Scientists identify four eating patterns that impact your mental state.
How exposure to everyday chemicals might be damaging the protective insulation of your brain cells.
After consuming this juice, blood flows more strongly to brain regions involved in the emotions, memory, language and judgement.
This ubiquitous supplement may improve memory and abstract reasoning.
This ubiquitous supplement may improve memory and abstract reasoning.
Omega-3 fatty acids may enhance brain function in middle age, research finds.
Among over 2,000 people in the study, those with higher concentrations of omega-3 in their blood had a range of cognitive advantages:
People in the study were in their 40s and 50s, explained Dr Claudia Satizabal, the study’s first author:
“Studies have looked at this association in older populations.
The new contribution here is that, even at younger ages, if you have a diet that includes some omega-3 fatty acids, you are already protecting your brain for most of the indicators of brain aging that we see at middle age.”
Omega-3 levels were calculated by adding together levels of DHA and EPA.
EPA and DHA, two of the three main fatty acids, are sometimes known as the marine omega-3s as they come mainly from fish.
What makes omega-3 fatty acids so important in the diet is that the body cannot make them but has to get them from food.
Dr Debora Melo van Lent, study co-author, said:
“Omega-3 fatty acids such as EPA and DHA are key micronutrients that enhance and protect the brain.
Our study is one of the first to observe this effect in a younger population.
More studies in this age group are needed.”
In the study, people were divided into groups based on their levels of omega-3 fatty acids, Dr Satizabal said:
“We saw the worst outcomes in the people who had the lowest consumption of omega-3s.
So, that is something interesting.
Although the more omega-3 the more benefits for the brain, you just need to eat some to see benefits.”
It is not yet known exactly why omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for the brain.
It may be because they are important in the building of neurons and that they have anti-inflammatory properties.
Dr Satizabal said:
“It’s complex.
We don’t understand everything yet, but we show that, somehow, if you increase your consumption of omega-3s even by a little bit, you are protecting your brain.”
Whether or not omega-3 fatty acids help prevent dementia continues to be controversial.
However, omega-3 has been linked to maintaining IQ levels with age and even reducing anxiety.
Other research has suggested that omega-3 needs to be combined with B vitamins to help the body deal with mental decline.
Still further studies have found:
→ The dietary change with some of the best evidence for keeping the brain healthy is the MIND diet.
The study was published in the journal Neurology (Satizabal et al., 2022).
The study tested a variation on the now well-known Mediterranean diet.
A simple, inexpensive way to slow age-related cognitive decline.
Brain health can be improved, concludes a study of ‘super-agers’.
Brain health can be improved, concludes a study of ‘super-agers’.
The keys to ‘super-aging’ are embracing aging, quitting negativity, moving more and meditating, research on brain health suggests.
Super-agers are people in their 70s or 80s who have the mental and physical capabilities of someone decades younger.
In recent years, scientists have begun studying what separates super-agers from the rest.
Dr Joel Kramer, a neuropsychologist has been studying super-agers.
One particular super-ager inspired Dr Kramer:
“He talked about how his attitude toward life is one of embracing it—not getting stressed out by the little things and valuing the importance of relationships.
I was so impressed.
It was inspiring.”
The first key is to embrace the aging process because emotions tend to be more balanced with age.
Dr Elissa Epel, co-director of the UCSF Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Center, explains:
“When we’re older, we seek positive situations in our life much more and cut out things we don’t like.
We take more control of our environment.
It’s because of the brains of elders.
We are more pro-social.
We are more likely to give to people in need than younger people.
This is not a huge surprise … but we’re now able to think of the biology of this.
We really need our elders.”
Fear of aging can be dangerous in itself — research suggests it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Dr Epel said:
“We hold these tremendously negative stereotypes about aging, and these start from when we’re really young.
By the time we’re older, these are actually having a negative effect on our health.”
Negative attitudes about aging can accelerate aging, so better to banish them.
Study after study shows the benefit of exercise.
