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Some thinking and memory changes are normal as we age. However, research shows that healthy lifestyle choices can protect and improve brain health. Research has shown that physical exercise, a nutritious heart-healthy diet, limiting alcohol intake, getting good sleep, seeking medical help for chronic health conditions, managing mood and stress, and staying socially and mentally active, can even reduce dementia risk.
Here are the MBWC's brain health recommendations.
Quick Tip
30–35 minutes of moderate-to-intense aerobic activity four times a week, plus strength and flexibility exercises twice a week.
In whatever way is safe for you, try and engage in aerobic and strengthing physical activity each week - like walking in nature, playing pickleball with friends, dancing, or low-impact chair exercises.
A large multi-site lifestyle intervention, the US Pointer Study, aimed to compare the effect of two 2-year lifestyle interventions on cognitive health in older adults at risk of cognitive decline and dementia due to lifestyle, health, and demographic factors. In 2025, the POINTER study published findings that a structured lifestyle intervention set back the aging clock. Individuals who participated in a structured lifestyle intervention performed at a level comparable to adults one to two years younger.
In the exercise portion of the structured lifestyle intervention, participants engaged in 120 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise, spread over 4 days in a week, including 90 minutes of higher intensity aerobic exercise. They also engaged in strength and balance activities two days a week, in 15-20 minute sessions. Read more.
If you like to dance, embrace every chance to move to a beat. At the University of Illinois, researchers enrolled physically inactive men and women aged 60 – 79 in country western dancing lessons and studied the brains using imaging over 6 months. The scans showed that, compared to study controls who took walking or stretching classes, only the adults in the dancing group showed denser white matter in the brain’s fornix. This tiny triangle of tissue deep in the brain plays an important role in making and recalling memories, as well as motor performance and problem solving. Read: Dancing to Remember
Benefits of Physical Activity for Those at Genetic Risk
People who carry one or two copies of APOE4 gene allele are thought to be more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Studies have found that this higher risk population benefits the most from exercise. “It’s really encouraging because it challenges the notion that APOE4 carriers have worse disease and show signs earlier,” says UW Medicine Geriatrician Angela Hanson, MD.
An engaged lifestyle can help individuals at high genetic risk of frontotemporal degeneration. A 202 study showed that a daily dose of light activities, such as gardening or housework, helped participants' brains to better withstand effects of FTD, a phenomenon called cognitive resilience.“The results suggest that an active, healthy lifestyle can potentially enhance the capabilities of brain tissue, despite the physical change that has happened,” says Kimiko Domoto-Reilly, MD, assistant professor of neurology at UW Medicine. Read more in: The Power of an Active Lifestyle to Boost Cognitive Resilience – Even for Those at High Genetic Risk
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Quick Tip
Manage your cholesterol and blood pressure, exercise, and eat healthily. Get recommended health screenings and talk to your doctor about what else may help
- Not smoking and managing conditions such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hearing loss, social isolation, and high "bad" cholesterol can help prevent dementia. Read more about the new Lancet Commission report.
- A trial of more than 2,500 older adults at risk for dementia tested whether a tailored diet, an exercise program, brain training, and close monitoring of risk factors for vascular disease would make people less likely to develop the condition. After two years, the participants who received the interventions had higher scores on memory and thinking tests than the participants who just followed regular health advice. The results are reported in Lancet.
- Findings from the SPRINT-MIND study found that lowering blood pressure to under 120 showed a 19% reduction in those participants who went on to develop dementia during the study.
- Diabetes is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease that jeopardizes the ability of the body to maintain safe, stable levels of blood sugar. A 2013 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that looked at blood sugar levels and dementia risk among Adult Changes in Thought participants that found an association between higher blood sugar levels and Alzheimer’s disease in people with and without diabetes, suggesting that lowering blood sugar to safe levels through diet, exercise, or medical treatment, might lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Crane PK et al. Glucose levels and risk of dementia
Quick Tip
Build a healthy plate. Choose more whole grains, berries, leafy vegetables, nuts, seafood, olive oil, and fermented foods, such as plain yogurt, kimchi, and kefir. Eat less highly processed food such as processed meats, packaged sweets, and soda.
- In terms of brain and cognitive health, the best data support the Mediterranean diet, which includes relatively little red meat and emphasizes whole grains, fruits and vegetables, fish and shellfish, and nuts, olive oil and other healthy fats. "I keep coming back to the basics," says UW MBWC's Dr. Angela Hanson, "more whole grains rather than simple sugars, more fruits and vegetables rather than junk food, and more servings of seafood rather than red meats."
