The holiday season is the perfect time of the year to share a list of easy, actionable things you can do to maintain a healthy robust memory for the rest of your life. After all, the holidays can bring back lots of comforting memories from past years as well as gives us the chance to make new ones by spending time with loved ones we may not get to visit with often in daily life… so we want to hold on to those special moments, and that requires a healthy brain.
The good news is you can absolutely make a long term, significant difference in your brain volume, brain plasticity, and brain cognition (including memory and recall) as you age if you know what to do.
And the best part about these 14 tips I am going to give you today is that every single one of these suggestions is holistic, all natural, and medically researched — based on rigorous scientific medical studies that have verified that these interventions actually make a measurable, meaningful difference.
Read through and see which ones you already do, and which ones you might consider adding to your healthy lifestyle in order to protect your brain today, and protect your memory for many precious years to come.
1. Move Your Body Daily
An exciting medical study published May 30, 2019 in Neurology Clinical Practice, found that not only does getting active extend your life, it keeps your brain sharper.
After conducting a meta-analysis of 98 different randomized controlled trials looking at older adults (average age of study participants was 73) researchers found that adults who exercised, even with low impact activities such as yoga and tai chi, enjoyed statistically significant improvements to brain function.
And this included adults who already had mild cognitive impairment and even adults who had outright dementia — all were found to improve their mental processing speed, attention span, executive function and global cognition in functional brain studies.
Then, published in July 2023 in The Lancet, researchers followed almost 9,000 patients for 10 years and found that folks who exercised the least had the most rapid rate of cognitive decline. Any activity level was better than no activity when it comes to protecting brain health.
On top of that, medical studies have found that even just one single exercise session improves memory, meaning that exercise literally instantly impacts brain function.
Published September 2020 in Scientific Reports, researchers found that one session of exercising (cycling on a stationary bike was the exercise used in this study) significantly improved motor sequence memory — immediately!
This is super encouraging, because it was not looking at just the long term benefits from exercise (which of course has far reaching protective health benefits) but suggests that even if all you can do is one single session of exercise, you will get immediate brain benefits, that very day.
So you can intentionally use exercise as a way to boost your brain function before a mental task. For example:
- walkup and down a flight of stairs quickly before a meeting at work
- doing a few jumping jacks before writing an important email
- Going on a brisk walk before settling down to study for an exam
- encouraging your kids to jump on a trampoline before hopping on the school bus each morning.
- Creating a daily habit of a simple stretch routine when you wake up each day
- Heading upstairs? walk up and down a flight of steps and then back up it again
- Create a nightly habit of before-bed yoga routine
2. Listen to music
New research shows that in Alzheimer’s patients, long term memory can be regained through listening to music! Listening to music that is familiar to the dementia patient from their past reawakens long term memories about who the person is, who their family is, and the context of their life.
This has huge implications in quality of living, in social interactions and even in activity levels.
If you play music that holds special meaning to a patient experiencing memory loss, you are very likely to help them recover context and depth and recognition in the form of long term memory recall while the music is being played.
Playing music that is personally relevant to a patient has been shown to:
- increase communication skills
- increase long term recall
- increase activity level and energy level
- increase social function and engagement
- decrease high blood pressure
- improve mood
- enhance sleep
- even reduce pain levels and
- increase patient compliance with physical and rehabilitative therapy, to the point where patients actually recover increased range of motion in their joints!
Music is a very vivid, beautiful, expressive, natural, holistic, non-invasive way to bring life and meaning (and wonderful long term memories!) back to life.
So If you have an aging loved one, it’s especially important for you to ask them, or use family members to help you identify, what music they loved in their youth and throughout adulthood. It’s also a good idea to incorporate a list of your favorite music into your own advanced directive, because the music that people respond to the most, and the music that tends to increase quality of life, is music that they enjoy, resonate with, and have personal associations and memories to.
Dan Cohen, director of the important film Alive Inside, offers these helpful suggestions on how to create a playlist for a loved one with dementia that can not relate this information to you directly.
Ask family members:
- “Did they play an instrument when they were young?”
- “Did they sing in a choir or a chorus?”
- “Did they like Broadway musicals or religious music?”
- “Did they have any records or recordings of old music found in their home?”
- “Did they play a special song at their wedding or high school dance?”
3. Drink coffee…
There is one thing you can drink every single day (multiple times a day) that has now been shown to prevent dementia. It’s lovely. It’s warm. It’s something you might already be drinking… it’s coffee!
