School of Biomedical Sciences. CIUSSS Montreal West Island. CIUSSS West-Central Montreal. Thanks to the Weston Family Foundation, the CLSA will employ MRI imaging and microbiome analyses to investigate cognitive aging As a proud partner of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging CLSA , the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre RI-MUHC is happy to embark on the Healthy Brains, Healthy Aging Initiative , to shed light on the many factors that influence brain health as we age, including lifestyle and the human microbiome.

About the Healthy Brains, Healthy Aging Initiative The Healthy Brains, Healthy Aging Initiative is a six-year study, funded by the Weston Family Foundation, that will create new datasets to enhance the CLSA database and facilitate independent research into the link between lifestyle, the human microbiome, and brain health.

About the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging CLSA is a large, national research platform on health and aging allowing researchers to answer critical questions on the biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle and economic aspects of aging, disability and disease.

You might also enjoy Load more. Health e-News A publication of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Help avoid hits to the head by wearing a seatbelt in the car. To keep from falling, be careful with your footing on ladders, on uneven ground or when you're in an unfamiliar area.

Help prevent falls at home by removing clutter from stairs and hallways. Keep stairways well lit. Make sure all carpets and rugs are firmly attached to the floor so that they don't slip. Some medical conditions can raise the risk of developing problems with thinking and memory.

They also may raise the risk of having a stroke, which can damage blood vessels in the brain. Among the most common of these conditions are diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. If you have ongoing medical concerns, follow your healthcare professional's directions on how best to treat and control them.

If you don't have these conditions, ask your healthcare team what you can do to prevent them. If you're on the fence about whether to go out with friends or invite loved ones over, do it.

Being social helps ward off depression and stress. Both can make memory loss worse. Social isolation and loneliness also have been linked to a higher risk of a decline in thinking skills and Alzheimer's disease.

Sleep is the human equivalent of plugging in your phone to charge. A good night's sleep helps improve brain function and memory, keeps you alert and makes it easier to do daily tasks. Rest also eases stress and depression. Make getting enough healthy sleep a priority.

Adults should sleep 7 to 9 hours a night. If snoring disrupts sleep, make an appointment with your healthcare professional.

Snoring could be a sign of a sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea. Conditions that disturb sleep may raise the risk for a decline in thinking skills and dementia. Research has found that eating a healthy diet may play a role in preventing or delaying symptoms of dementia.

In particular, the MIND diet can be a valuable tool for brain health. MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. This diet of brain healthy foods gives your brain fuel to help improve mental focus and slow decline in thinking skills. The MIND diet focuses on plant-based foods.

It includes plenty of leafy greens and other vegetables, berries, nuts, whole grains, poultry and fish. It limits foods like butter, cheese, red meat and sweets. Just as physical activity keeps your body in shape, activities that engage your mind can keep your brain in shape. And those activities may help improve brain function and memory.

Do crossword puzzles. Play games. Learn to play a musical instrument. Try a new hobby. Volunteer at a local school or with a community group. Drugs and alcohol can affect how brain cells communicate with one another. They also can have an effect on your brain's ability to react, plan, solve problems and control impulses.

Follow the directions on medicines carefully. That includes medicines that you get without a prescription. If you choose to drink alcohol, do so in moderation.

For healthy adults that means up to one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men. Drinking too much raises your risk of a fall and can cause memory problems. It also can make worse some medical conditions that affect the brain, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic Press.

This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. It can help you:. In one study, exercise stimulated the human brain's ability to maintain old network connections and make new ones that are vital to cognitive health.

Other studies have shown that exercise increases the size of a brain structure important to memory and learning, resulting in better spatial memory.

Aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking, is thought to be more beneficial to cognitive health than nonaerobic stretching and toning exercise. Federal guidelines recommend that all adults get at least minutes 2.

Walking is a good start. You can also join programs that teach you to move safely and prevent falls, which can lead to brain and other injuries.

Check with your health care provider if you haven't been active and want to start a vigorous exercise program. Being intellectually engaged may benefit the brain. People who engage in personally meaningful activities , such as volunteering or hobbies, say they feel happier and healthier.

Learning new skills may improve your thinking ability, too. For example, one study found that older adults who learned quilting or digital photography had more memory improvement than those who only socialized or did less cognitively demanding activities. Some of the research on engagement in activities such as music, theater, dance, and creative writing has shown promise for improving quality of life and well-being in older adults, from better memory and self-esteem to reduced stress and increased social interaction.

However, a recent, comprehensive report reviewing the design and findings of these and other studies did not find strong evidence that these types of activities have a lasting, beneficial effect on cognition. Additional research is needed, and in large numbers of diverse older adults, to be able to say definitively whether these activities may help reduce decline or maintain healthy cognition.

Lots of activities can keep your mind active. For example, read books and magazines. Play games. Take or teach a class. Learn a new skill or hobby. Work or volunteer.

These types of mentally stimulating activities have not been proven to prevent serious cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease , but they can be fun! Some scientists have argued that such activities may protect the brain by establishing "cognitive reserve.

Some types of cognitive training conducted in a research setting also seem to have benefits. For the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly ACTIVE trial , healthy adults 65 and older participated in 10 sessions of memory training, reasoning training, or processing-speed training.

The sessions improved participants' mental skills in the area in which they were trained with evidence suggesting these benefits persisted for two years.

Be wary of claims that playing certain computer and online games can improve your memory and other types of thinking as evidence to back up such claims is evolving.

There is currently not enough evidence available to suggest that computer-based brain training applications offered commercially have the same impact on cognitive abilities as the ACTIVE study training.

NIA and other organizations are supporting research to determine whether different types of cognitive training have lasting effects.

