that were not available to us back when Kay was diagnosed."

She continues, "There also were not amyloid-targeting therapies, so there was nothing like Kisunla, which we are now lucky to have and is now available and FDA-approved. Obviously, talk with your healthcare provider, because there are some side effects that can happen, and you have to determine if you or your family member is a candidate. I encourage people to talk with their healthcare provider. Clearly, the earlier you have these conversations, not just with your healthcare provider but also with your family, the greater options you have for treatment and also for planning purposes."

Natalie's partnership with Kisunla® and Eli Lilly "came as a result of all their work."

"They’ve been in this space doing the research for more than two decades now. It was important to find the right partner to be able to raise awareness about something that was so important to me and to my family, but also important to so many families. That’s why I wanted to be the person who could help spread the message about early awareness and the necessity of being able to have a plan. If somebody you love has symptoms — memory and thinking issues that are symptomatic of early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease — there are now actual treatments on the market, like Kisunla®, that are available, which are amyloid-targeting therapies that can be so beneficial to you and your family, but can also really help you plan for that unforeseen future," she says.

With Healthy Aging Month now and World Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, Natalie is embracing aging.

"I’m 54, menopausal, experiencing some brain fog, like a lot of women my age with menopause go through. So memory and thinking issues are something that I am constantly aware of. It’s not just a matter of, 'Did I misplace my keys? What did I do with it?' It’s more about having these conversations with my doctor. What are the symptoms of menopause? How is it different from Alzheimer’s disease? These are all things that I am very much aware of. But also, as you said, I don’t take my health or my life for granted. I’m constantly doing all the necessary things to age as healthily as I can. I exercise. My whole family exercises daily. We prioritize healthy eating, eating foods that are high in antioxidants, things that help with the brain," she says.

"I’m also very much doing everything I can to challenge my brain on a daily basis. As a journalist, as a reporter, I’m constantly researching, and in my own job, preparing for interviews involves a lot of reading and doing everything I can as a journalist to be prepared for the person you’re going to be talking to. All of those things are very helpful, I think, to leading not just a fulfilled life, but a healthy life," she concludes.