Now, I know caffeinated coffee is addictive and I can say for sure I don’t feel my best when I am in a cycle of “needing” coffee to wake me up each morning. However, let me tell you about two recently released medical studies that show the encouraging results of drinking caffeinated coffee every day and you can decide how you feel about it.
Alzheimers runs in my family, so I am extremely aware (and keep on top of the medical research surrounding) how to support brain health and decrease Alzheimers progression.
A study published in the June 2012 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease shows consuming coffee leads to a 100% chance of avoiding progression to dementia for the length of the study (which was four years.) This study followed 124 patients that were 65 years old and over and found that of those patients who had caffeine plasma levels of 1200 ng/mL or greater, NOT ONE progressed into dementia during the 4 year study period. Not one single one. Whereas for patients with lower caffeine plasma levels, half of them progressed to dementia in that time period.
So 100% protection against progressive dementia? I think that requires some deep consideration — especially in families with a family history of dementia and Alzheimers.
Unfortunately, the amount of coffee required to reach these blood levels is between 3 to 5 cups of coffee a day — that’s a LOT! The average American drinks between 1 to 2 cups a day, which although this may also offer neurocognitive benefit, it is not quite sufficient to reach the protective threshold of 1200 ng/mL of caffeine from this particular study… so it may be part of an important and reasonable treatment plan to encourage consumption of 3 cups of coffee a day, with support from your in person physician ruling out any contraindications to drinking this much coffee.
4. …Or drink green tea
Published in Psychopharmacology on March 19, 2014… researchers found that drinking green tea extract enhanced memory performance.
Participants who drank beverages containing green tea extract (27.5 mg) were found on MRI imaging studies to have increased plasticity of their parieto-frontal brain connections over participants who drank beverages without the green tea extract in it.
These results show that green tea had a direct impact on cognitive function and working memory — both which might have far reaching implications for preventing and treating neurological and cognitive disorders such as dementia.
5. Consume Omega 3 fatty acids
In a study of more than 1000 postmenopausal women (using both blood samples and MRI imaging) researchers found that higher Omega 3 intake was associated with a higher total normal brain and hippocampus volume. Published in Neurology in Jan 2014, they found that total brain volume was significantly smaller in the women with the lowest quartile of omega-3 index (when compared with those in the highest quartile.).
Also, the hippocampus (the area of the brain specifically related to cognitive function) followed suit as well… found to be significantly smaller in the lowest vs the highest quartile of omega-3 levels, even after controlling for age, lipid levels, glucose, blood pressure, education, and hormone therapy.
How much?
Researchers found this protective effect would be achieved by taking about 1,000 mg of EPA + DHA supplements, or by eating a small portion of salmon or sardines every day, or by eating one or two larger portions of fish weekly (about 8 oz of fish total a week.) Plant sources include chia seeds, walnuts, ground flaxseeds, and flaxseed oils.
6. Meditate
A study recently released in Frontiers In Psychology on Jan 21, 2015 shows that meditation may actually slow age-related brain atrophy.
Long-term meditators, examined under MRI imaging, were found to have less gray matter loss WIDESPREAD throughout the brain, when compared to controls who did not meditate. This is the largest study to date looking at effects of mediation on the brain!
- 50 men and women who were long-term meditators were compared with matched controls of the exact same sex and age, but who did not meditate at all.
- Researchers looked at an association between age and both whole brain grey matter and local gray matter
- Age related brain atrophy was significantly decreased in the meditation group across the entire brain, suggesting a strong protective benefit.
- The protective benefits were constant throughout the ENTIRE BRAIN, not just in a singular focal point.
- Gray matter was found preserved throughout the entire brain as a whole and in all nine clusters examined in this study.
Researchers suggest that meditation might be protective by: 1) mitigating the effects of stress on the brain over time, and/or 2) it might stimulate brain repair and growth (dendritic branching) over time.
7. Eat organic
Published on January 27, 2014 in JAMA Neurology, a study found that high levels of DDE (a pesticide metabolite of DDT) in the body was found to cause a 4-fold increase in Alzheimers Disease risk. Researchers found that having measurable levels of pesticide metabolites in the blood increased the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease by 400%.
Even though DDT was banned in the United States in 1972, unfortunately, DDT was still found in over 75% of blood samples, partly because of DDT’s long half life and partly because we are continuing to be exposed to DDT from food grown in countries where DDT is still used,
Try to reduce your exposure to pesticides by eating organic food grown in the USA whenever possible — so that you know you are consuming foods that won’t raise your levels of pesticide exposure.
8. Take Vit E supplements
Published in 2014 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) researchers found that Vitamin E supplements were an all natural way to prevent or slow brain decline with age, and it actually worked as well as a prescription mediation.
