As we get older, a lot of things about our bodies change. People generally start losing bone density after 40, and loss of muscle mass accelerates after 60. The brain also goes through changes. The volume of your brain starts decreasing naturally as you get older, and the speed at which your nerves conduct impulses slows down.
How much your memory and cognition change as you age is different for everyone, but it’s a simple fact of life - just like needing reading glasses, or getting thinner skin.
When it comes to brain health and memory, our environment and genetics play a role in how they will change as we age. But we can take the reins some, too. Many things affect us, including our own choices and habits.
Making changes to your lifestyle for the sake of your long-term memory and cognition can seem hard, especially at first when the effort is great and the rewards may not be immediately visible. But it can absolutely be worth it over time.
Here are some ways to help maintain your brain health - from eating brain-healthy foods, to exercise, to sleep, to choosing a supplement like Neuralli Cognition+.
Eat a balanced diet for brain health
There’s been a great deal of research over the years on dietary approaches to stopping or slowing cognitive decline and improving brain health. A few helpful foods keep showing up in the results, over and over again.
When something in a food helps with protecting the brain from the effects of age, scientists call it “neuroprotective.” Here are some neuroprotective foods that are supported by numerous studies.
Green, leafy vegetables and cruciferous vegetables
Did you know that broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale are all part of the same family of plants? They’re called cruciferous vegetables, and it turns out they’re good for you for many reasons at once.
Among their many health benefits, they’re associated with slower cognitive decline in people who are aging. Studies appear to link these effects to a phytochemical called sulforaphane. Phytochemicals are chemicals that naturally occur in plants that can have an effect on the body.
Similarly, leafy green vegetables are full of nutrients like folate, nitrate, and lutein that are individually associated with positive effects on cognitive function.
Both of these kinds of veggies can be great for your brain health as you get older. Trying adding them to your plate most days of the week.
Fatty fish, like salmon
A lot of old-fashioned dietary wisdom tells people to avoid fats. But certain kinds of healthy fats are very important for your brain and health! Research indicates that about 50-60% of the brain’s makeup is lipids, or fats. About a third of that is omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3s appear to promote cognition and protect your neurons from degenerating. Some fatty fish, like salmon, mackerel, and sardines, are rich in omega-3s.
Berries
Plenty of fruits and vegetables are helpful for memory, but alongside leafy greens, berries are among the most helpful. Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and more are rich in flavonoids.
Flavonoids are brightly colored molecules that have immune system effects in the human body. They are important because managing inflammatory responses seems very closely tied to maintaining healthy brain function as we get older.
You can also find flavonoids in dark chocolate and wine, but it’s best to enjoy those things in moderation, compared to the berries.
MIND diet
Two separate diets have been observed to help with staving off the mental effects of aging. One is the Mediterranean diet, and another is the blood pressure-focused DASH (Dietary Approach to Systolic Hypertension) diet. Both of these diets are known primarily for their effects on heart health, but they’ve both also been associated with improvements to brain health.
Because of the similarities in their makeup and benefits, researchers have combined these diets into one. They call it “MIND,” or the Mediterranean-Dash Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.
That’s a lot of abbreviations, but the main thing to remember is that the MIND diet recommends certain brain-boosting foods to be sure to include, as well as foods to limit. Some of these recommendations may look familiar.
The recommended foods list is very vegetable-heavy. It includes daily whole grains and vegetables (other than leafy greens), leafy greens (almost daily), and plenty of nuts and beans. At least twice a week you should get a serving of berries, and a meal of poultry. At least one meal a week should be fish. If you need to cook with fat, use olive oil.
There are also certain things to limit. Generally, these include foods higher in saturated fat and trans fat. You should limit pastries and sweets, red meat, cheese and fried foods, and butter/margarine. Avoiding saturated and trans fats also means steering clear of processed foods.
Aerobic exercise for brain health
It may sound surprising, but physical exercise can go a long way to helping older adults maintain their cognitive health and brain volume. Regular exercise has long been recommended for cardiovascular health, but studies suggest that some forms of exercise may also help preserve cognitive performance.
There are plenty of links between cardiovascular health and cognitive performance. Maintaining a solid exercise program seems to help enhance cognition in several important ways. Exercise has been associated with benefits ranging from processing speed to brain volume to protection from oxidative stress.
