Here are seven ways to keep your brain healthy.

Published: October 31, 2024 | Updated: November 20, 2024

Besides heart disease and cancers, a major cause of death in American adults is a decline in brain health. While science can’t say what triggers brain disorders in many cases, some research points to the link between diet and brain health.

What is a ‘healthy brain’?

A healthy brain has optimal structure and function that leads to social, mental and physical well-being. The brain retains cognitive function and has little or no memory loss. 

Christopher B. Shields, M.D., has been focused on the links between lifestyle and brain health for quite some time. As a neurosurgeon and chairman of Norton Neuroscience Institute, he has a vested interest in educating the community on dementia and memory loss. 

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Here are some of Dr. Shields’s guidelines for ways to potentially delay the onset of diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s and keep your brain healthy:

1. Chow down on brain food. In general, people should drastically reduce the amount of sugar, carbohydrates and starch in their diets, especially that found in processed and fast foods. Eat a good amount of high-protein foods from sources like salmon and chicken, and include good fats. Also include fresh vegetables, vitamin B and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
2. Get good sleep. Adequate sleep has been shown to keep some diseases at bay, including diabetes. It also can help with depression, anxiety and weight maintenance.
3. Get moving. It may seem that every doctor tells you exercise will fix whatever ails you. Physical activity does seem to have benefits across the board, from building muscle and lung function to strengthening the heart and relaxing the mind. Even walking for 20 minutes a day five days a week can improve the body. 
4. Mental health is important, too. Emotional coping mechanisms are critical to overall health. Work on reducing stress and building emotional resiliency. Meditation, reading self-help books and watching motivational videos are all ways to keep your mind healthy.
5. Pump some iron. You don’t have to bench press a bulldozer, but weight-bearing exercise and lifting weights can help maintain bone and muscle as we age.
6. Maintain a healthy weight. Weight causes the body to age faster. A healthy, high-protein/low-sugar diet slows aging and possibly can ward off dementia for a time.
7. Check your gut. There are about 10 times as many bacterial cells in your gastrointestinal tract as there are cells in your whole body. These bacteria produce your own unique gut microbiome, the contents of which can affect your mood, personality, behavior and more. Consuming foods like kefir that support a healthy gut microbiome can be extremely good for you.

Heart health is also linked to brain health. You may be more likely to develop cognitive impairment if you have heart conditions such as heart disease or heart failure. The above steps can help with heart health, too. 

To sum it up, Dr. Shields said, “There are things we can do earlier in life that can really beneficially affect our health and delay or prevent dementia.”