When we talk about aging well, what exactly does that mean? Though “looking good for your age” or “wrinkle-free” may spring to mind, what’s going on inside is what truly matters most. What good is making it into your nineties if you’re battling disease for half your life? In the longevity world, truly aging well means being able to do the things you want to do, right up to the very end with health and vitality. 

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True, there’s no side-stepping the aging process – if we’re lucky enough to wake up every morning we’re aging. But there are a lot of moves we can make today to start slowing it down. One of the most essential areas to focus on? Let’s begin with your grey matter. Start treating it right, right now, and your brain (as well as the rest of you) will reap a lifetime of benefits, very much including slowing the speed of cognitive decline.

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By adopting key lifestyle habits, you can support brain health, improve memory, and enhance mental clarity well into old age, which is, safe to say, what we’re all after. With this in mind, I’m sharing my top ten anti-aging brain tips to help you maintain your cognitive vitality and optimal brain function for years to come, without a brain wrinkle in sight:

1) MOVEMENT: Just keep moving!

To live long and well, being a couch potato isn’t going to cut it. (OK, these days “screen potato” is probably more accurate.) You simply must move – and keep moving. A lot. As frequently as possible. Throughout the day, not just with an end-of-day sprint at the gym. This is probably the most important habit to maintain (yes, it needs to become a habit), to prevent cognitive decline!

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All that physical activity, be it vigorous or moderate, increases blood flow to the brain, supports neurogenesis (the growth of new brain cells), and cuts the risk of cognitive decline enabling your brain to remain more youthful for longer. Aerobic exercise, strength training, and even simply a daily walk or two will help enhance the brain’s plasticity, its ability to change, adapt and even grow, while also reducing the risk of brain health-stealing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

2) RELAXATION: Brains thrive when you unwind with meditation.

Got stress? Kick it to the curb. Do everything possible to cut it down to size. The longer you let it run wild, the more damage stress will do to your brain and the faster it will age. We all know that chronic stress does nothing good for your body but it’s especially bad news for brains as it accelerates brain aging by increasing inflammation and damaging neurons.

To combat chronic stress, put the basics top of mind: think, daily meditation sessions (even just 5 or 10 minutes will do); deep breathing (I’m a big fan of abdominal breathing), and mindfulness practices. It all helps regulate stress hormones like cortisol and promote brain resilience. And when it comes to meditation, studies show that a regular practice increases gray matter and strengthens the neural connections involved with memory and focus, no matter your age. Studies also indicate that meditation may slow or even reverse age-related brain degeneration, so show your brain some TLC and don’t put off meditation a moment longer!

3) SLEEP: Snooze your way to a younger brain.

A well-rested body is one thing, but a well-rested brain, that’s the gold standard when it comes to slowing brain aging. I simply cannot overstate the importance of consistent, high-quality sleep for healthy cognitive function, particularly over the long haul. During sleep, the brain is busy working on refreshing, recycling and repairing your brain cells and clearing out the cellular garbage, including those concerning beta-amyloid plaques linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Aim for 7-9 hours of restful, high-quality sleep per night, prioritize a consistent sleep schedule and try these 20 sleep tips to do sleep right.

4) DIET: The right diet keeps your brain young.

A low or no-sugar and ultra-processed food diet, that’s nutrient dense and junk-free, is a relatively simple prescription. It’s also an absolutely critical one when slowing brain aging is top of mind. Just by focusing on whole foods, healthy fats, antioxidants, and fiber, you’re supporting healthy brain function while also taming inflammation, now and down the road. The goal is to never miss an opportunity to nourish the brain, so lean into essentials like leafy greens, berries, fatty fish, nuts, and seeds, and branch out from there.

As for your brain-health nemesis, sugar? Ditch it. Your brain will age a lot more slowly without it. Unfortunately, the sweet stuff leads to insulin resistance, which is pretty closely linked to cognitive decline and dementia. Even a short bout of indulgence in sugary snacks has been shown to cause lingering brain activity changes.

5) TIMING: Well-aging brains love Intermittent fasting and calorie restriction.

Time restricted eating, also known as intermittent fasting, offers numerous benefits for metabolism, heart health and longevity  in general. But what you may not realize is that also contributes to keeping your brain in good shape. It stimulates autophagy, the process that clears damaged cells and toxic waste products from your brain (mostly while you’re sleeping). By fasting about 16 hours daily, that is, shoehorning your eating into an 8-hour window, this practice also enhances mitochondrial function and reduces oxidative stress, both of which play an important role in brain aging – and how well you do it.

