5 habits neurologists swear by for long-term brain health

 I'm good at these.

5 habits neurologists swear by for long-term brain health

Fact checked by Nick Blackmer

• Maintaining cognitive health is an important part of healthy aging and preserving your quality of life.
• Simple everyday habits may help support brain health and reduce the risk of cognitive decline as you age.
• Getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and staying socially connected are all strategies experts recommend for keeping your brain healthy.

These days, many people are thinking not just about longevity, but also “healthspan,” or the number of years spent in good health. And an important part of healthy aging is maintaining brain function as you get older. While there’s no silver bullet for protecting long-term brain health, neurologists say there are everyday habits that can help reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Here are five of them. 

1. Get Enough Sleep

Retirement took care of that problem.

One of the most important habits for brain health is getting an adequate amount of sleep. That means aiming for a minimum of seven hours a night and addressing any issues, such as sleep apnea, that could interfere with quality rest, said Brian S. Appleby, MD, an associate professor of neurology, psychiatry, and pathology at Case Western Reserve University.

During sleep, the brain clears metabolic waste and toxins like beta-amyloid and tau. Consistently getting poor sleep can lead to a buildup of these substances in the brain, which may affect cognitive abilities, behavior, and judgment.

Changes may even occur in as little as two weeks, one 2024 study suggests. In that study, participants who slept at least seven hours a night for six weeks showed improvements in working memory and attention compared with when they slept for five and a half hours for the same period.

 Related video: If you can still do these 7 things after 60, your body is aging better than most (Dr. Borja Bandera)

2. Follow a Mediterranean-Style Diet

For a healthy brain as you age, Jennifer Dearborn-Tomazos, MD, a neurologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital—Milton, recommends following a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern. (The Mediterranean diet has NO specifics, so you don't even know if you are following it correctly!) This eating plan limits added sugars, highly processed foods, refined carbohydrates, sodium, and saturated fats, while emphasizing: 

• Fruits and vegetables
• Nuts and seeds
• Olive oil
• Beans
• Potatoes
• Whole grains
• Eggs
• Dairy
• Fish
• Poultry

Studies have linked the Mediterranean diet with slower cognitive decline and a lower risk of dementia. The diet is also associated with improved vascular risk factors that contribute to brain disease, such as obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, according to Dearborn-Tomazos.

“One reason I like the Mediterranean diet is that it’s not a fad—it’s a way of eating that is sustainable long-term,” Dearborn-Tomazos said.

3. Exercise Regularly

Another strategy for long-term brain health is regular exercise, said Emerlee Timmerman, MD, a neurologist at UC Health in Cincinnati.

“We know exercise—particularly cardiovascular exercise—for at least 30 minutes a day is one of the most important things you can do to keep your brain healthy throughout your lifetime,” she said. 

Research suggests aerobic activity increases blood flow to the brain, reduces inflammation, and promotes neuroplasticity—your brain's ability to adapt, learn, and manage new challenges.

Meanwhile, resistance training, such as lifting weights, may help combat brain atrophy associated with Alzheimer’s disease and slow the progression of dementia in older adults.

Still, Timmerman emphasized that there’s no “one perfect exercise” for maintaining brain health. What matters most, she said, is choosing physical activities you enjoy and are more likely to stick with long-term, whether that’s walking, cycling, hiking, weight lifting, tennis, or Pilates.

4. Stay Social

I'm extremely good at this.

Enjoying time with family and friends does more than boost your mood in the moment. Social interaction may also benefit the brain by promoting neuroplasticity and improving cognitive reserve, which is the brain’s ability to maintain function despite age-related changes and neurodegeneration. 

On the flip side, chronic social isolation is associated with a 50% increased risk of dementia, according to a 2023 review. Research suggests that going too long without meaningful social connection may cause brain shrinkage, reduced cognitive reserve, and increased inflammation.

“Seeing patients and families navigate stroke, dementia, and other neurological illnesses has reinforced how important our relationships are,” Dearborn-Tomazos said, noting that the experience has made her more intentional about spending time with family and friends.

5. Play Brain Games

I do Jiglive, Best Fiends and Bolts Off.

Keeping your brain active as you age is key to keeping it healthy over time. One way to do that is by playing games, according to Appleby. 

Crossword puzzles, in particular, do a good job of activating language networks, long-term memory, and pattern recognition. In fact, a 2022 study found that crosswords outperformed some computerized brain-training games in improving memory and protecting cognitive function over time. 

