Protecting brain health requires a balanced diet, regular exercise, and improving sleep quality. However, experts highlight additional actions that can enhance brain performance and protect it from deterioration by establishing good habits as early as possible, even during adolescence and the twenties. This can promote lifelong physical health and prevent cognitive decline in the future.
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Seek Positive Relationships: One of the longest studies in the world, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, followed the same families for 86 years and uncovered the secret to living a longer, happier life with a well-functioning brain: building positive and satisfying relationships. Dr. Robert Waldinger, director of the study and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, stated in his 2022 Ted Talk: "Warm relationships seem to make people physically stronger and keep their brains healthy as they age. Good relationships seem to be stress regulators." The study also found that social isolation and feelings of loneliness are linked to: early death, anxiety, depression, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and dementia. Dr. Rudy Tanzi, a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, explained that "loneliness doesn’t just mean being alone; it means being alone when you don’t want to be, which doubles the risk of Alzheimer’s disease."
Focus on Waist Circumference, Not Just Weight: As a person’s belly grows, studies show that the brain's memory center shrinks, and distinctive signs of Alzheimer's, such as beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles, can appear. This accelerated path toward dementia can begin as early as the forties or fifties, long before any cognitive decline occurs. Abdominal fat, known as visceral fat, surrounds vital organs deep in the abdomen and often leads to an expanded waistline. Some thin people may also have visceral fat that can be detected through body scans. Dr. Kyllian Neutis, a preventive neurologist researching Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases at the Institute for Neurological Disorders in Boca Raton, Florida, explained that "visceral fat is metabolically unhealthy and secretes inflammatory chemicals that can lead to brain shrinkage and affect cognition." Dr. Richard Isaacson, a preventive neurologist and director of research at the Institute for Neurological Disorders, added, "It is important to track the fat-to-muscle ratio, as lean muscle mass burns fat more efficiently. We want people to gain muscle and lose fat in order to achieve optimal brain health."
Monitor Blood Sugar Levels: Visceral fat is also a major contributor to insulin resistance, or the inability of muscle, fat, and liver cells to respond to insulin. Insulin is crucial for transporting glucose from the blood into cells, including brain neurons, so the body can use it for energy. When cells stop responding correctly to insulin, blood sugar levels rise, prompting the pancreas to produce more insulin. High insulin and glucose levels in the blood can lead to heart and kidney diseases, type 2 diabetes, and damage to the brain's memory center.
