Improve Your Brain Health
7 Easy Tips To Slow Cognitive Decline
Hi Friends!
June is National Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month! Before jumping headfirst into brain diseases, let's start the month off with some simple tips to care for our brains. Doesn’t that seem more pleasant? I thought so too.
With the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia rapidly increasing, it’s more important now than ever to keep our brains healthy. A recent study found that 7.2 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s in 2025.
If you think you’re off the hook because you’re still young, think again. The same study found at least 200,000 Americans suffering from younger-onset dementia.
Now, I’m not saying everyone who misplaced their car keys this morning has dementia. It’s common to forget little things like where you last put down your phone. I’m notorious for returning from the grocery store with everything except the key item I went there for.
Some forgetfulness is normal. However, if you find that you’re forgetting things more frequently and it’s starting to impact your life, it may be time to consult your family physician.
Sadly, there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s or dementia. There are medications available to slow the progression of the disease and lessen the side effects, though. Many of us aren’t at the point of needing medication, but we would still like to do anything we can to keep our brains young and healthy.
Here are some steps we can take to help prevent memory loss and maintain optimal brain function.
Steps To Improve Brain Health
1. Exercise Regularly
Physical activity isn’t just good for our bodies, it’s incredible for our brains too. Exercise increases blood flow to the whole body, including the brain. This oxygen-rich blood is wonderful for our brain.
What type of exercise is best for brain health? The three best brain-healthy exercises are aerobic, resistance training, and mind-body practices.
Aerobic Exercise increases the heart rate and blood flow to the brain. This improves learning, memory, and overall cognitive function. The recommendation is to aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.
Examples of these exercises include walking, jogging, biking, swimming, or anything that increases your heart rate (wink wink).
Resistance Training can improve executive functions such as decision making, planning, and attention. It also prevents age-related cognitive decline.
Resistance training involves weight lifting, body weight exercises like squats and push-ups, and resistance band training. These exercises should be performed several times per week.
Mind-Body Exercise can reduce stress, improve focus, and enhance cognitive function. Examples of mind-body exercises include yoga and tai chi. Many studies have also shown that mind-body exercises can improve a person’s overall well-being.
2. Prioritize Sleep
It sounds simple, but getting enough sleep can be one of the most difficult steps on this list. There are endless reasons why we don’t get enough sleep. However, we need to make sleep a priority to maintain brain health.
Poor sleep involves not getting the proper number of hours, restless sleep, and waking up often. Inadequate sleep has been linked to memory loss, poor focus, and increased risk of having accidents.
If you suffer from any of these, it is important to speak to your doctor about it and come up with a better sleep plan. The standard recommendation for adults is to get 7–9 hours of sleep per night for healthy cognitive function.
3. Stay Mentally Active
Keeping your brain active and constantly challenging yourself mentally helps prevent memory loss and cognitive decline. Great examples of brain activities are reading, learning/playing a musical instrument, crossword puzzles, word games, IQ apps, taking a college or online course, and finding a new hobby.
4. Maintain a Healthy Diet
Some foods can have a surprisingly positive effect on brain aging. They slow down the aging process of the brain, slowing the onset of dementia. Here are some of these brain boosting foods:
-Colorful Fruits and Veggies- Foods with higher levels of carotenoids (the pigments responsible for giving fruits and veggies their vibrant color) decrease the risk of dementia and improve brain health. Examples of these foods are carrots, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale, tomatoes, squash, and papaya.
-Seafood- Fatty fish like salmon and tuna are packed with omega-3 fatty acids, which are associated with good brain health. Our bodies can not produce omega-3 fatty acids (DHA), so we need to get them from our diet to reap the rewards. The recommended amount is to have 2–3 servings per week to decrease the risk of cognitive decline.
-Berries- Berries are an amazing source of antioxidants and flavonoids, which are known to prevent cell damage and can prevent the progression of brain damage. They are also great because they contain less sugar than other fruits. Enjoy helpings of black, blue, or raspberries often.
-Whole Grains- Whole grains are loaded with B vitamins, fiber, and other nutrients that decrease inflammation in the brain. This improves memory and decreases the risk of dementia. Examples of whole grains include quinoa, brown rice, oats, and barley.
-Seeds, Nuts, and Legumes- These are packed with antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids,, vitamin E, B vitamins, magnesium, and zinc. All of these nutrients promote brain health. Examples are almonds, walnuts, soybeans, peanuts, lentils, flax, and pumpkin seeds.
Studies have shown that it’s best to avoid foods that are known to cause inflammation in the brain, which increases cognitive decline. Some of these foods are red meat, refined grains, processed food, fast food, desserts, sugary drinks, and alcohol.
5. Maintain Social Interactions
Keeping in touch with family and friends decreases stress and depression, which can contribute to memory loss and cognitive decline. Maintaining social connections not only helps your brain function but also improves your overall well-being.
6. Manage Stress
Chronic stress can negatively impact brain health. It’s important to find healthy ways to manage stress, such as meditation, yoga, or exercise, to promote overall well-being.
7. Manage Chronic Conditions
Many chronic health conditions negatively affect your brain health. For example, uncontrolled diabetes damages the blood vessels in your brain, decreasing the brain’s oxygen supply. This increases the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.
By managing your blood sugar properly, you also improve your brain health. The better you care for your chronic health conditions, the better your brain health will be.
Conclusion
Our brain is so important! While it’s also important to take care of our bodies, our brains should be first on the list to take care of. Just remember, you can get a heart transplant and a lung transplant, but there are no brain transplants available just yet! I don’t think even AI can pull that one off.
My point is that we need to give our brains the care and health maintenance they deserve. Some of these tips sound really simple, but they are extremely important. If we can take a few moments out of our day to decrease our risk of dementia and promote better cognitive function, I think it’s essential that we do it!
Thanks so much for stopping by. I’m excited to get back to writing after my surgeries. I hope you continue to join us in learning about brain health and conditions like Alzheimer’s and PTSD. If you would like to help support my writing, you can Buy Me A Coffee or contribute to my insane medical bills;)