Jigsaw puzzles may also offer benefits. A 2018 study found that they can help improve memory, reasoning, cognitive flexibility (the ability to adapt to changes), and visuospatial processing (the ability to perceive and interact with one’s environment). That’s because they require the brain to engage in multiple complex processes at once, like scanning the puzzle board, recognizing patterns, and determining where each piece belongs.

Experts have said games are most likely to benefit brain health when they are challenging—but not overly frustrating—played consistently, and done for at least 30 minutes at a time.

Read the original article on Health

The key to living longer is small changes in key areas, new research finds

 Did your competent? doctor instruct you in this? NO? So your doctor IS COMPLETELY FUCKING INCOMPETENT IN ANYTHING FOR LIVING LONGER!

The key to living longer is small changes in key areas, new research finds

If your goal is to be healthier in 2026, you don’t have to overhaul your habits, follow a strict diet or spend hours at the gym.

Taking baby steps to collectively improve three of the most important behaviors — sleep, exercise and nutrition — may not only boost health but also lengthen your life, new research shows.

The changes could be as basic as a few extra minutes of sleep per night, plus a few more vegetables or grains and a few extra minutes of exercise per day.

Scientists at the University of Sydney in Australia analyzed the behaviors of more than 59,000 older adults using the UK Biobank, a massive database that began recruiting participants in 2005 and collects data about health, lifestyle and demographics.

For one week, Biobank participants wore wrist devices that tracked their sleep and movements, in which moderate to vigorous physical activity counted as exercise.

Based on participants’ self-reported eating habits, they were awarded diet quality scores ranging from zero to 100, with a higher score indicating a healthier diet. For example, eating at least three servings of fruit per day earned the maximum 10 points in the fruit category, while refraining from sugary drinks earned the maximum 10 points in the beverage category.

People with the poorest health habits were used as a reference point. They slept 5.5 hours per night, exercised 7.3 minutes per day and had a diet quality score of 36.9.

While anyone may benefit from small lifestyle changes, the study, published Tuesday in the journal eClinicalMedicine, found that people with the poorest health habits could add a year of life if they got a combined:

• 5 extra minutes of sleep per night and
• 1.9 extra minutes of exercise per day and
• a 5-point increase in diet quality score, such as an extra half-serving of vegetables or 1.5 servings of whole grains per day.

The unhealthy group that didn't or couldn't make improvements in all three areas could see the same one-year increase in lifespan if they got either:

• 25 extra minutes of sleep per night or
• 2.3 extra minutes of exercise per day or
• a 35.5-point increase in diet quality score.

“All those tiny behaviors we change can actually have a very meaningful impact, and they add up over time to make a big difference in our longevity,” said lead study author Nicholas Koemel, a registered dietitian and research fellow in the university’s department of physical activity, lifestyle and population health.

After a median follow-up period of just over eight years, Koemel and his colleagues looked at how many participants had died or developed medical conditions including cancer, dementia, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. They defined healthspan as additional years lived free of those diseases.

People with the poorest health habits could increase their healthspans by four years, the study showed, if they got a combined:

• 24 extra minutes of sleep per night and
• 3.7 extra minutes of exercise per day and
• a 23-point increase in diet quality score, such as an extra cup of vegetables per day, a serving of whole grains per day and two servings of fish per week.

While no individual change in sleep, exercise or diet would increase lifespan by 10 years for the least healthy group, the following combined changes were associated with an extra decade of life:

• 180 extra minutes of sleep per night and
• 24.9 extra minutes of exercise per day and
• a 35-point increase in diet quality score.

“The message here should not necessarily be that making these small tweaks is a silver bullet,” Koemel said. “It’s more so about where we take that first step and trying to look at how we can make sustainable opportunities that are more achievable for some people.”

In a similar study also published Tuesday, in the journal The Lancet, researchers found that for most adults, sitting 30 fewer minutes a day was associated with a 7% decrease in deaths over an average follow-up period of eight years.

What’s more, an additional five minutes of moderately to vigorously intense daily exercise was linked to 10% fewer deaths, while an additional 30 minutes of light physical activity was linked to 5% fewer deaths.

The second study, led by scientists at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences in Oslo, involved more than 135,000 adults in the U.K., the U.S., Norway and Sweden, and it included UK Biobank data. The authors wrote that they hope their work may influence public health policies.

Sleep gains and losses add up

Nearly 37% of U.S. adults don’t get the recommended minimum seven hours of sleep per night, according to 2022 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lack of sleep can cause short- and long-term mental and physical health problems, from depression and trouble focusing to heart disease and obesity. Impacts to your sleep are cumulative, said Dr. Maha Alattar, medical director of the VCU Health Center for Sleep Medicine in Richmond, Virginia.

