The New Science Of Preventing Dementia: Protect Your Brain, Boost Your Focus, Resist Cognitive Decline with Dr Tommy Wood #638

1. Challenge Aging Expectations

Do not expect cognitive decline as you age, as this mindset can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading you to stop activities that maintain function. Instead, embrace the possibility of enhancing cognitive and physical function at any age by engaging in skills and challenges.

2. Prioritize Brain Stimulation

Recognize that how you use your brain is the primary driver of its function. Engage in complex skill development, knowledge acquisition, social interaction, languages, music, and complex movements to foster neuroplasticity and maintain cognitive function.

3. Ensure Brain Supply

Support brain function by maintaining good cardiovascular and metabolic health to ensure adequate blood flow and glucose supply. Additionally, consume critical nutrients like vitamin D, iron, omega-3s, B vitamins, antioxidant vitamins (C, E), polyphenols, magnesium, and zinc.

4. Optimize Brain Support

Facilitate brain adaptation and recovery by prioritizing sleep, managing chronic stress, and avoiding inhibitors like smoking, excessive alcohol, and air pollution. Sleep is crucial for cementing new connections and building brain function based on applied stimulus.

5. Restructure Your Workday

Combat feeling ’tired but wired’ by structuring your day with ‘high gear’ periods for deep, focused work, and integrating ’low gear’ breaks (e.g., short walks, looking at greenery, comedy clips) to recover and prevent cognitive fatigue. Avoid constant ‘middle gear’ multitasking, which is inherently stressful.

6. Embrace Varied Exercise

Incorporate a mix of exercise types for comprehensive brain benefits: aerobic (improves grey matter, memory), resistance training (improves white matter, executive function), and coordinative activities (dancing, racket sports, martial arts) for additional complex cognitive stimulus. Aim for daily low-level movement, occasional higher intensity bursts, and 1-2 structured resistance sessions per week.

7. Start with One Change

Avoid overwhelm by focusing on making one small, enjoyable change in any of the 3S areas. Due to the interconnectedness of health factors, this single change will likely create a positive ripple effect across your entire health network.

8. Limit Negative Social Media

Be aware that constant comparison on social media can create social stress, leading to physiological responses like increased inflammation and reduced well-being. Curate your usage or reduce exposure to mitigate these negative effects, as your subconscious is constantly being fed that you’re not enough.

9. Mental Offloading for Sleep

Before bed, write down your to-do list or worries to mentally offload them. This practice can help reduce anxiety and improve sleep onset by literally getting thoughts out of your mind.

10. Women’s Brain Health Nuance

Understand that while hormonal changes occur, menopause is a ‘risk amplification period’ where other dementia risk factors (like metabolic disease) have a larger effect, rather than hormones being the sole cause of cognitive decline. Focus on lifestyle factors to manage symptoms and overall brain health, as cognitive changes during menopause are often temporary.

11. Lifelong Learning & Teaching

Continuously learn new skills and acquire knowledge, even outside formal education, to stimulate your brain. Later in life, transitioning from learning to teaching can also provide valuable cognitive engagement by expressing accumulated knowledge.

12. Practice Self-Compassion

Recognize that health is a long-term journey, and it’s okay if daily adherence to all healthy habits isn’t perfect. A strong foundation and consistent return to beneficial practices over decades will still yield significant positive impacts, so give yourself grace.