Another way to stimulate autophagy? Calorie restriction. Researchers from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging found that calorie restriction enhances the activity of a specific gene crucial for healthy brain aging. 

6) CONNECTION: Brains thrive on social connection.

Here too, a simple but effective strategy for slowing brain aging is: stay social. Staying engaged with actual people and making a point of having regular interactions with family and friends, actually helps protect brains against cognitive decline and dementia.

Though the actual mechanisms are far more complex, you could think of social connection as the oil that greases the mental wheels and helps keep rust at bay. When you engage in conversation and other social activities, you’re stimulating the brain, reducing stress, and enhancing emotional well-being, all of which, you guessed it, helps keep brains happy, healthy and youthful.

7) STIMULATION: Expand your mind with mental workouts.

When it comes to slowing brain aging, use it, don’t lose it. Keep it engaged with activities like reading, doing puzzles (offline and screen-free please!), learning new skills or languages, playing musical instruments, etc. Consider these workouts for your brain that help strengthen neural pathways and even help generate new ones. This kind of engagement builds up a “cognitive reserve,” a buffer against future age-related brain cell loss and age-related cognitive decline.

8) RED LIGHT THERAPY: With or without Methylene Blue.

Red light therapy, particularly near-infrared light, is excellent for slowing down brain aging. It works by penetrating the skull and stimulating the mitochondria. This enhances cellular energy production and cellular function, while reducing oxidative stress. It’s thought to encourage better cognitive performance by enhancing blood flow to the brain which, in turn, helps protect against neurological damage and cognitive decline associated with aging. Red light therapy has also been shown to reduce inflammation and support neuroprotection, so treat yourself to this pleasant and potentially brain-saving treatment.

And for a therapeutic one-two punch you can add methylene blue to the red light treatments. The benefits of the two therapies come together beautifully in the brain as they are both about promoting cellular energy production. We’re seeing encouraging evidence, and plenty of positive feedback, that the two therapies, individually and even more so in combo, can improve mental focus and memory, as well as lift mood.

9) HORMONES: Get them in line to slow your brain-aging speed.

Feeling your age with more than a bit of brain fog? Your hormones may be getting in the way. While we often overlook them (and doctors often don’t think to ask), hormonal imbalances, particularly involving testosterone, estradiol, thyroid and growth hormones, can negatively impact cognitive function both now and later. Don’t let ‘em! Regular testing and optimization of hormone levels through diet, lifestyle, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT), can help keep brain function high and mental sharpness intact for as long as possible.

10) SUPPLEMENTATION

A healthy, youthful brain is one that’s well fed and cared for, but it doesn’t stop there. Adding a few well-tolerated, tried-and-true supplements have been shown to support brain health and slow cognitive decline – so we’re all for adding them to the mix. There are many supplements touted to help brain function, but here are my top 10 brain-aging fighters:

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1. ‘Fish Oil’ or Omega-3 fatty acids (DHA & EPA) – higher levels in the blood are associated with lowered dementia risk and are essential for brain cell integrity and anti-inflammatory effects.
2. Ketones - serve as an alternative energy source for the brain, helping to improve mental clarity and cognition, and protect against neurodegenerative diseases.
3. Methylated B Vitamins -- especially in combination with omega-3s are considered to be the dynamic duo against dementia, whose superpower is stopping the brain shrinkage that’s a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.
4. Choline -- – inadequate choline levels are linked with profound changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease, so be sure to get enough, either straight from your morning egg yolks or taken as a supplement.
5. Creatine – it’s showing promise improving cognitive processing, reasoning abilities and short-term memory and reducing mental fatigue, as well as protecting against neurodegenerative diseases.
6. Lion’s Mane – its ability to stimulate nerve growth factor in the brain, which in turn pumps up the production of a number of anti-brain-aging neurochemicals. 
7. Tudca – recent research suggests that it may help protect neurons from damage and assist with clearing toxins from the brain, contributing to healthy function and a slower aging brain.
8. Taurine – is neuroprotective by slowing the decline of neurotransmitters associated with aging, and some research suggests that it may enhance cognitive function and improve memory.  
9. Methylene Blue (MB) - helps boost mitochondrial function and energy levels – making it particularly promising as an anti-aging  ‘nootropic’ or enhancing cognitive function enhancer.‍
10. Plasmalogens – have been shown to help improve memory function by regulating neurogenesis, the process by which new neurons are formed in the brain.