“Adding five minutes may not help you that one day, but ... at the end of the month, it will add up to a lot of hours,” said Alattar, who wasn’t involved in either study. “That can translate to long-term better health because I look at it the other way, and that’s how we look at sleep deprivation.”

Rather than focus on sleeping eight hours a night, Alattar said, she advises patients to add an extra 30 minutes to whatever nightly amount of sleep they’ve been getting. That small change is a manageable way to help get them on the right track.

In the Sydney study, sleeping more than 7.5 hours a night alone wasn’t associated with increased life expectancy.

Move more to live longer

Glenn Gaesser, a professor of exercise physiology at the Arizona State University College of Health Solutions, wasn’t surprised by the Sydney study results. He said they back up previous research showing an association between cumulative exercise changes and increased life expectancy.

“Those going from zero to 10 minutes a day of walking will experience more benefit than someone who’s going from 30 to 40,” said Gaesser, who wasn’t involved in either study. “Beyond 40, you get a law of diminishing returns.”

The Sydney study showed that exercise benefits peaked at 50 minutes per day, meaning exercising beyond that wasn’t linked to a longer lifespan.

Fitness habits — or the lack thereof — are hard to change, Gaesser said: “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.” Even so, the science suggests a little change goes a long way.

“It doesn’t require a mass overhaul of your lifestyle to achieve health benefits,” he said.

Focus on small nutritional improvements

There are notable limitations to the Sydney study. The diet data was self-reported, which is known to be notoriously inaccurate, and the observational research was based on relatively brief recordings of sleep and exercise.

Dr. David D’Alessio, chief of the division of endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition at the Duke University School of Medicine, said, “It’s really hard to be that precise when you take a 30,000-foot view.”

Sleep, exercise and diet “would need to be tested in an interventional way to be able to say little bits really do make a difference, a half a cup of vegetables does make a difference,” said D’Alessio, who wasn’t part of either study.

However, D’Alessio appreciates how hard it is to change health habits. “The thing I always push is you gotta lose 5 pounds before you lose 10 pounds.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

The best sleep position, according to science

 My hospital just handed out sleeping pills at 10pm like clockwork, nothing on side sleeping, face down, or on your back. But they missed the whole breathing thru your nose per 'Breath' by James Nestor.

The best sleep position, according to science

In Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale, “The Princess and the Pea,” a prince tests whether a young woman is, in fact, a princess. In order to authenticate her nobility, his mother (the queen) places a single pea at the bottom of the woman’s bed, beneath 20 mattresses and 20 quilts. If the woman is sensitive to the pea, she must have royal blood—obviously. Although she falls asleep easily atop the towering, the woman spends the entire night tossing and turning because the bed is so uncomfortable. Later, the queen confirms it was the pea that made her sleep so unbearable. But if you were to ask a sleep doctor today, it may have had more to do with the princess’s sleeping position. 

It’s no secret that your sleeping position can significantly affect your sleep quality. But according to science, which sleeping position is best? 

In order to determine whether we should be snoozing on our backs or curling up on our sides to achieve maximum health benefits (and a good night’s rest), Popular Science turned to  Dr. John Saito, a representative for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Apparently, the answer isn’t so clear-cut. 

A good sleep position begins with easy breathing

“Everyone has an idea of what a good sleep position may be,” says Saito, “whether it’s sleeping on your left side, ride side, back, belly, or even upside down. But it all depends on the context.” 

For example, say you’re lying on your back and have a good support pillow that keeps your spine and your neck in a neutral position. This, says Saito, allows your airway to remain unobstructed and you to breathe easily. That’s a good thing. 

Related video: 4 sleep habits for healthy ageing, and 1 that might need medical help (HuffPost)

 However, if you have sleep apnea—a condition in which your breathing stops and starts throughout sleep, typically resulting from your throat muscles becoming too relaxed and blocking a body’s upper airway—sleeping on your back can be detrimental to your health. “If the tongue falls to the back of your throat when you’re lying on your back, that’s bad,” says Saito. For babies, most doctors recommend putting them to sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), an unexplained death that usually occurs during sleep. 

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Is sleeping outside good for you? Science has a clear answer.

What causes you to jolt awake right before falling asleep?

Is it better to sleep in cycles?

Good news for side sleepers

For adults, “If you’re lying on your right side, it might be better for blood flow,” says Saito, as well as lower pressure on your heart. This is because your mediastinum, a flexible compartment located between the lungs, helps hold your heart in place. 

“If you’re lying on your left side, it may actually be better for clearing the waste product in our brain,” he says.(Seeping on my left side doesn't work, the affected left arm gets in the way) This is called the glymphatic system, a brain’s specialized waste clearance network that washes away harmful metabolic byproducts, including proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease, while we sleep. 

