Boost Your Brain Power
It's Not Too Late, You Can Boost Your Brainpower at Any Age.
Memory-building games, superfoods, supplements. What really
works to preserve—and even enhance—your thinking skills.
Updated May 5, 2022
By Hallie Levine
Here are a few snippets from the full article:
Beating Brain Fog
We’ve been hearing a lot lately about “brain fog,” which can manifest in fuzzy thinking and poor focus. While brain fog can be caused by anything from a sluggish thyroid to a vitamin B12 shortfall, it may also occur with and after recovery from COVID-19.
In one study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, of 740 people who’d recovered from COVID-19 an average of 7.6 months earlier, a quarter of the study volunteers reported that they had experienced memory issues, while another 18 percent said they had trouble processing information. In addition, 16 percent struggled with executive function, which is related to skills like organization and self-control.
Do you suspect your cognitive fogginess is related to coronavirus? Ask your doctor about an appointment for a neuropsychological evaluation at a post-COVID-19 recovery clinic. You may be an appropriate candidate for cognitive rehabilitation therapy, which works to improve your memory, attention processing, and problem-solving.
Keeping our brains and memories sharp is certainly on our minds these days. In fact, 34 percent of Americans say they’ve noticed signs of forgetfulness significant enough to worry them, in a March Consumer Reports nationally representative survey of 2,116 adults.
It’s true that the numbers of those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which robs sufferers of cognition, are predicted to keep climbing. And we’ve yet to find a cure. In fact, aducanumab (Aduhelm), the first new Alzheimer’s drug to be approved in almost two decades, may offer little benefit, according to a number of experts.
But evidence is piling up that lifestyle steps may reduce brain disease risks and help us maintain cognitive strength. A major 2020 report in The Lancet suggests that 12 factors within our control—including smoking, poor fitness, and obesity—are responsible for up to 40 percent of dementia cases.
We’re also seeing the potential in personalized prevention for those at higher risk for poor brain health. Take one study published in 2019, where researchers tailored risk reduction advice to volunteers’ cognitive test results, weight, and levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar.
After 18 months, most of the 174 participants—all with a family history of Alzheimer’s—had improved on thinking and memory evaluations.
For those who had followed recommendations closely, “results were quite stunning,” says study co-author Lisa Mosconi, PhD, director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. More research is needed, but “our findings make clear that it’s never too late to make key lifestyle changes, and see brain benefits,” Mosconi says. And because issues like high blood pressure are now known to have negative effects on thinking many years later, it may never be too early to focus on brain health, either. What follows are some strategies to consider.