This study was a large study of 613 patients, and they put Vit E head to head with a Rx Alzheimer med, Memantine. Memantine is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in moderate to severe AD.
What they found is that Vit E alone worked better than the placebo, the Rx drug, and the Rx + Vit E combined. Vitamin E supplementation not only significantly clinically slowed progression of dementia in Alzheimers, it also significantly impacted and improved caregiver burden, which means study participants were able to be more independent for longer than those taking the Rx or a placebo.
That’s why both Vitamin E and Omega 3 fatty acids (see #5 above) are in my Brain Protective Protocol here, so that you know you are getting medical grade, pharmaceutical quality nutrients that actually make an impact on your body’s health. Find my favorite Vit E, Omega 3, and other brain boosting supplements right here:
9. Sleep well
Turns out, it’s not actually the length of time spent in bed that matters as much as how deep and restorative the sleep is, in terms of brain aging.
In other words, it’s the quality of your sleep that seems related to dementia. Poor quality sleep = increased risk of Alzheimer dementia progression.
Published March 2013 in JAMA Neurology, researchers found that participants with the worst sleep quality had the highest percentage of amyloid deposition in the brain (the classic hallmark lesion of Alzheimers disease.). Participants with the worst sleep quality also had a 5 TIMES greater chance of developing Alzheimers Disease then those who slept soundly.
So the bottom line is that the it’s not how long you lay in bed… it’s how deep the sleep is. In fact, participants who spent longer in bed and/or napped 3 or more times a week were the ones typically with poorer sleep quality and greater amyloid deposition in the brain. Focus on getting good quality sleep. Read the sidebar for great tips on improving sleep, and/or speak to your in person physician for sleep evaluation and support.
10. Go outside and touch the earth
Researchers followed three groups of participants for 12 weeks to determine if walking barefoot outside for 40 minutes in the morning, four times a week, had any impact on their cognition compared to controls.
Using an EEG to record brain wave patterns before and immediately following the 12 weeks, participants were asked a series of questions and performed tasks to examine spatial perception, memory, cognitive speed, concentration, and levels of brain stress.
Researchers found that only the barefoot group showed significantly boosted alpha waves and significantly decreased beta waves, and they found that this translated cognitively into a significant increase in cognitive speed and concentration along with a significant decrease in brain stress.
The control group that did the same walking activity but wore sneakers the entire time, had no significant change in any of the mental performance tasks. The researchers conclude that barefoot walking activated cognitive ability, particularly in information processing and complex reasoning, while simultaneously reducing mental stress and brain fatigue.
Even brains that already have degenerative brain changes occurring may be supported by grounding, as patients with Alzheimers Disease were able to significantly improve sleep quality (an average improvement of 62% on PSQI, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) after 12 weeks of sleeping grounded
And because inflammation is now being linked with cognitive disorders such as mild cognitive impairment and dementia (including Alzheimers,) the long term effects of grounding to the earth to protect cognition may come from it’s ability to decrease inflammation and potentially decrease neuroinflammation over time — read an article I published on this here.
You can find tons of free tips on how to get grounded — try just 10 minutes a day for 10 days — by downloading my free guide on getting grounded to see how grounding improves your health right here. It’s easier than you think. See that picture of the evergreen tree above? You can get grounded just by holding onto a pine needle with your fingers — even just a few minutes will make a difference. Or by taking a warm bath before you go to bed tonight — soaking in a bath will actually ground you. Lots of ways to get grounded indoors, outside, in urban settings (touching sidewalk, a metal sign post, even drinking out of a water fountain) are all available to you all the time if you just know about them!
That’s what I’m here for — I’ve been sending out a free blog post every single week to you about quick grounding tips and other holistic health updates for over 15 years straight now! My website is a wealth of free information, free videos, free ebooks, free content and if you want that to come into your inbox each week, just sign up for my newsletter right here:
11. Take a multivitamin
A study published Sept 14, 2022 in Alzheimers & Dementia, is the largest randomized clinical trial on multivitamin use in healthy brain aging. It’s a three year long trial following annual cognitive assessments on over 2,250 patients that were randomly assigned either a daily multivitamin, a 500 mg daily flavanol supplement (from cocoa extract) or a placebo supplement.
What researchers found was that not only did taking a daily vitamin help preserve cognitive function, but it actually helped significantly improve it over baseline (and over placebo) by the third year. Meaning it didn’t just help prevent cognitive function from declining with age, but it actually helped improve cognitive function long term.