There’s also a difference between sleeping in a fetal or curled position, and sprawling out straight. Sleeping on either side with your body relatively linear helps to align your spine, while curling up on your side is generally good for easing lower back pain. However, being too curled up like a baby can compress your diaphragm and chest, and in turn restrict breathing. 

Finding the best sleeping position for you

Regardless of what science shows, certain people will have certain preferences when it comes to sleeping positions, says Saito, and for good reason. For instance, “ask someone who’s dealing with back pain to then sleep on their back and they’re going to curse you,” he says, “because even though they’re breathing better, their bones and joints are hurting terribly.”

So instead of a specific sleeping position, Saito says to consider the ABCs of respiratory therapy: airway, breathing, and circulation. “If you can’t breathe because you have sleep apnea or you have allergies and a stuffy nose, you want to find the best position that keeps your airway open,” he says. 

What if you move around, sleeping in multiple positions through the night? 

According to Dr. Saito, “There’s nobody that sleeps like a log and doesn’t move. You may start off in one position to be comfortable, but over the night you shift.” However, he says, there’s a difference between repositioning yourself throughout the night, and moving a lot because you can’t find a comfortable sleeping position. “Just like in anything, a little bit is OK,” he says, “but too much means you’re outside of the spectrum of normal.”

People who have trouble sleeping tend to move excessively. But there are ways to practice sleeping in better positions. If you’re typically a side sleeper, try placing a pillow between your knees to help better align your head, neck, and hips. This neutral posture can not only make breathing easier, but it can also result in deeper, more restorative sleep. 

stomach more your thing? Try placing a thin pillow under your hips. Choosing a mattress that adheres to the natural curve of your spine is also a key element of snoozing through the night.  

In the end, “There’s no one best sleeping position,” says Saito. In reality, it can depend on a myriad of factors, from whether you’re pregnant and suffering from bad back pain to battling sleep apnea and being a chronic snorer. 

Your ultimate goal is to find a comfortable, unobtrusive sleeping position that allows you to get a good night’s sleep. 

Ultimately, whatever sleep position you find comfiest is going to be the best one for you. This is because it’s what’s going to give you the most rest, which, in turn, will also keep you healthiest.

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

Researchers Uncover Why Some People Face Greater Brain Damage From Poor Sleep

 Ask your competent? doctor for an EXACT SLEEP PROTOCOL, ensuring your brain waste clearance system is working properly! And have them prove it!

Researchers Uncover Why Some People Face Greater Brain Damage From Poor Sleep

AI Analyzes Sleep Data to Predict Cognitive Decline and Health

 How soon will your competent? doctor get this in to verify you have the correct sleep protocol? Oh, no plans, so NEVER! That IS PURE INCOMPETENCE!     

AI Analyzes Sleep Data to Predict Cognitive Decline and Health

Summary: Researchers developed an artificial intelligence model capable of extracting hidden physiological signals from routine polysomnography data to predict long-term health risks.

Analyzing data from Cleveland Clinic’s STARLIT registry alongside a nationwide cohort, the AI model identified five distinct patient risk subtypes with vastly different health trajectories. Patients categorized into the highest-risk group faced double the five-year mortality risk compared to the lowest-risk group, a prognostic distinction invisible to conventional sleep apnea diagnostic measures.

Key Facts

• Two-Fold Mortality Risk Separation: The AI model stratified patients into five distinct risk categories, showing that individuals in the highest-risk tier had a 100 percent increase in five-year mortality risk compared to those in the lowest-risk tier.
• Superiority Over Conventional AHI: The prognostic risk stratification succeeded where the traditional Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) failed, capturing latent physiological features across brain, lung, muscle, and cardiac signals that standard metrics miss.
• Sex-Balanced Predictive Accuracy: While the traditional AHI metric historically performs better in male populations, the new AI foundation model predicted cardiovascular, neurological, and mortality outcomes with equal high accuracy across both men and women.
• Unlocking Underutilized Clinical Data: Demonstrates that routine polysomnograms, 1 to 4 million of which are conducted annually in the United States, contain vast amounts of unused prognostic data capable of driving early preventative healthcare.

Source: Cleveland Clinic

A novel AI model can use information collected during routine sleep studies to identify patients’ long-term health risks, according to a new study published in Nature Communications. Developed by a multidisciplinary research team, the model uncovered hidden sleep patterns linked to risks including heart disease, cognitive decline and death.

The findings also suggest that routine medical tests may contain substantially more physiologic information than current clinical practice extracts from them. In this case, AI identified meaningful signals in standard overnight sleep study data that are not captured by conventional summary measures alone.

