Neurofrontiers

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Here at Neurofrontiers we spend quite a bit of time talking about what doesn’t work or what’s harmful for our brains, in an attempt to give people the tools they need to critically evaluate the deluge of neurohacks, neurocures, and other “neuro-fancy” stuff. While important, this approach has the side effect of pulling us into the negative (after all, our brains love to pay attention to negatives), and it begs the question: “is there anything that actually works?”.

Of course there is, and today we’ll break the pattern and talk about it. Fair warning: you won’t like it. In fact, I’m quite certain you’ll roll your eyes and close the tab as soon as you’re done reading this paragraph. Because for healthy people, what works in maintaining brain health aren’t fancy devices, pills, or other gimmicks. It’s good old-fashioned work: exercise, education, stress reduction, healthy diet, social interaction, and sleep.

Important to remember

If you’re still here, I’m proud of you. Now, the six things mentioned above are complex topics themselves and I’ll only briefly discuss each of them below. If you want an in-depth exploration for any of them, do let me know in the comments. But before we jump into why and how they’re beneficial, I want you to remember two key points: a little is better than nothing and hyper-optimization is the enemy of execution.

Related concepts, but not quite the same. What I mean through the first one is: you might think “I can’t do a one-hour workout, so what’s the point?” So you do nothing. Or “I’ve already had a drink today, might as well have five more.” You get the gist. We tend to fall into the “all-or-nothing” trap. Yes, a one-hour workout is great, but if you’ve not moved at all the whole day, even 10 minutes of walking around the block is good for your health. Yes, not drinking any alcohol ever is great for your brain, but having only one drink is better than having five drinks (at least for your physical health). A little is better than nothing.

Then there’s the trap of hyper-optimization or perfection. Again, you might think: “I want to start working out, but…I have to find the best workout there is.” So you go online and you start researching. “Should I do cardio or strength? Two or three times a week? Do I need to buy new sports shoes? Which shoes support me the best?” And on and on it goes. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and a place for optimizing, but especially in the beginning, this type of overthinking has a good chance to paralyze you before you even start. Hyper-optimization is the enemy of execution. Perfect is the enemy of done.

With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at the six ingredients of a healthy brain from above.

Exercise

First on the list, exercise. Its link to health, including brain health, is already well-established in the scientific literature. Granted, scientists don’t know yet all the ins and outs of the mechanisms that make exercise so good for the brain. There is also a lot of work to be done on the optimization front, in terms of what exercise is best for what group. But the most important aspect here is that any exercise is better than no exercise.

Working out improves processing speed, learning capacity, and memory. It tends to decrease depressive symptoms and improve mood. And it has indirect effects on brain health by helping with stress reduction, potentially being a social activity, helping you make healthier food choices, and improving sleep. All of these make exercise an excellent entry point if you want to “boost your brain”. And no, exercise doesn’t have to be a punishment. If you hate lifting weights at the gym or running, don’t do that. Find a type of exercise that you enjoy doing and it’ll be much easier to keep at it.

Education

Next up, education. No, you don’t need to get a PhD (although the number of years spent in school correlates with a lower risk of dementia, but that might be because you start off with higher cognitive resources). Generally speaking, any active learning helps, be it learning a new language or a new skill. That’s because, as you learn, the brain forms new connections between neurons to help you store that information. And in some cases, it even makes new neurons in a region of the brain associated with memory, called the hippocampus.

Stress reduction

To be honest, the word “stress” alone is enough to grind my gears, as it conjures up images of endless listicles and useless advice about bubble baths and “doing something nice for yourself”. However, in its broadest sense, stress refers to any stimulus that disrupts homeostasis or stability. That means not all stress is bad and a moderate amount of stress is beneficial for growth and development.

Unfortunately, chronic psychological stress does have negative effects: it changes the structure of the brain (not surprising, since the brain changes to deal with the stimuli given to it), it impairs cognitive function, and it leads to worse mental health. Still, stressing about being stressed only adds unnecessary fuel to the fire. So my only advice on the topic is to be realistic about how much mental stress you can eliminate from your life. If that amount is zero for now, at least don’t add to it the stress of stressing about being stressed.

Physical stressors can also be less than ideal. Here, I’m referring to things like pollutants, cigarettes, alcohol, and other harmful substances that lead to a stress response in the body. There is strong evidence that none of these are good for the brain, so if you want to protect your brain health, reduce them as much as possible. Again, eliminating all of them is pretty much impossible, but a little is better than nothing.

Healthy diet

Effects of food on the brain are still a topic of very active research, as well as an area rife with misinformation. It feels like every other day there’s a new diet that claims to boost brain power. As with the other things, I wouldn’t recommend that you nitpick about it. But there is something that cuts through the noise: less ultraprocessed foods, more fruits and vegetables.

Social interaction

I can hear the simultaneous groans of 10.000 introverts, but yes, social interaction and social connections are important for maintaining brain health. Poor social engagement appears to be associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and social isolation during the pandemic has been linked to lower cognitive function. No, it doesn’t mean you need to suddenly start loving chit-chat, but regularly engaging in meaningful interactions is good for your brain.

Sleep

Finally, we’ve come to the topic of sleep. Similar to exercise, the details of sleep function and the mechanisms of what it does for the brain still need to be worked out. Yet there’s no doubt sleep is crucial for proper brain function. You don’t even need research to tell you that, you can figure it out yourself if you try to form a coherent thought after a sleepless night.

Now, I’ve intentionally left this at the end because I’ve noticed the following: some people (me included) will have periods in their lives when they sit in front of a computer for 12 hours a day, eat two Red Bulls and a bag of chips, doomscroll themselves to sleep, naturally freak out that they can’t sleep, and draw the conclusion that lack of sleep is the main issue, then spend all their energy (and lots of money) on fixing, inducing, optimizing sleep and be completely flabbergasted when that fails.

But if you’ve been paying attention so far, you’ll have noticed sleep doesn’t exist independently of the rest of your life, and in fact, good sleep tends to follow as a consequence of other good habits. Yes, it takes longer, and I understand the desperation when you just can’t sleep and there’s nothing else in your life you can fix right now (been there, done that). So if you need short-term solutions, go for them, but don’t forget that sleep tends to fall in line after everything else.

Final words

I cannot emphasize how important it is to remember that none of the factors outlined above aren’t all-or-nothing. Do what you can, as often as you can, and it will be better for your brain than jack-all.

And finally, if you have a medical condition: improvements in these areas might help, but depending on your individual circumstances, not all of them are achievable (or even recommended) and they’re definitely not a replacement for professional medical help.

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