For more information, see Participating in Activities You Enjoy. Connecting with other people through social activities and community programs can keep your brain active and help you feel less isolated and more engaged with the world around you.

Participating in social activities may lower the risk for some health problems and improve well-being. People who engage in personally meaningful and productive activities with others tend to live longer, boost their mood, and have a sense of purpose. Studies show that these activities seem to help maintain their well-being and may improve their cognitive function.

So, visit with family and friends. Consider volunteering for a local organization or join a group focused on a hobby you enjoy. Join a walking group with other older adults.

Check out programs available through your Area Agency on Aging , senior center, or other community organizations. Increasingly, there are groups that meet online too, providing a way to connect from home with others who share your interests or to get support.

We don't know for sure yet if any of these actions can prevent or delay Alzheimer's and age-related cognitive decline.

The resulting standardized datasets will be available for use by approved public-sector researchers in Canada and internationally. The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging CLSA is a large, national research platform on health and aging allowing researchers to answer critical questions on the biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle and economic aspects of aging, disability and disease.

The CLSA follows 51, men and women, who were aged 45 to 85 at recruitment, for 20 years. The aim of the CLSA is to find ways to help us live long and live well, and to understand why some people age in healthy fashion while others do not.

The addition of brain imaging and gut microbiome assessments to the CLSA will provide researchers in Canada and around the world with critical data to better understand the basis of successful cognitive aging.

Home News News The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging targets brain health. The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging targets brain health.

November 25th, News Research. Thanks to the Weston Family Foundation, the CLSA will resort to MRI imaging and microbiome analyses to investigate cognitive aging As a proud partner of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging CLSA , the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre RI-MUHC is happy to embark on the Healthy Brains, Healthy Aging Initiative, to shed light on the many factors that influence brain health as we age, including lifestyle and the human microbiome.

About the Healthy Brains, Healthy Aging Initiative The Healthy Brains, Healthy Aging Initiative is a six-year study, funded by the Weston Family Foundation, that will create new datasets to enhance the CLSA database and facilitate independent research into the link between lifestyle, the human microbiome, and brain health.

About the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging CLSA is a large, national research platform on health and aging allowing researchers to answer critical questions on the biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle and economic aspects of aging, disability and disease.

Research suggests that exercise may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. For most healthy adults, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity, such as brisk walking.

Or it recommends 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity, such as jogging. It's best to spread this activity throughout the week. If you don't have time for a full workout, try a few minute walks during the day.

A brain injury can have a significant long-term impact on a person's life. Brain injuries can affect thinking, memory, coordination, speech and emotions. To protect your brain, always wear a helmet when doing an activity where there's a risk of head injuries.

Examples include biking, skiing, riding a horse or when using a motorcycle, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle. Other common causes of head injuries include car accidents and falls. Help avoid hits to the head by wearing a seatbelt in the car. To keep from falling, be careful with your footing on ladders, on uneven ground or when you're in an unfamiliar area.

Help prevent falls at home by removing clutter from stairs and hallways. Keep stairways well lit. Make sure all carpets and rugs are firmly attached to the floor so that they don't slip.

Some medical conditions can raise the risk of developing problems with thinking and memory. They also may raise the risk of having a stroke, which can damage blood vessels in the brain. Among the most common of these conditions are diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

If you have ongoing medical concerns, follow your healthcare professional's directions on how best to treat and control them. If you don't have these conditions, ask your healthcare team what you can do to prevent them. If you're on the fence about whether to go out with friends or invite loved ones over, do it.

Being social helps ward off depression and stress. Both can make memory loss worse. Social isolation and loneliness also have been linked to a higher risk of a decline in thinking skills and Alzheimer's disease.

Sleep is the human equivalent of plugging in your phone to charge. A good night's sleep helps improve brain function and memory, keeps you alert and makes it easier to do daily tasks. Rest also eases stress and depression. Make getting enough healthy sleep a priority.

Adults should sleep 7 to 9 hours a night. If snoring disrupts sleep, make an appointment with your healthcare professional. Snoring could be a sign of a sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea.

Conditions that disturb sleep may raise the risk for a decline in thinking skills and dementia. Research has found that eating a healthy diet may play a role in preventing or delaying symptoms of dementia. In particular, the MIND diet can be a valuable tool for brain health.

MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. This diet of brain healthy foods gives your brain fuel to help improve mental focus and slow decline in thinking skills. The MIND diet focuses on plant-based foods.

It includes plenty of leafy greens and other vegetables, berries, nuts, whole grains, poultry and fish. It limits foods like butter, cheese, red meat and sweets. Just as physical activity keeps your body in shape, activities that engage your mind can keep your brain in shape.

And those activities may help improve brain function and memory. Do crossword puzzles. Play games. Learn to play a musical instrument.

Try a new hobby. Volunteer at a local school or with a community group. Drugs and alcohol can affect how brain cells communicate with one another.

They also can have an effect on your brain's ability to react, plan, solve problems and control impulses. Follow the directions on medicines carefully. That includes medicines that you get without a prescription.

If you choose to drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For healthy adults that means up to one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men. Drinking too much raises your risk of a fall and can cause memory problems. It also can make worse some medical conditions that affect the brain, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic Press.

This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. Appointments at Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic offers appointments in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota and at Mayo Clinic Health System locations. Request Appointment. Healthy Lifestyle Healthy aging.

Sections Basics Healthy aging: Beyond 50 Healthy retirement Aging in place In-Depth Expert Answers Multimedia Resources News From Mayo Clinic. Products and services. Show references Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Department of Health and Human Services. Accessed Sept. Watson NF, et al.

Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: A joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society.

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Sleep apnea. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. What do we know about diet and prevention of Alzheimer's disease?