An AI model can analyze routine polysomnography signals to identify patient sub-groups with double the five-year mortality risk. Credit: Neuroscience News

The research revealed clinically meaningful patient subtypes with sharply different long-term health risks. Patients in the highest-risk group had twice the mortality risk over the next five years compared to those in the lowest-risk group, a distinction that was not captured by the standard clinical measure used to assess sleep apnea severity, the apnea-hypopnea index.

Each year, an estimated 1 to 4 million polysomnograms, or in-lab sleep studies, are performed in the United States, typically to evaluate sleep apnea. While these studies collect rich data on each patient’s brains, lungs, muscles and heart, clinicians historically have focused on a small subset of that information to grade sleep apnea severity.

“For decades we have distilled an overnight sleep study into a handful of summary measures,” said Reena Mehra, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of Washington and the study’s senior clinical author. “AI gives us the opportunity to move beyond those summaries and learn from the full richness of sleep physiology.”

The model was developed by a collaborative team of sleep physicians, AI researchers, data scientists and neuroscientists brought together through the Discovery Accelerator, a 10-year joint research partnership between Cleveland Clinic and IBM aimed at advancing the pace of discovery in life sciences through AI and quantum computing.

Using data from the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Signals, Testing, and Reports Linked to Patient Traits (STARLIT) registry, the researchers grouped patients into five risk categories. The model also predicted outcomes well for men and women, while the apnea hypopnea index has historically performed better in men. The findings were independently confirmed in a nationwide patient cohort.

“Modern AI lets us recover much more of the information contained in a night’s worth of sleep physiology, revealing clinically meaningful patient groups with very different long-term health risks,” said Jeffrey Rogers, Ph.D., the corresponding author and professor adjunct, neurosurgery, Yale School of Medicine.

“These findings demonstrate that routine medical tests can contain substantially more physiologic information than current clinical practice extracts from them.”

The model could also help researchers better understand how sleep impacts health outcomes. By looking beyond traditional measures, the approach uses AI to detect latent physiologic features invisible to the human eye and extract prognostic biomarkers that help stratify risk for cardiovascular and neurologic disease, and survival, opening the door to earlier and more personalized care.

“Sleep is foundational to health and wellness,” said Matheus Lima Diniz Araujo, Ph.D., a sleep researcher at Cleveland Clinic.

“Nearly 70 million Americans live with chronic disorders of sleep and wakefulness, affecting daily functioning and overall health. This discovery offers a more personalized approach to sleep medicine, by potentially expanding the value of routine sleep testing and reinforcing the key role sleep plays in chronic disease.” 

Carl Saab, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering and Chief Scientist of Cleveland Clinic’s Discovery Accelerator, said, “The next step is to validate these findings in diverse populations and expand collaborations among medical and technical experts, industry partners and professional society stakeholders.”

“Sleep is increasingly recognized as a critical component of health, yet the physiological information captured during sleep remains largely underused,” said Erhan Bilal, Ph.D., lead author of the study.

“Because everyone sleeps, sleep studies offer a remarkable window into human health that extends far beyond the diagnosis of sleep disorders. Our work shows how foundation models can begin to unlock the richness of these complex signals. And this is only the beginning.”

The research team included Erhan Bilal, Ph.D.; Matheus Lima Diniz Araujo, Ph.D.; Kristen Beck, Ph.D.; Catherine Heinzinger, D.O.; Samer Ghosn, B.S.; Nancy Foldvary-Schaefer, D.O.; Carl Saab, Ph.D.; Jeffrey Rogers, Ph.D.; and Reena Mehra, M.D.

Key Questions Answered:

Q: Why is the traditional Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) insufficient for predicting long-term health risks?

A: AHI compresses an entire night of complex physiological recordings into a single summary number measuring breathing pauses per hour. This oversimplification discards detailed continuous data regarding heart rate variability, brainwave architecture, muscle tone, and subtle oxygen desaturation patterns that directly reflect cardiovascular, neurological, and metabolic strain.

Q: How does this new AI model improve diagnostic equity between men and women?

A: Clinical sleep studies have historically exhibited sex bias because the AHI metric correlates better with male presentation of sleep apnea. By analyzing full-spectrum physiological signals rather than relying solely on upper-airway obstruction counts, the AI model achieves equal predictive power for cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and mortality across both female and male patients.

Q: What are the next steps before this AI tool can be used in routine clinical practice?

A: The research team plans to validate the model across diverse international populations, expand technical and industrial collaborations, and integrate the algorithm into existing sleep lab software to provide automated risk stratification reports alongside standard clinical metrics.

