Healthy Life, Healthy Brain

When we think about staying healthy, our natural inclination is often to focus on our physical body, rather than our mental well-being. This isn’t surprising, as most of the messaging we encounter each day, in the form of marketing efforts and media portrayals, is heavily weighted towards keeping our bodies in top shape to look and feel our best. And, of course, to encourage us to buy the products and services we are being bombarded with advertising messages for.

While I’m one of the people who’s all in on exercise and maintaining peak physical fitness, I’m also very cognizant of the distressing statistics around the aging process related to brain health and dementia. As of January 2025, the National Institute of Health (NIH) estimates a lifetime risk of dementia at 42% after age 55, which is more than double the previous estimates. While dementia is linked to approximately 100,000 deaths per year (the 6th leading cause of US deaths according to Harvard Health), that number will likely rise sharply reflecting the projection that new dementia cases will double by the year 2060, based on the aging statistics of the US population.

Knowing these things, I’m always interested in new data related to healthy aging and intervention techniques aimed at keeping our minds and executive functions running at full power as long as possible. That said, I wanted to shed some light on a new study published this week, which shows encouraging evidence of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle in reducing the risk of dementia.

The study, published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) on July 28th, is called the US POINTER Randomized Clinical Trial and involved 2,111 at-risk adults across the US. It is the most extensive study ever conducted to examine whether healthy behaviors protect brain health. Full article: The US POINTER Randomized Clinical Trial

I encourage you to read the article, but in the meantime, I’ll provide three main takeaways that, according to the data, will be high-value and relatively simple additions to your daily routine and proven to optimize brain health and reduce the risks of dementia.

Incorporating (or increasing) daily physical activity   

• Focus on activities that you already enjoy and aim for 30 minutes of moderate activity 4 times a week. If exercise is new to you, start slowly with 10 minutes as your initial goal, aiming to raise your heart rate while still being able to hold a conversation. (In other words, don’t exert yourself to the point of being out of breath on day 1!)

• Gradually increase activity duration as your stamina and endurance improve, and consider attending in-person group events or online ‘streaming’ classes to create accountability until the habit of activity is firmly in place.

Mental Stimulation and Cognitive Engagement

• Puzzles, memory games, and learning new skills (language, instrument, card games, or any area that is of interest to you) pay big dividends in keeping our minds sharp. The good news is that there are apps for virtually anything you can think of, so if you prefer e-options, just find a few that look good and get them loaded on your phone for easy use.

• Schedule time in your calendar to dedicate to these activities. Think of it like ‘mind gym’ time where you are going to get that workout in, just like you would for physical exercise.

• Variety is the spice of life, and brain health is no exception, so ideally, you have a mix of different activities and are not consistently doing the same 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle every day!

Try the MIND Diet (Mediterranean Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay)

• This diet, as its name implies, is designed to optimize the health of our aging brain (which, as a reminder, continues to age even while we read this) by increasing brain-health-boosting foods and decreasing foods associated with cognitive decline.  MIND Diet-Harvard

• Ideally, you aim for daily servings of whole grains (3+) and vegetables (1+). Weekly servings: green leafy vegetables (6+), nuts (5+), berries (2+). Two meals a week of poultry and four meals per week including beans.

• On the unhealthy list: Less than five servings a week of pastries and sweets, less than four servings a week of red meat, and less than one serving a week of cheeses and fried foods. Less than a tablespoon per day of butter/margarine.

Many aspects of ageing are beyond our control, but the good news is that there is also plenty we can do to ensure we remain physically and mentally fit well into our golden years. Like many other areas of life, hope is not a strategy, but proactive action is.

Do your future self a favor and take steps now to be in the ‘super-ager’ category and run mental circles around your great-grandkids who think they know everything!