The reason for this may be as simple as “physical exercise improves blood flow, which means that more blood reaches the brain, which helps improve and preserve brain health.” But whatever the reason, we know exercise helps.
For the best results, most adults should aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week. Incorporating muscle-strengthening activities two days a week is important for every adult. This is especially beneficial for adults ages 65 and older, because it can help with balance.
These recommendations can break down to as little as 22 minutes of moderate activity a day. But if that seems intimidating at first, please know that every little bit helps, and that short workouts are an important first step to longer ones later on.
Thái cực quyền
With its combination of physical movement and meditative aspects, tai chi has been associated with improved cognitive function in many studies. The most consistent cognitive benefit associated with tai chi is an improvement in executive function, although the health benefits don’t stop there. Tai chi may also help improve balance, reducing the risk of falls.
Sleep and brain health
Another crucial aspect of brain health is sleep hygiene. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends at least 7 hours of sleep per night. Sleep disruption can affect your memory, your mental acuity, and more.
That means that bad sleep can undermine the work you’re putting into your brain health. But it also means that improving your sleep schedule can do a lot towards helping your mind stay sharp in both the short term and the long term.
Why we sleep
While we don’t know everything about why we sleep, researchers have discovered a body system that helps clean the brain. They call it the “glymphatic system,” combining the words “glial” and “lymphatic”. It removes cellular trash from the brain while you sleep through a network of precise channels.
We also know that we need sleep to help consolidate our experiences into our long-term memories. The effects of bad sleep don’t just make us foggy the next day; they can affect our memories for years to come.
Sleep loss can also affect your response to stress, disrupt your cognitive ability and memory, and even cause physical issues like headaches and abdominal pain.
Sleep hygiene
There are many ways to improve your sleep habits. Reducing or eliminating caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine, especially near bedtime, can help. Being mindful about keeping a regular bedtime (and avoiding naps, if necessary) can also help. Some probiotic strains such as PS23 and PS128 also have a positive effect on your sleep.
Stress can affect your sleep, and sleep loss can worsen stress. This cycle can be difficult to break, especially when you’re trying to rein in difficult, stressful circumstances. If you’re able to release some of that stress before bed so that you can sleep better (Neuralli Mood may help), you’ll be better able to deal with those situations upon waking.
Supplements for brain health
As you think about cognition, memory, and overall brain health, you may want to consider memory supplements. When added to a balanced, varied diet like the ones we’ve discussed, supplements like ashwagandha, curcumin, or Neuralli Cognition+ can provide an additional layer of support.
Neuralli Cognition+ is a rather unique memory supplement. It’s made with two probiotic strains that promote cognitive health in different ways. One strain, PS23, has shown benefits for sleep quality, which can affect your mental acuity and your memory.
The other strain in Neuralli Cognition+ is called MCC1274. In studies, it’s been associated with improvements to cognitive function in adults with memory complaints or suspected cognitive impairment.
With these two psychobiotics (that is, probiotics that act on the brain) combined, Neuralli Cognition+ has more than one way to help support memory and mental acuity as you age.
Additional Tips for Brain Health
There are a few other things that you can do to help protect your brain, and all of them are important.
The first is to protect your hearing. Hearing loss makes it harder for you to engage actively with the people and activities around you. Keeping your brain engaged is critical for your brain health.
If you already have hearing loss, it's important to use hearing aids, regardless of your age. They are less expensive, easier to access, and easier to keep charged than ever before, and they can greatly improve your brain health and quality of life!
The second thing you can do is avoid certain habits like cigarettes and heavy drinking. Cigarettes have long been associated with harm to cognition and to the brain itself. Likewise, some 75 years of research have associated heavy alcohol use with similar cognitive issues as we get older.
Finally, one of the best things you can do is to protect the brain itself from physical harm. Wear a helmet whenever you’re engaged in an activity that may require a helmet. If your exercise includes skating or cycling, a helmet is important. If your relaxation includes motorcycles, ATVs, or anything similar, a helmet is important there, too.
Maintain Your Brain for Life
Most of us can expect to lose a little brain mass as we get older, but that doesn’t have to mean that it slows us down mentally. Maintaining a healthy diet, getting plenty of sleep and exercise, and pursuing brain health in other ways, from supplements to helmets to hearing aids, can all help keep your grey matter going for the long haul.
With so many ways to boost your brain’s longevity, there’s almost certainly one (or more!) that makes sense for you.
