5 ways to improve your brain health every day

TAKING CARE OF YOUR COGNItive health ought to be-well, a no-brainer. According to a survey published in March, 87% of Americans are concerned about age-related memory loss and a decline in brain function as they grow older, yet only 32% believe they can take action to help control that trajectory.

- ANGELA HAUPT

"All of us want to be cognitively intact for as long as possible," says Dr. Seemant Chaturvedi, a neurologist and stroke specialist at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The good news, he adds, is that "there are definitely risk factors that can be modified." Changing our lifestyle habits can go a long way: drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, for example, can damage the parts of the brain involved in important functions like memory, decision-making, impulse control, and attention. Smoking is similarly perilous. It can lead to cognitive decline and dementia, while increasing the risk of stroke.

Prioritizing healthy behaviors like exercising and eating a nutritious diet can increase the likelihood that when we reach our 70s and 80s, we're still able to summon important memories, drive a car, and engage in a wide variety of activities, Chaturvedi says. And there's no such thing as "too young" to start taking these steps. "Even if you're in your 20s, what you're doing now will help you maintain brain health later in life," he says.

With that in mind, we asked four neurologists what we should all do every day for better brain health.

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