Lifestyle Effects on Memory & Cognition

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How hard your brain works depends on the season

A small study shows that it's not only daily biological rhythms that affect brain activity, but longer seasonal ones also.

A sleep study involving 28 participants had them follow a controlled sleep/wake schedule for three weeks before staying in a sleep laboratory for 4.5 days, during which time they experienced a cycle of sleep deprivation and recovery in the absence of seasonal cues such as natural light, time inf

Mediterranean diet reduces brain shrinkage in old age

The Mediterranean diet is the diet most associated with cognitive and health benefits in older adults.
A new study has found larger brain volumes among those following this sort of diet, equivalent to that of brains five years younger.
Much of this was associated with two components of the diet in particular: eating fish regularly, and eating less meat.

Another study adds to the growing evidence that a Mediterranean diet is good for the aging brain.

Physical activity linked to greater mental flexibility in older adults

A correlation has been found between physical activity in healthy older adults and more variable resting-state brain activity.
More variable resting-state activity in older adults has previously been linked to better cognition.
No such correlation was found between cardiorespiratory fitness and resting-state brain activity.
The finding supports previous evidence linking higher levels of physical activity in old age with better cognition and brain health.

A study involving 100 healthy older adults (aged 60-80) has found that those with higher levels of physical activity showed more variable spontaneous brain activity in certain brain regions (including the

No benefit in omega-3 supplements for cognitive decline

A large study of older adults with age-related macular degeneration found no cognitive benefit from taking omega-3 supplements, or supplements of lutein and zeaxanthin.

A large, five-year study challenges the idea that omega-3 fatty acids can slow age-related cognitive decline.

Limited benefit of physical activity for preventing cognitive decline

A large study of older adults (70+) found no cognitive benefit from a regular exercise program, compared to another social & mental intervention.
However, a subset of participants (those over 80, and those with poor physical function at the beginning of the study) did show improvement in executive function.
Participants in both programs showed no cognitive decline over the two-year period, suggesting both interventions were helpful.

A large, two-year study challenges the evidence that regular exercise helps prevent age-related cognitive decline.

Sleeping on your side best for clearing waste from brain

Waste products accumulate as the brain functions.
The process of clearing this waste is most effective during sleep.
Accumulation of waste products such as amyloid-beta and tau proteins are involved in Alzheimer's.
Rat study shows sleeping on your side is best for removing waste from the brain.

This sounds like pseudoscience, but it appears in Journal of Neuroscience, so … Weirdly, a rat study has found that sleeping on the side (the most common posture for humans and other animals) is the best position for efficiently removing waste from the brain.

Midlife high blood pressure may impact the brain years later

Blood pressure data from 378 participants in the Framingham Heart Study has revealed that those who had high systolic blood pressure when they were 50-60 years old scored worse on a

Aerobic exercise improves cognition in healthy older adults

A six-month pilot study involving 101 healthy older adults (65+), who were randomly put into one of three exercise interventions or a no-change control, has found that the exercise groups all showed significant improvement in visual-spatial processing and attention, with more improvement in visu

Diabetes & cognitive impairment

A review and a large study have recently added to the growing evidence that type 2 diabetes is not only a risk factor for Alzheimer's, but is also linked to poorer cognitive function and faster age-related cognitive decline.

Physical fitness crucial for fighting age-related cognitive decline

Three recent studies point to the importance of cardiorespiratory fitness for older adults wanting to prevent cognitive decline.