Editorial Notes:

• This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
• Journal paper reviewed in full.
• Additional context added by our staff.

About this AI and sleep research news

Author: Alicia Reale
Source: Cleveland Clinic
Contact: Alicia Reale – Cleveland Clinic
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.
“A foundation model for sleep-based risk stratification and clinical outcomes” by Erhan Bilal, Matheus Lima Diniz Araujo, Kristen L. Beck, Catherine M. Heinzinger, Samer Ghosn, Carl Y. Saab, Nancy Foldvary-Schaefer, Jeffrey L. Rogers & Reena Mehra. Nature Communications
DOI:10.1038/s41467-026-75326-9

6 Common Habits That Are Prematurely Aging Your Brain

 

6 Common Habits That Are Prematurely Aging Your Brain

Youth isn’t just skin deep; like our bodies, our brains can age more or less depending on our lifestyles, habits, and diets. Moreover, keeping our brains youthful seems far more important than a few smile lines, right? Fortunately, there are relatively easy ways to slow the brain’s aging process and foster a healthier mind. By understanding common habits that can prematurely age your brain, you can make positive changes to better control your health and overall well-being.

You Overindulge in Alcohol

(Sunday is music at Red Cedar, Tuesday is music at Moriarties, Thursday is trivia at Moriarties; all are bars, so alcohol is involved, there will be no condemnations of that.) All part of my plan to exponentially expand my social connections to prevent dementia. Alcohol will be involved and there will be no naysaying of that. 

Having a glass of wine with a friend or a cocktail at a birthday party is undoubtedly a fun way for many of us to socialize and celebrate. Alcoholic beverages are so ingrained in our culture that many don’t think twice about indulging in a few during a night out, but here’s why you should forgo your weeknight beers or glasses of wine for something non-alcoholic. Alcohol is one of the most significant components of premature aging of the brain. 

According to the Alzheimer’s Society, over time, drinking too much alcohol causes brain cells to die, literally shrinking the brain tissue. With fewer brain cells available to carry messages and perform tasks, daily life becomes more difficult. This can happen from drinking regularly or from drinking more than the recommended daily limit. However, by understanding the importance of moderation, you can take control of your brain health. The recommended daily alcohol limits are one standard drink for women and two for men. A standard drink is typically equivalent to a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or a 1.5-ounce shot. The weekly limits are seven and fourteen, respectively.

You Stay in All the Time

(Sunday is music at Red Cedar, Tuesday is music at Moriarties, Thursday is trivia at Moriarties; all are bars, so alcohol is involved, there will be no condemnations of that.) 

Passing on a night out is fine. Everyone needs a rest or a mental health break occasionally. But don’t skip out too often. Studies have found that not having enough social interaction can age your brain. This idea is supported by studies of Blue Zones, that is, communities worldwide whose residents most often live to be 100. One of the common factors between all these communities is that socializing is a vital part of their culture, suggesting that it helps them live longer.

Furthermore, a recent study published in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience journal found that social isolation and loneliness were associated with poor cognitive aging. So, whether it is a game night at a friend’s house, a family dinner, or a big event, push yourself to say “yes” to spending time with loved ones. You’ll have fun, and these social interactions will also benefit your brain.

You Love Junk Food

Nope. 

What’s your junk food Achilles’ heel? Everyone has one — fried foods, sodas, candies, and chips are common culprits. Unfortunately, kicking a junk food habit is tricky, mainly because it’s so accessible while you’re on the go. But here’s why you might want to rethink your daily drive-thru habits. Neuroscientist Dr. Amy Reichelt explains that junk food is addictive because it activates the reward system in our brains and releases dopamine, making us feel good — we love eating tasty treats. However, overly sweetened and fatty foods are bad for the brain.

Dr. Reichelt says that high levels of sugar and fats can inflame the brain, damaging brain cells. One study showed that just five days of eating sugary sweets caused measurable brain inflammation. Damage to the brain’s hippocampus has also been reported, which can lead to memory loss and inhibited learning capabilities. Lastly, the inflammation can hinder the creation of new neurons in the brain, which further ages it. When choosing your meals and snacks, remember you’re fueling your body and brain for years to come, not just for the few minutes it takes you to finish that piece of cake.

You Skip the Gym

 Was pretty regular walking 2-3 hours per day in the woods, but travel and having to head back to Minnesota to take care of my 97 year old Mom has reduced that a bit.