- The MIND diet is a hybrid of the Mediterranean diet and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. A study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia of 923 adults aged 58-98 who maintained the MIND diet for 4.5 years showed a 53% reduction in the incidence of Alzheimer's disease dementia.
- A 2023 Rush University study of 581 people showed that diets of nutrient-rich, fiber-filled whole foods in the MIND and Mediterranean diets were associated with less Alzheimer's brain pathology, upon brain autopsy. Green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, romaine lettuce and kale, in particular were associated with less Alzheimer’s brain pathology. [National Institute on Aging]
- An NIH-funded study found that eating a Mediterranean diet slows some changes in the brain that may indicate early Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers estimate there may be as much as a three-and-a-half-year delay in progression of Alzheimer’s disease in people who have eaten a Mediterranean diet for many years, rather than a standard Western diet.
Quick Tip
Explore the mindfulness meditation series on YouTube with UW MBWC's Dr. Kristoffer Rhoads, in partnership with the Frye Art Museum.
- According to UW MBWC's Dr. Kristoffer Rhoads mindfulness meditation can boost memory and improve brain connections in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early stage dementia. Read more in the article Mindfulness as Medication.
- After an 8-week meditation course, caregivers in a UCLA study showed decreases in markers of cellular aging, an important predictor of overall health and resilience to disease. These participants also reported less distress and better mood and thinking skills.
- For everyone, mindfulness meditation likely holds value for preventing or delaying cognitive decline, as suggested by research showing re-wiring of the brain, improved emotional resilience, and reduced modifiable midlife risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. What’s more, researchers see these positive changes after 8-weeks of guided practice in people with no prior history of meditation. Visit Mindfulness Northwest.
Quick Tips
Do something physically active or mentally challenging every day. An active day tires you out and helps your brain build up sleep pressure, or the brain's drive to sleep and stay asleep, in order to recover, recharge, and clean out waste products.
Make sure to talk to a doctor about sleep-related breathing disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea. If you suspect a sleep-related breathing disorder, Yeilim Cho, MD, sleep physician, recommends asking your doctor about a referral to a sleep clinic, especially if your bed partner notices loud snoring or periods of stopped breathing. These days, tests for sleep apnea can be taken at home. A CPAP device, is the standard-of-care treatment for obstructive sleep apnea.
A good night’s sleep helps us recover and recharge for the day ahead. During sleep, our brains are busy storing memories and new knowledge, healing from injury, and boosting immune response. The brain also turns on its “wash cycle” in deep sleep in a clearance process governed by the glymphatic system. Since 2008, researchers have known that sleep gives the brain a chance to flush out the waste products that accumulate during the day. Impairments in the glymphatic system may increase the risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
This research shows how important it is to sleep well. But we all know how it feels to sleep poorly or get much less sleep than we need to feel our best. Lack of sleep affects your aspects of your mental function, such as decision making, memory, and attention.
In fact, research shows that mid-life sleep disruption predicts cognitive decline later in life. "If people know that how they sleep when they are in their 30s, 40s, and 50s is going to influence the way their brain functions in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, they might pay more attention to getting the recommended 7 - 9 hours per night,” says Jeff Iliff, Professor, UW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. “Many of us are starting to view sleep as a potentially modifiable risk factor, like high blood pressure or smoking, for the development of dementia later in life.”
Quick Tip
Regularly engage in intellectually challenging and social activities. Pursue activities that widen your social circle. Sign up for an introductory art class, volunteer at a local organization, or join a walking group.
Moments of connection and togetherness have a big impact on our brain health and wellbeing. Research shows that people who are more socially connected live longer and have better physical, mental, and cognitive health outcomes. Social isolation, on the other hand, can lead to poorer health outcomes. The good news is that these are preventable.
- Social isolation is one of the 12 “modifiable risk factors” for dementia included in the Lancet Commission report published in 2020 and again in 2024.
- A 2023 advisory report (Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation) from the US Surgeon General compared social isolation to smoking cigarettes. It turns out that chronic isolation can increase the risk of premature death as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day does. A 2018 meta-analysis found that chronic isolation and loneliness can also increase the risk of dementia in older adults by 50%.
Cognitive training, which is designed to improve specific cognitive skills, appears to have benefits for maintaining cognitive health in older adults. A large randomized, controlled trial called the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) trial tested the effects of cognitive training — specifically memory, reasoning, or speed of processing — on cognitive abilities and everyday function over 10 years. The study found that participants who had training in reasoning and speed of processing experienced less decline than those in the memory and control groups. (NIA).
Currently, the MBWC is testing whether doing crossword puzzles can improve memory and thinking in older adults.
