Keys to brain health as you age - Mayo Clinic Press (2024)

It’s never too early to engage in habits that can help offset age-related cognitive changes and enhance your mental well-being. Taking steps now to protect your brain can help it stay healthy as you age. Researchers have found that about a third of the time, dementia is caused by risk factors that you can control. This means, in theory, if you can manage specific aspects of your health, you may be able to reduce your risk of developing brain-related conditions.

Keeping your brain healthy is a lifelong process. Challenging and engaging your brain throughout your lifetime may increase your cognitive reserve and the brain protection it offers. Addressing general health issues, such as physical inactivity, high blood pressure, tobacco use, stress and anxiety, has also been shown to be helpful for brain functioning and mental health.

While paying attention to these issues is important at any age, it’s especially important in midlife. Caring for your overall health can help protect your blood vessels, for example, which may prevent cognitive decline later in life.

Good cardiovascular health is good for not only your heart but also your brain. Following are more details about what researchers have found to be most helpful in promoting brain health and mental well-being across the life span. Overall, these measures provide a road map for better brain aging.

Keep physically active

In one study, researchers divided participants into two groups. One group took part in aerobic exercise; the other group performed stretching and balance exercises. After one year, researchers noticed that the individuals involved with aerobic exercise had a larger hippocampus — the part of the brain that makes new memories.

In another study, researchers found that people with a gene that causes Alzheimer’s disease who exercised for 150 minutes or more each week delayed onset of the disease by several years. People with the gene who exercised less than 150 minutes a week developed Alzheimer’s disease more quickly. While it’s not certain that exercise can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, this research suggests that it may.

Physical activity helps provide protection against other diseases that can increase your risk of dementia, including high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. It may also give your immune system a boost and help combat chronic inflammation. Finally, physical activity helps offset symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.

Make sleep a priority

It’s not news that getting enough good-quality sleep is essential for overall health and well-being. Most people are aware that sleep is important. But in terms of dementia risk, good sleep seems to be especially critical. Research suggests that not getting enough good sleep over a number of years may increase the risk of dementia. In one analysis, researchers found that people whose sleep is interrupted over many years are more at risk of developing dementia. Researchers also have found that individuals who don’t get enough sleep may be twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

Why is sleep so important? Earlier, we learned that clumps of the protein beta-amyloid harden into plaques. These plaques cause nerve cells in the brain to die. This process is thought to lead to Alzheimer’s disease. During sleep, beta-amyloid and other toxins are cleared from the brain. If you don’t get good sleep, especially over a long period of time, this process may not work as well. Lack of sleep can increase risk of dementia in other ways, too. (Poor sleep can also increase your risk of other diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.)

Stay socially engaged

People who have many social contacts and regularly engage with other people may be half as likely to experience memory problems. How many people are part of your social network, how diverse your connections are and how often you’re in touch with the people in your social circle all play a role in how well your brain functions. That makes staying connected with others, especially later in life, an important factor in preserving brain health and preventing brain changes that can lead to dementia.

Social connections are thought to benefit the brain in many ways. Research suggests that engaging with others triggers the release of chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine, which improve mood and outlook and protect the brain from dementia, especially dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease. Social connections are thought to boost a person’s cognitive reserve, which helps buoy the brain against age-related changes.

Social isolation, meanwhile, increases the risk that you will have trouble with thinking skills and memory. It also makes Alzheimer’s disease more likely. And it may increase the odds of developing conditions linked to Alzheimer’s disease, such as high blood pressure and heart disease, as well as increase your risk of depression and other mental health disorders.

Keep stress in check

Several studies show that chronic stress — the feeling of constantly being overwhelmed by one or more of life’s challenges — can result in shrinkage (atrophy) of an area of the brain known as the hippocampus, important to the creation and storage of memories. High levels of stress and prolonged states of stress can increase chronic inflammation and affect cell aging. Stress is thought to affect the length of telomeres, genetic structures at the end of cell chromosomes.

Stress can affect brain health in other ways. When you’re faced with a stressful situation, a surge of hormones temporarily increases your blood pressure and causes your blood vessels to narrow. While there’s no proof that stress can cause long-term high blood pressure on its own, it’s linked to factors that can increase your risk of having high blood pressure. In times of stress, some people turn to unhealthy habits such as smoking, drinking too much alcohol and eating unhealthy foods, all of which can lead to high blood pressure.

There are several strategies that can help keep stress in check. They include exercise; mind-body therapies such as deep breathing, meditation and yoga; and simplifying your daily schedule. These practices may also improve overall emotional well-being. Mind-body therapies are based on the idea that the mind and body are intricately connected and that the mind has the capacity to affect the body. Mindbody practices are discussed in detail in Chapter 16 of the book.

Eat brain-friendly foods

Following a mostly plant-based diet, such as the Mediterranean diet or the Mayo Clinic diet, may help prevent dementia. These diets, rich in fruits, vegetables, olive oil, legumes, whole grains and fish, are thought to be good for overall brain health and may also play a role in reducing dementia risk. Studies have shown that people who follow a Mediterranean diet seem less likely to have Alzheimer’s disease than those who don’t follow such a diet.

Studies also suggest that following a Mediterranean diet may slow mental decline in older adults, keep mild cognitive impairment from progressing to Alzheimer’s disease and reduce the risk of mild cognitive impairment. The foods emphasized in plant-based diets may lower cholesterol and blood sugar, which helps protect blood vessels and, in turn, reduces the risk of stroke and dementia. They may also help prevent the loss of brain tissue associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Reduce your risk of stroke

The health of your blood vessels is critical to brain health. If your blood vessels weaken or become damaged, they can’t get nutrients and oxygen to nerve cells in the brain that need them to function.