Simple ways to keep your mind sharp

While there's no sure-fire way to prevent or cure dementia, research shows that your daily habits can play a powerful role in protecting your brain. From staying active and eating well to getting quality sleep and fostering social connections, small lifestyle changes can help slow cognitive decline and promote mental sharpness.

Exercise

Exercise offers an impressive array of health benefits. Not only does staying physically active help your brain, but it also helps lower your risk of these conditions:

• heart disease
• type 2 diabetes
• high blood pressure
• colon cancer
• breast cancer.

Exercise also helps relieve insomnia, anxiety, and depression. In addition, it may help ward off cognitive decline and dementia.

Some studies have shown that engaging in a program of regular exercise improves cognitive function in people with memory problems. Exercise may be particularly advantageous for people who carry the APOE4 gene variant, which makes people more susceptible to Alzheimer's.

A Mediterranean-style diet

This eating pattern has long been recognized as promoting better cardiovascular health, lowering the risk of certain cancers, and may protect against cognitive decline. A Mediterranean diet also appears to lower the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment and slow the progression to dementia in people who have the condition.

A Mediterranean diet emphasizes:

• fruits
• vegetables
• whole grains
• beans
• nuts and seeds
• olive oil, 
• fish, poultry, and dairy products.

Alcohol

Studies show a link between regular consumption of more than moderate use of alcohol and a 22% higher Alzheimer's risk compared to nondrinkers. For many years, moderate alcohol use has been defined as having no more than seven drinks per week for women and 14 drinks per week for men.

However, many experts are now questioning whether moderate drinking should mean even lower amounts.

Sleep

Our bodies rely on a certain amount of regular sleep for a variety of essential functions, many of them in the brain. Studies have shown that people who regularly sleep less than the recommended seven to eight hours a night score lower on tests of mental function. This may be because learning and memories are consolidated during sleep.

Mental stimulation

Staying mentally active as you age is important to brain health. One study found that mentally intact people in their 70s and 80s who engaged the most with mentally stimulating activities such as reading, writing, crossword puzzles, playing board or card games, engaging in group discussions, or playing music were half as likely to develop mild cognitive impairment as those who reported the least amount of participation.

Social contacts

Research shows that people with strong social ties are less likely to experience cognitive declines than those who are alone.

Social activities require you to engage several important mental processes, including attention and memory, which can bolster cognition. Frequent engagement helps strengthen neural networks, slowing normal age-related declines. It may also help strengthen cognitive reserve, which can delay the onset of dementia.

In addition, having a strong network of people who support and care for you can help lower your stress levels. By contrast, depression, which often goes hand in hand with loneliness, correlates to faster cognitive decline.

To learn more about MCI, review the online guide from Harvard Medical School, Understanding Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Image: © Getty Images