Everyday Improvements You Can Make Right Now to Boost Your Brain Health and Extend Your 'Mindspan'

Hear “healthy heart” and you might think cholesterol, blood pressure…oughta hit the gym. Now, quick: What are you doing for your brain? “People spend more time thinking about their toenails than their brains,” says former Houston Oilers linebacker Al Smith. As board chair of the NFL Alumni Association and a baby boomer, he knows firsthand that the brain is usually completely ignored until something goes wrong. Like concussions. Or forgetfulness. “When I have a headache or forget where I parked my car, I think, is that my age? Or from playing a rough sport? Is it Alzheimer’s?” Smith says. His growing concern led him to be among the first guests at the only resort focused exclusively on brain health, Montana’s new LifeWorks Health and Neuroscience. Yes, there is such a thing. Because…now we know. “We’re having a brain-health revolution,” says Sandra Bond Chapman, Ph.D., founder of the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas. “What we’ve known about improving cognitive function has lagged a generation behind what we know about our hearts—until now.” Groundbreaking advances in neuroimaging and brain studies are illuminating that mysterious organ long hidden below hair, scalp and skull. In the past dozen years, more has been revealed about both its hardware and its software than was known in all history, neurologists say. How can we stay mentally sharp and, at every age, make good decisions, plan ahead, think creatively, react quickly and resiliently and process everything in ways that help us live a good life? Human lifespan keeps extending. Experts want to show how your “mindspan” can keep up. New Thinking “When I was in school in the ’80s, we believed you were born with all the neurons you had and they gradually died because they wore out or your habits helped kill them,” says the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Lisa McGuire, Ph.D. Now we know that new neurons and neural connections can develop all through life, she says. More good-news surprises: Brains don’t automatically worsen due to age. Processing power typically peaks by the early 20s, later for short-term memory (35), emotional intelligence (40s and 50s) and vocabulary (early 70s). “Cognitive brain health declines because we let it,” Chapman says. With age, we tend to move more on autopilot, learn less, have fewer new experiences, lean on habits and develop more chronic illnesses. IQ and memory are the wrong things to fixate on. Better indicators of “staying sharp”—the cognition needed throughout life—are higher-order thinking skills (executive functions) that allow us to focus, think, react, plan and learn. It’s never too late to turn brain health around. Putting smart habits in motion early in life builds resilience. But brain function has been shown improvable even in healthy retirees or people with mild cognitive impairment. “You can turn back the clock on cognitive aging,” says neurologist Richard Isaacson, M.D., of Weill Cornell Medicine and the McKnight Brain Research Foundation. Well-brain basics are, well, no-brainers. Meh on so-called brain games and Sudoku, which mostly just make you good at those games. More effective: simple lifelong strategies for diet, exercise, sleep, friendships, de-stressing and staying curious. (See “Brain Pleasers.”) Genetics, too, play a still-mysterious role in why some 90-year-olds stay sharp where others dodder. Even then, it’s possible to influence how our genetic hand plays out through medical care and lifestyle choices, Isaacson says. What’s increasingly clear: The brain you have is the brain you build. Great Minds Some ways we’re all learning more: The New Brain Health Project This summer, an ambitious Chapman-led collaboration begins enrolling 120,000 subjects. Researchers at 19 major institutions will use computer-based testing, brain scans and more to suss out how training and lifestyle habits affect cognitive performance over time. “It’s the Framingham of the 21st century,” says Leanne Young, Ph.D., executive director of UT-Dallas’ Brain Performance Institute. The Framingham Heart Study has tracked the cardiovascular health of that Massachusetts town since 1948. “Framingham taught us what to do to be heart healthy. Now because of technology we have the ability to gather much more info on brain health, on all demographics, using the latest analytical tools. We literally could not do in the last century what we’re about to do.” Mounting Focus on Improving Cognitive Aging When Weill Cornell Medicine’s Alzheimer’s-prevention researchers tested their customized lifestyle interventions, they found people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) improved significantly on tests of judgment, planning and processing speed, abilities that tend to decline with age. (People with MCI are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s.) The most compliant improved the most—by almost three years after 18 months. For the 13 percent of the general population expected to develop Alzheimer’s, the findings are remarkable. For the other 87 percent of us? Evidence that, with effort, it’s possible to delay or avoid “senior moments,” “fogey fog” and “age-related memory loss.” “The positive impact of lifestyle is incredible,” says Heather Snyder of the Alzheimer’s Association, which funds and is helping organize U.S. POINTER, the largest study to date looking for a “recipe” on the best ways to support brain health. A Push for “Brain-Health Physicals” “We need to change what happens in the doctor’s office. Brain changes related to Alzheimer’s start decades before symptoms,” says Molly French, Alzheimer’s Association director of public health. Fewer than half of doctors now routinely assess cognition over 65, and two-thirds of patients don’t know Medicare covers this, the AA reported in March of this year. Imagine if your doctor tracked a total picture of what your brain needs, beyond using current simple dementia tests like drawing a clock face and knowing who’s president. Among benchmarks researchers hope to standardize: biometrics (what blood tests or brain imaging reveal), cognitive measures (like tests for attention, reasoning and innovative thinking) and gauges of mental well-being and everyday functioning. A New Start-Early Message Targeting Youth Hilarity for Charity, the millennial-focused Alzheimer’s group, is expanding to teach brain-health basics to high school, college and med students. Founder Seth Rogen appears in zippy digital courses created with Weill Cornell Medicine. More Minds on the Case In 2014, the CDC organized the Healthy Brain Research Network, six collaborating prevention research centers. It established a five-year “roadmap” to help public health agencies do