With streaming platforms and social media galore, it’s becoming easier and easier to opt for a night in front of a screen. Unfortunately, this habit of slumping on the couch immediately after work isn’t the healthiest choice. Working out is one of the best things you can do to keep your brain and the rest of your body healthy through all stages of adulthood. A study published in Neurology Clinical Practice revealed the cognitive impact of physical exercise. Physical exercise promotes learning, planning, concentrating, and maintaining a clear, active mind. It also counteracts the effects of cognitive aging. 

Neuropsychologist Aaron Bonner-Jackson, PhD, also emphasizes the importance of physical exercise for the brain. “In general, even in people who are at risk for development of Alzheimer’s or other dementias, can stave off decline in some cases for many years and help people function better.” This is encouraging news for those with genetic predispositions and anyone looking to bolster their brain health. If you were looking for a sign to go to the gym this week, this is it!

You Don’t Switch Up Your Routine

Is your daily routine in the doldrums? Or maybe you haven’t even noticed it was until now. While having a fixed schedule helps many people with their productivity, the mundane can cause premature brain aging. If ripping up your planner sounds like torture, try this. Block off a few hours once or twice a week for “free time” to spontaneously decide what you’ll do. This keeps your brain excited and motivated. According to Harvard Medical School, challenging your brain with new mental exercises helps maintain the health of brain cells and stimulates connection among them. During your newly allotted “free time,” try these Harvard-recommended activities for brain health: try a new hobby, learn a new skill or language, volunteer, or mentor.

You Sacrifice Sleep

 Not since retirement.

Here’s a new sleep motto to promote a healthier brain: Seven hours a day keeps aging at bay. Getting the doctor-recommended amount of sleep per night works wonders on your mental and physical health, and according to new research, it bodes well for long-term brain health, too. A study at the University of Zurich revealed that sleep loss can cause changes to the brain that would typically be age-related.

However, after a full night’s sleep, the same participants saw their brain’s estimated “age” change again, suggesting that even one night of missed sleep impacts brain aging tremendously. This is because sleep gives the brain a break. It needs this downtime to cleanse itself of toxins, reorganize, store memories, and form new connections. Without sleep, it can’t function properly. If your sleep habits aren’t up to par, let this be your sign to nail down a nighttime routine and aim to get more rest.

How Slow Waves During Sleep Take Over to Clear Metabolic Trash

 How is your competent? doctor GUARANTEEING that your sleep protocol will do this?

Do you prefer your doctor, hospital and board of director's incompetence NOT KNOWING? OR NOT DOING? Your choice; let them be incompetent or demand action!

OH NO! your doctor KNOWS NOTHING AND DOES NOTHING! 

Let's see how long your doctor has been working on this and WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED!

• brain clearing (10  posts to August 2012) Do you have one of the incompetent? doctors or a good one? A good one will have an EXACT SLEEP PROTOCOL!

How Slow Waves During Sleep Take Over to Clear Metabolic Trash

Summary: We’ve long known that sleep “washes” the brain, but we’ve never been able to see it happen in real-time without invasive dyes—until now. Researchers have developed an ultrafast MRI technique that tracks the movement of brain fluids non-invasively.

The study shows that during sleep, the brain’s “operating logic” actually reverses. Instead of neurons controlling blood flow, slow vasomotor waves (vascular pulsations) begin to drive both fluid movement and electrical activity, specifically in the sensory cortex, to flush out metabolic waste.

Key Facts

• Contrast-Free Tracking: The new “ultrafast MRI” method tracks water molecules in cerebrospinal fluid directly, requiring only a five-minute scan with no injected chemicals.
• The Pulse Shift: During sleep, respiratory and vasomotor pulsations (the “cleaning” waves) speed up, while cardiac pulsations (heartbeat waves) slow down, allowing for more efficient “filtering” of brain tissue.
• The Reverse Control: In an awake brain, neurons tell blood where to go. During sleep, the vascular waves take the lead, influencing the neurons and pushing fluid through the posterior brain regions to clear waste.
• Wearable Future: Beyond MRI, the team developed wearable sensors that can track these cleansing rhythms in a standard bed, opening the door for routine monitoring of the aging brain.

Source: University of Oulu

Sleep helps the brain to cleanse itself – and now this process can be measured in humans entirely non-invasively.

Researchers at the University of Oulu have developed a method that allows the increased movement of brain fluids during sleep to be tracked quickly and safely, without the need for injected contrast agents.

Slow vasomotor waves below 0.1 hertz become the primary drivers of brain fluid circulation during deep sleep. Credit: Neuroscience News

The brain’s cleansing mechanism is driven by pulsations, natural bodily rhythms that move blood and cerebrospinal fluid through the brain. These pulsations fall into three main categories: cardiovascular pulsations generated by the heartbeat in arteries, respiratory pulsations affecting veins and cerebrospinal fluid spaces, and slow vasomotor waves in the walls of blood vessels. Previous research has shown that both these pulsations and the brain’s waste clearance are enhanced during sleep.