Cognitive tests included word list, story recall, verbal fluency, number span, digit ordering and more. The results show that the daily multivitamin improved memory, executive function and global cognition over time.
This is the first large, long term, double blinded placebo based study to show that multivitamins are effective at improving condition in older adults. The researchers conducting this study estimated that the multivitamins potentially slowed brain aging by about 60%.
Again, my favorite brain health supplements, including my favorite brain protective multivitamin recommendation, is waiting for you in my online dispensary right here:
12. Stop eating gluten
The Mayo Clinic published a study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2012 demonstrating that in individuals favoring a high-carb diet, risk for mild cognitive impairment was increased by 89%, contrasted to those who ate a high-fat diet, whose risk was decreased by 44%.”
It’s been my experience that patients who are experiencing a brain fog feel dramatically better in just a few short weeks of reducing carbs and gluten, as gluten is a neuro-irritant that increases neuroinflammation:
We have to look at gluten sensitivity in a new light, recognizing that its manifestations extend well beyond the gut, into the brain. In fact, some physicians feel gluten sensitivity can be primarily a neurological disease.
So, reduce gluten consumption and instead focus on:
- high quality high fat diet (coconut oil, olive oil, organic butter, avocado)
- high quality protein (grass fed beef), wild fish, eggs, nuts, seeds and
- colorful vegetables.
13. Sauna
It turns out, the circulation boost from sauna preserves memory function and protects us from developing memory diseases. So, not only does sauna help you live longer (avoiding heart disease and all-cause mortality) but it also helps you avoid dementia and memory loss disease to enjoy that longer life more!
Published in Age and Ageing (Dec 8, 2016) researchers followed more than 2,300 patients for an average of 20.7 years, and found:
- Patients who averaged 4 to 7 trips to the sauna a week were two-thirds less likely to develop dementia over the next 20 years (a 66% decrease in dementia)
- Patients were also two thirds less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease (AD) during the 20 year follow up (a 65% drop in AD diagnosis)
- This risk reduction was independent of any other known risk factors, including body mass, age, smoking status, alcohol consumption or previous heart attack.
The bottom line is that sauna users enjoyed a 66% reduction in dementia risk of all types (including Alzheimer’s) from this very easy-to-enjoy lifestyle intervention.
Raising the core body temperature and increasing circulation makes the benefits of sauna very similar to the benefits of exercise. Sauna helps increase vascular perfusion of the brain, increasing endothelial function and reducing inflammation. And not just in your brain, but throughout your entire body, too, which is one of the reasons it’s so cardioprotective as well.
So if you can’t exercise (or, ahem, like me, don’t particularly love to do it in the cold winter months) then one good alternative is sauna. Sauna is also a great idea for disabled or mobility-limited folks, who might find getting outside to exercise more challenging. Almost anyone can sauna and enjoy very similar longevity benefits as if they exercised!
Interested in giving sauna a try?
- The recommended routine is to sauna at least once a week and up to three times a week, for a time period of at least 5 minutes and a maximum of 20 minutes.
- Hydrate before, during and after sauna.
- Don’t sauna if you have a fever, an active inflammatory condition like a rash or hives, or are intoxicated, and ask your physician if sauna is right for you if you have a serious cardiac issue or other health issues.
14. Stay hydrated
A medical review published in the Journal Of the American College of Nutrition showed that our attention spans and even our short term memory fizzles when we are dehydrated. But don’t rely on thirst to remind you to drink! Prevent dehydration before you even get thirsty.
Dehydration begins when we are just 1% volume depleted, but thirst doesn’t set in until our body is about 2% volume depleted. By then we have already had effects on our mood, energy level, ability to think clearly, and pain levels.
So drink a full glass of water each morning before eating or drinking anything else to replenish the fluids you lost overnight. Use hunger as a reminder to hydrate… We feel hunger on and off all day long, and so we can remember to drink water on and off all day long too.
Drink a glass of water before each meal and whenever you feel thirst *or* hunger, and you will stay well hydrated all day long.
Moisturize your skin to decrease transcutaneous water loss.
And make sure your air contains moisture! You lose over two cups (or a half liter) of water just from breathing each day. And another cup or more just through your skin. If the air is dry (which all of our indoor air is…) then that water loss is dramatically higher. You can use humidifiers to help hydrate your air and support the hydration of your mucosal membranes, decrease respiratory water loss and even decrease transcutaneous water loss.
I hope this article gave you tons of uplifting ideas on all natural ways you can support a healthy brain for an entire lifetime and protect your unique, one-of-a-kind memories that you cherish, especially the ones you create this holiday season.
Xoxoxo,
Laura Koniver MD