It produces more new brain cells, improves well-being and physical health.
Exercise may even help protect against Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.
Meditation has been shown to reduce anxiety, depression and to have physiological benefits.
The research on super agers is from a range of scientists working at UCSF and elsewhere.
Type 2 diabetes doubles the risk of cognitive problems and dementia.
Type 2 diabetes doubles the risk of cognitive problems and dementia.
Many studies have shown that type 2 diabetes is linked to brain shrinkage and dementia.
Now a study finds that controlling blood sugar levels is the best way for people with type 2 diabetes to improve their brain function.
People who used diet and exercise to reduce blood sugar were able to think more clearly and to remember and learn more.
Losing weight, though, was not directly linked to better brain function.
This may be because the brain cannot recover from too much weight gain, said Professor Owen Carmichael, the study’s first author:
“It’s important to properly control your blood sugar to avoid the bad brain effects of your diabetes.
Don’t think you can simply let yourself get all the way to the obese range, lose some of the weight, and everything in the brain is fine.
The brain might have already turned a corner that it can’t turn back from.”
The study included almost 1,100 people who were tracked for over a decade.
One group were asked to focus on improving their blood sugar levels through diet and physical activity.
The other group did something similar but were focused on losing weight and maintaining that weight loss.
The results demonstrated the benefits to the brain of exercising and eating healthily.
However, weight loss did not provide a consistent improvement to brain function.
Weight loss was linked to improvements in cognitive skills like attention, memory and planning but verbal learning and overall memory got worse.
Professor Carmichael said:
“Every little improvement in blood sugar control was associated with a little better cognition.
Lowering your blood sugar from the diabetes range to prediabetes helped as much as dropping from prediabetes levels to the healthy range.”
Over 25 percent of US adults over 65 have type 2 diabetes.
It doubles the risk of cognitive problems and dementia.
Avoiding obesity is one key to fighting the disease.
Professor Carmichael said:
“The results were worse for people who had obesity at the beginning of the study.
That’s a ‘too little, too late’ type of message.
People with diabetes who let their obesity go too far, for too long may be past the point of no return, cognition-wise.”
The study was published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (Carmichael et al., 2020).
One-quarter of the population has fatty liver disease, along with 80 percent of those who are morbidly obese.
With age, blood flow to the brain and arterial function decreases — but this decline can be slowed.
With age, blood flow to the brain and arterial function decreases — but this decline can be slowed.
High-intensity interval training is the best exercise for preventing cognitive decline, research suggests.
Interval training is more effective than continuous training for increasing blood flow to the brain, scientists found.
Interval training (HIIT) involves short bursts of maximum effort, followed by periods of rest.
Interval training comes in a variety of guises: sometimes on a bicycle, other times running, jogging or speed walking
Typically, it involves exercising at maximum intensity for 30 seconds and then taking four minutes to recover.
This cycle is then repeated a few times.
Dr Tom Bailey, study co-author, said:
“As we age, the flow of blood to the brain and arterial function decreases.
These factors have been linked to a risk of cognitive decline and cardiovascular events, such as stroke.
Finding ways to increase brain blood flow and function in older adults is vital.”
The study included 21 people who either did interval cycling or who cycled continuously for around 10 minutes.
The results showed that blood flow in the brain was greater during interval training.
Dr Tom Bailey, study co-author, said:
“One of the key takeaways from the study was that both the exercise and the rest period were important for increasing brain blood flow in older adults.
This study shows that interval-based exercise was as effective as continuous exercise for increasing brain blood flow in older adults during the periods of activity, and more effective than continuous exercise when we measured the overall blood flow increases during both the exercise and the rest periods.
The benefits of exercise on brain function are thought to be caused by the increase in blood flow and shear stress, the frictional force of blood along the lining of the arteries, which occurs during exercise.
This study aimed to identify the type or format of exercise that causes the greatest increases in brain blood flow, so we could help to optimize exercise programs to enhance brain function.”
The study was published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (Klein et al., 2019).
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