Cognitive health is the ability to think, learn, and remember clearly. It is needed to carry out many everyday activities effectively. Cognitive health is just one aspect of overall brain health.

Many factors contribute to cognitive health. Genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors may contribute to a decline in thinking skills and the ability to perform everyday tasks, such as driving, paying bills, taking medicine, and cooking. Although genetic factors cannot be controlled, many environmental and lifestyle factors can be changed or managed.

Scientific research suggests that there are steps you can take to reduce your risk of cognitive decline and help maintain your cognitive health. These small changes can add up: Making them part of your routine can support your brain function now and in the future.

What is brain health?

Brain health refers to how well a person’s brain functions across several areas. Aspects of brain health include:

  • Cognitive health — how well you think, learn, and remember
  • Motor function — how well you make and control movements, including balance
  • Emotional function — how well you interpret and respond to emotions (both pleasant and unpleasant)
  • Tactile function — how well you feel and respond to sensations of touch, including pressure, pain, and temperature
  • Sensory function — how well you see, hear, taste, and detect odors

Brain health can be affected by age-related changes in the brain; injuries such as stroke or traumatic brain injury; mood disorders such as depression; substance use disorder or addiction; and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

Currently, there is no universally-recognized medicine to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. However, there is ongoing clinical research focused on prevention, and what we know so far is that lifestyle interventions have a positive impact on our brain health and may reduce our risk of dementia.

Here are six lifestyle factors that can help reduce your risk:

  1. Quality Sleep
    Sleep helps clear away waste products that accumulate in the brain, including the plaques that lead to cognitive decline. Plaques begin decades before signs of decline. So, getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night, and even a power nap during the day, can improve your brain health.
  2. Exercising Regularly
    Exercise induces new nerve cell growth to strengthen brain regions affected in Alzheimer’s disease, and it triggers the breakdown of brain amyloid. Finding an exercise that works for you is key. Starting small and working up to the recommended 150 minutes per week can have a great impact on our brain health.
  3. Eating a Healthy and Balanced Diet
    The best diet for the brain is the Mediterranean diet, which minimizes red meat and is rich in fiber from fruits and vegetables. A plant-based diet balances the bacteria in your gut, called the “gut microbiome.” A healthy gut microbiome has also been shown to reduce amyloid plaque and brain neuroinflammation, a major killer of nerve cells in the brain.
  4. Socializing with Others
    Social isolation and loneliness double the risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Speaking with people involves nerve activity that helps strengthen the brain.
  5. Challenging Your Brain
    Learning new things strengthens the connections between nerve cells called synapses and provides cognitive reserve. A recent Harvard Health article says, “Practicing a new and challenging activity is a good bet for building and maintaining cognitive skills.” Learn a new language, take a class – these activities have major benefits.
  6. Handling Stress
    When you become overly stressed, your brain can have difficulty retaining newly learned information. Utilizing healthy coping strategies and other tools for relaxation can help to reduce stress. Some strategies can include managing expectations, meditation, taking a walk, etc.

    Alzheimer’s disease is complex, and the best strategy to prevent or delay it may turn out to be a combination of measures. However, more research is needed before any of these lifestyle factors can be considered a proven strategy to prevent or delay Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers are continuing to learn more about what might and might not work – but nothing has been proven to date.