more. It also funded 40 new graduates who promised to focus their careers on brain health. “It’s all about developing awareness and reducing stigma,” says the University of Washington’s Basia Belza, Ph.D. Clinical care centers devoted to brain health have opened in Boston, Santa Monica, Las Vegas, Dallas, Indianapolis and elsewhere. A Growing Industry to Show How to Put These Ideas Into Practice At LifeWorks Health and Neuroscience, near Bozeman, Montana, brain fitness feels more like summer camp than boot camp. Guests try mindfulness, clean eating, health coaching, outdoor sports, neurofeedback (a way to sharpen brainwave activity) and more. “It’s about seeing the power of how intertwined these things are,” says founding neuropsychologist Rob Velin, Ph.D. “Everyone asks ‘What can I do?’ because they fear living longer than their brains,” says Richard Carmona, M.D., the 17th U.S. surgeon general, who created a brain-wellness program at Tucson’s Canyon Ranch, based on his book 30 Days to a Better Brain. “We translate the science to show you.” “The behavior change piece is the next big area of focus,” agrees Sarah Lenz Lock of AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health, a scientist-led effort launched in 2015 to help consumers separate sketchy advice from solid evidence. A 2017 AARP study found that barely a third of adults eat nutritiously, though 9 in 10 said they would if they knew it could lower the risks of cognitive decline. (Um, yes, it can!) “Concentrating on the brain isn’t just for athletes but all of us,” says Al Smith, author of Think Like a Pro—Act Like a Pro, who brings educational talks to NFL alum. “Once you understand all health comes from the brain, wow! You want to stop ignoring it and start maximizing it.” Brain Pleasers “It’s not all high-dollar stuff,” says LifeWorks neuroscientist Rob Velin. “If you just get up and walk you’re being friendly to your brain.” “’Walk, talk and read’ is my one-line advice to patients,” says Kenneth Langa, M.D., of the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study, who has tracked the swell of research on preserving brain health in the past 20 years. More noggin niceties: Quit multitasking. “It’s as toxic to the brain as smoking is to the lungs,” says Chapman. Your brain is wired to do only one thing at a time. Seek out novelty. Buy a new food. Read political columnists you normally disagree with. Volunteer in a new way. The brain sparks to it. Drink more water! The brain is 80 percent water, says neuroscientist Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D., author of Brain Food. Even mild dehydration can affect brain function. “Tap is fine. Purified water, club soda, and seltzer don’t count as ‘water’ [because naturally occurring essential minerals are removed] as far as our brains are concerned,” she adds. Turn off your alerts. Digital notices provide an illusion of productivity that diverts attention and saps productivity. If World War III breaks out? You’ll hear everyone else’s phone beep. Take up mindfulness. You get more than stress relief and trendiness cred. Practices like yoga nidra (aka iRest meditation) activate regions of the brain linked to empathy, self-awareness and learning. A 2014 review of studies suggested meditation may help offset cognitive decline. Try starting your day in quiet. Avoid radio or TV. Drive to work without making calls. Your brain will be more primed to tackle your day’s “elephants” (big responsibilities), Chapman says. Carve out undistracted time to focus on one or two of those elephants long enough to make some progress. Get your heart thumping. At any age, interval training—short bursts of heart-pumping activity—produces BDNF, a protein Carmona calls “Miracle-Gro for the brain.” Exercise also releases the brain-protective hormone irisin. So pick something you love and keep ramping up. Don’t be daunted if you’re nowhere near fit. New research shows even a mere 10-minute walk or bike ride changes how parts of the brain connect and perform. “Exercise is the one silver bullet in medicine with no downside—low cost and almost no side effects,” says Langa. Mind your blood pressure. Maintaining it in middle age helps prevent dementia later, says the CDC’s McGuire. In a 2018 trial of 9,300 older adults, aggressive treatment (keeping systolic pressure under 120) best protected the brain. Seek help for sleep problems. It’s a myth you need less with age. During zzz’s, the recently discovered glymphatic system flushes toxins. If you’re not falling asleep fast, getting seven to eight hours and rising refreshed, there’s an underlying issue to address. It might be as simple as laying off p.m. alcohol, or a treatable medical issue like restless legs or sleep apnea (now strongly linked with dementia). Take “5×5 mental breaks.” Set a timer or signal so that five times a day, you disconnect from sources of input for five minutes, giving your brain a break from effort. Stretch. Take a walk. Or just sit and be. Hang out with healthy peeps. The new science of social contagion suggests friends who are obese, drink a lot, or exercise less influence you to act likewise, Carmona says. Push yourself to practice innovative thinking. After a meeting, ask yourself, “What were the takeaway messages? How could we respond differently to an issue that came up? What are the best next steps?” Feed your head. The MIND Diet, designed to reduce dementia risk, blends two well-tested plans, Mediterranean and Dash. Basically: more plant foods (salads, beans, whole grains), healthy fats (avocado, extra virgin olive oil, nuts), and omega-3s (fish), while limiting saturated fats (meat, dairy) and processed foods. To reduce inflammation, try to do all your eating within a 12-hour window, with most calories at breakfast and lunch, suggests Michael Crupain, M.D., co-author of What to Eat When. But beware magic pills. In February, the FDA warned makers of dozens of brain-health supplements making illegal, unproven claims. Work with a doctor to get safe, individualized recommendations. Consider cognitive training. According to a 2017 Global Council on Brain Health report, guided programs that teach strategies for improving specific cognitive abilities—but not most commercial “brain games”—can improve skills used in everyday life. UT-Dallas’ Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training (SMART), for example, has been shown to sharpen attention, reasoning and innovative thinking. If you feel old for your age, really take brain health to heart! It may be a sign your brain is aging too fast, say Korean researchers. Subjects ages 59 to 84 who described feeling young for their age, on the other hand, scored higher on a memory test and reported better health and less depression—and MRIs showed they had more gray matter in key brain regions.