Many people don’t think about their brain health — until they or a loved one start struggling with it. Brain health covers functions such as cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, behavorial, and motor skills. Taking care of the brain can help improve overall wellbeing and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, mental illnesses, and other neurological disorders, according to the World Health Organization. The bad news is that certain lifestyle habits can slowly contribute to cognitive decline and dementia down the road. The good news is that these habits have relatively easy solutions.
Not sleeping enough
It’s no real surprise that sleep deprivation is bad for the brain. Most people have had the unpleasant experience of trying to function while tired. A lack of sleep worsens cognitive skills, like logic, problem-solving, and memory. However, stressing over sleep deficiency can create an exhausting spiral.
How to sleep more
So instead of focusing on getting more sleep, simply give yourself more time to sleep, according to Rudolph Tanzi, director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit and co-director of the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Make yourself go to bed an hour earlier than usual,” says Tanzi to Harvard Health Publishing. “This will help cut down on late nights and give your brain and body extra time to get enough sleep.”
If you wake up, keep yourself in a relaxed state. “Try reading, but avoid watching TV or a laptop, which can be stimulating,” says Tanzi. “Even if you are awake for a while, you still have that extra hour to make up for it.”
Sitting too much
According to the CDC, the average American may sit for 6.5 to 8 hours a day. It’s important to workout regularly, but it won’t mitigate the effects of being sedentary for the rest of the week. Common jobs and hobbies involve sitting, sometimes for long periods of time. This can lead to a list of negative health effects, including a thinner medial temporal lobe, which is the part of the brain that creates memories. This thinning can precede cognitive decline and dementia.
Read More: How Does Ashwagandha Help With Brain Health?
How to sit less
Therefore, Tanzi recommends setting a timer to move around after 15 to 30 minutes of sitting. Additionally, you should incorporate more movement throughout your day, such as by stretching regularly or switching to a standing workstation.
Eating too much junk food
A good diet is famously important for one’s health, but it goes beyond maintaining a healthy weight and staving off heart disease. It’s also crucial for maintaining good cognition and staving off brain-related diseases. Generally, a diet that’s harmful for brain health is high in refined and added sugars, refined flours, fried foods, alcohol, and processed meats.
Avoid unhealthy foods
Therefore, Dr. Uma Naidoo, nutritional psychiatrist, author, and faculty member at Harvard Medical School, avoids or limits these unhealthy foods. “Existing studies point to the idea that we may be able to reduce the possibility of dementia by avoiding foods that can compromise our gut bacteria and weaken our memory and focus,” she writes on CNBC. Instead, choose a diet full of fruits, vegetables, and other fiber-rich foods, and opt for healthier alternatives like sparkling water instead of soda, and roasted chicken instead of fried.
Isolation
Many may not realize it, but a lack of socializing is terrible for your brain. Research links loneliness to depression, accelerated cognitive decline, and an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. This is because socialization stimulates the brain’s gray matter, which is the area that processes information. So a lack of human interaction weakens this region over time.
Socialization
Fortunately, you don’t need to become a social butterfly. Find a handful of close friends and family members and reach out to them regularly. “You want meaningful and mentally stimulating interactions, so choose people you care about and who care about you,” says Tanzi.
Wearing headphones at full volume
Protect your hearing because it’s intertwined with brain health. In fact, research shows that mild hearing loss is associated with almost a doubled risk of dementia as well as a loss of brain tissue, according to the American Association of Retired Persons. Experts theorize that people who are hard of hearing have to strain to understand what’s going on around them, which takes up the brain’s focus and leaves little energy for storing the information to memory. Additionally, being unable to hear others can contribute to feelings of isolation.
Lower the volume
So keep your earbuds at 60% maximum volume. If someone else can hear the music coming from your headphones, it is too loud. Additionally, Nicholas Reed, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, recommends bringing foam earplugs to concerts, sports games, and other loud environments. “If you are standing within 3 feet of someone and you can’t hear them, the world around you is too loud,” he says.
Read More: 10 Toxic Habits That Destroy Your Brain Health and What You Can Do About It