6 Steps To Preserve Brain Health Now To Prevent Dementia As You Age

Forbes

a day ago

Scientists report that if you want to avoid dementia and Alzheimer's in later years, you must start ... More boosting and preserving your brain health in your twenties and thirties, instead of waiting until you're older.
In honor of Brain Health Awareness this month, as the rates of Parkinson's, dementia and Alzheimer's are rising, I wondered what you can do early on to prevent these diseases. I found out that changes leading to neurodegenerative disease begin in your 20s and 30s. Most people don't realize that your brain doesn't suddenly age in your 60s or 70s. Now is the time to start promoting and preserving your brain health. The sooner you understand cognitive decline and what you can do to curb it now, the better your brain health will be in later years.
If you can improve your brain health today, you'll reduce the risk of brain disease in the future, according to experts. I spoke by email with Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, a leading expert on Alzheimer's and neurodegenerative diseases. He is the Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit and the McCance Center for Brain health At Massachusetts General Hospital.
Tanzi recommends that you talk with your primary care provider first and walk through the McCance Brain Care Score™-- the multi-dimensional brain care tracker to see where you stand today. Your score shows where you can improve your brain health. The brain health expert developed a plan to help you remember the everyday steps to take care of your brain now to preserve and promote brain health and prevent other age-related diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Here is Tanzi's six-step SHIELD method with additional research that supports his plan.
1. S stands for sleep. Sleep deprivation hampers your ability to deal with stress. Tanzi emphasizes the importance of getting seven to eight hours of sleep each night. He says sleep serves to clear away the plaques that lead to cognitive decline, adding that plaques begin decades before signs of decline. So, getting good sleep at any age (even power naps) can improve your brain health. If you're looking for ways to improve the quality of your sleep, he suggests visiting The American Heart Association's guide to healthy sleep.
2. H is for handling stress. In six easy steps, meditation reduces cortisol levels by 25% and alters brain activity so you're less error prone and make fewer mistakes. Tanzi advises that you establish a meditation practice and manage expectations that can reduce stress. He recommends visiting the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine website for ongoing tips and guided meditations and the Mental Health & Well-being guide from The American Heart Association.
3. I is for interaction with friends. Tanzi points out that loneliness doubles the risk for Alzheimer's disease. In 2023, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General cited loneliness as a serious mental health hazard. Research shows that social connections improve your brain health. People with greater levels of social engagement have more robust gray matter in regions of the brain relevant in dementia.
4. E is for exercise. Regular exercise boosts heart rate and blood flow, which may help reduce the risk of cognitive decline. According to Tanzi, exercise induces new nerve cell growth to strengthen brain regions affected in Alzheimer's disease and triggers the breakdown of brain amyloid. He insists that finding an exercise that works for you is key. He recommends starting small and working up to the recommended 150 minutes per week, to have an impact on your brain health.
5. L is for learning new things. Your brain learns from novelty, which promotes adaptive learning by resetting key brain circuits and enhances your ability to update new ideas into existing neurological frameworks. 'Learning new things strengthens and increases the number of synapses in your brain, the connections between nerve cells storing your memories,' Tanzi states. 'Synapse loss correlates most with the degree of dementia. The more synapses you make, the more you have to spare. Puzzles aren't necessarily the answer, either.' He cites a recent Harvard Health article that concludes, 'Practicing a new and challenging activity is a good bet for building and maintaining cognitive skills.' He suggests that activities such as learning a new language or taking a class have major benefits for brain health.
6. D is for diet. Vitamin B is essential for brain wellness and can be found in eggs, whole grains, fish, avocados and citrus fruits. In Tanzi's opinion, the best diet for the brain is the Mediterranean diet, which minimizes red meat and is rich in fiber from fruit and vegetables. 'A plant based diet balances the bacteria in your gut, called the 'gut microbiome,' he points out. "A healthy gut microbiome has also been shown to reduce amyloid plaque and brain neuroinflammation, a major killer of nerve cells in the brain.'
NAD+ (stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), a coenzyme critical to key cellular processes such as ATP production (converting food to energy in the cell), mitochondrial function and DNA repair. According to Dr. Andrew Shao, senior vice president of Global Scientific & Regulatory Affairs at Niagen Bioscience, it's essential to brain health because it supports neural health, powers cellular energy, repairs damaged DNA and activates a family of proteins that help regulate inflammation and protect neurons.
Shao told me that NAD+ levels decline as we age (starting as early as our 30s) from stressors we face every day such as overeating, alcohol consumption, sun exposure, sedentary lifestyle and environmental pollutants. Shao adds that the decline in NAD+ impacts cellular repair and energy production, rendering the brain more vulnerable to neurodegeneration.
He explains that the most effective way to support your NAD+ levels is with a form of vitamin B3 (nicotinamide riboside or NR). He notes that 1000mg of the oral supplement Niagen is a safe and effective supplement of vitamin B3 that restores NAD+ levels by up to 150%, supporting the cellular processes that keep your brain healthy and resilient as the levels decline with age.
Shao concludes that researchers are uncovering the potential of elevating NAD+ in people with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. He reports that early findings show potential to improve brain metabolism and reduce neuroinflammation. In addition to the SHIELD method, Shao suggests that you can support mitochondrial health with supplements of NR, starting in your early 30s to support brain health over time.