These pulsations drive the flow of fluids through brain tissue, helping to remove metabolic waste. When this fluid circulation weakens, waste products may begin to accumulate in the brain. The phenomenon has been linked to memory disorders, among other conditions, but has been difficult to measure directly in humans.

Fluid flow accelerates during sleep

An ultrafast magnetic resonance imaging method developed by the University of Oulu’s functional neuroimaging research group (OFNI) now makes it possible to measure brain fluid circulation directly by tracking the movement of water molecules in cerebrospinal fluid. The scan takes only about five minutes and does not require contrast agents.

The researchers found that the behaviour of brain pulsations changes markedly during sleep. The propagation of respiratory and vasomotor pulsations—both of which promote brain-cleansing fluid circulation—speeds up, while cardiac pulsations slow down. This shift is thought to reflect more efficient water filtration in brain tissue, alongside a slowing of arterial pulse waves as blood vessels dilate and blood pressure decreases during sleep.

Brain control dynamics partly reverse during sleep

The studies also revealed a shift in the brain’s fundamental operating logic during sleep. When awake, electrical activity in neurons modulates blood flow and fluid movement: neural activation comes first, followed by increased blood flow. During sleep, however, this relationship is no longer strictly one-directional.

“During sleep, vasomotor waves in particular, slow pulsations below 0.1 hertz, begin to locally influence not only fluid movement but also the brain’s electrical activity,” explains Professor Vesa Kiviniemi, who led the research.

This effect is especially pronounced in posterior brain regions, such as the sensory cortex. These same areas also show a marked increase in fluid flow through brain tissue, pointing to enhanced clearance.

New possibilities for monitoring the ageing brain

The findings are based on two recently published studies, one in Advanced Science and the other in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Both studies involved measurements in healthy volunteers.

According to the researchers, the results provide a more detailed understanding of how and where sleep enhances the brain’s cleaning processes.

It is already known that brain fluid circulation declines with age. “New measurement methods open up possibilities to monitor—and in the future potentially treat—age-related changes in brain fluid dynamics,” says Kiviniemi.

The research group has also developed wearable technology that can track brain electrical activity and blood flow during sleep without the need for MRI. The results correspond well with MRI measurements, suggesting that brain cleansing could in future be monitored more easily in clinical settings.

The team is now working on ways to enhance the fluid circulation and pulsation mechanisms that weaken with age, with the aim of slowing down the effects of ageing on the brain.

Key Questions Answered:

Q: Why can’t the brain just clean itself while I’m awake?

A: When you’re awake, your brain’s “electrical grid” is too busy processing information. The study shows that sleep triggers a specific “pulse shift”: your blood vessels dilate and slow down, which creates the physical space and pressure needed for cerebrospinal fluid to rush in and “scrub” the tissue.

Q: Does this explain why I feel “foggy” after a bad night’s sleep?

A: Exactly. If those slow vasomotor waves don’t get a chance to take over and drive fluid flow, metabolic waste products stay trapped in your brain tissue. This accumulation is linked to long-term memory disorders and that immediate feeling of cognitive “heaviness.”

Q: How is a “wearable” going to measure my brain cleaning?

A: The Oulu team created technology that monitors electrical activity and blood flow simultaneously. Because they now know exactly how these two signals synchronize during the “cleaning” phase, they can use external sensors to confirm if your brain is successfully hitting its “wash cycle” without needing a giant MRI machine.

Editorial Notes:

• This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
• Journal paper reviewed in full.
• Additional context added by our staff.

About this sleep and neuroscience research news

Author: Meri Rova
Source: University of Oulu
Contact: Meri Rova – University of Oulu
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.
“Sleep alters neurovascular and hydrodynamic coupling in the human brain” by Tommi Väyrynen, Johanna Tuunanen, Heta Helakari, Ahmed Elabasy, Vesa Korhonen, Niko Huotari, Johanna Piispala, Mika Kallio, Maiken Nedergaard, and Vesa Kiviniemi. PNAS
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2510731123

Open access.
“Sleep Alters the Velocity of Physiological Brain Pulsations in Humans” by Ahmed Elabasy, Heta Helakari, Tommi Väyrynen, Zalán Rajna, Niko Huotari, Lauri Raitamaa, Ville Isokoski, Matti Järvelä, Mika Kaakinen, Johanna Piispala, Mika Kallio, Vesa Korhonen, Tapio Seppänen, Vesa Kiviniemi. Advances Science
DOI:10.1002/advs.202503745