- New research finds that certain lifestyle behaviors may help your brain age more slowly and help you find your true age.
- These habits are good for your physical health, too.
- Doctors say you can pick them up any time.
The way your brain ages can have a big impact on how cognitively healthy you are as you get older. If you can keep your mind young, you may be able to stay mentally sharp as you age. Now, new research suggests that certain simple habits may slow down brain aging.
The study, which was published in the journal Brain Communications, tracked 128 adults in midlife and older adulthood, most of whom had chronic pain linked to knee arthritis. Over two years, the researchers used MRI scans processed through a machine learning model to estimate each participant’s “brain age” and compare it to their chronological (or true) age. They then calculated their brain age gap, which was the difference between the two, to determine a person’s overall brain health.
Meet the experts: Clifford Segil, D.O., is a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA; W. Christopher Winter, M.D., is a neurologist and sleep medicine physician with Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and host of the Sleep Unplugged podcast; Jared Tanner, Ph.D., is a lead study author and research associate professor in the Department of Clinical & Health Psychology at University of Florida
After crunching the numbers, the researchers found that some hardships, like having chronic pain, a lower income, and limited education, were linked to having an older-looking brain. But the researchers also found that several lifestyle behaviors were protective and connected to a younger-seeming brain.
“People with more severe chronic pain tend to have more shrinkage of the brain,” says Jared Tanner, Ph.D., lead study author and research associate professor in the Department of Clinical & Health Psychology at the University of Florida. So, which lifestyle behaviors are linked to a younger brain age, and why might they help? Doctors explain.
Which lifestyle behaviors are linked to a younger brain?
There were a few key behaviors that were linked to having a younger-seeming brain. Those include:
- Lowered stress levels
- Having optimism
- Strong social support
- Healthy sleep patterns
People with the highest number of these behaviors started the study with brains that looked eight years younger than their true age. Their brains also aged more slowly during the two-year follow-up compared to people who had fewer of those behaviors.
Why might these behaviors help keep your brain young?
The study didn’t dive into that, unfortunately. “The ‘why’ is hard to answer,” Tanner says. “But all of these factors are associated with general physical and mental health. That means that the body and person is healthier, along with the brain.” Basically, what’s good for your body is also good for your brain, he says.
Being active and socializing regularly helps to support brain pathways you already have, as well as create new ones, says Clifford Segil, D.O., a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA. That may ultimately help to support brain health and slow the aging process, he says.
The sleep connection also makes sense, according to W. Christopher Winter, M.D., a neurologist and sleep medicine physician with Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine, and host of the Sleep Unplugged podcast. Quality sleep is linked with optimal function of the glymphatic system, which gets rid of waste products in the brain, he explains. Regularly logging quality sleep may help your brain more efficiently clear waste and lower the risk of plaque development that can lead to serious, brain-aging diseases like Alzheimer’s, he says.
“Good sleep quality has also been paired with memory enhancement in multiple studies, so there is evidence that the brain just works better with good sleep,” Dr. Winter says. But Dr. Winter also points out that people who exercise regularly tend to sleep better and vice versa. “There is probably a pretty strong connection to exercise here,” he says. “Exercise leads to better sleep and a healthier brain.”
How to keep your brain young
Overall, Dr. Segil recommends staying physically and socially active and doing what you can to engage your brain. “Activity and socializing are good for brain health,” he says. “Structure as we age is beneficial. I advise my retired patient to enroll in classes at local community colleges or other academic institutions to encourage learning new things, which I think is healthy for brain health.”
Tanner also recommends looking at the positive lifestyle factors in his study and leaning into them. “More is better. You can’t have too much of a good thing for your brain,” he says.
He suggests looking at the list and trying to work on each area at a time. “If you’re getting less sleep than the ideal seven to eight hours a night, start to address that,” he says. “If you’re feeling lonely, reach out and get involved in a community organization. Or maybe you need to move more.”
Ultimately, Tanner stresses that healthy lifestyle behaviors are also good for your brain—and you can start doing them any time.
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