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Before we start, let’s do a little poll and self-inventory:
At age 60, which would you prefer?
- A shredded physique
- A sharp mind
At age 60, which would you prefer?
- Be able to fit into your high school jeans
- Be able to remember your family and friends
At age 60, which would you prefer?
- Be 5 pounds lighter
- Be independent for 5 additional years
Now while these questions are quite facetious, I hope my point is somewhat clear. When we get real honest with ourselves, we might have a lot of health goals but some are clearly more important than others.
However, before we are presented with the choices listed above, in the health and fitness space, we mainly focus on the here and now with things like weight loss, physique goals, hormones, strength, etc. and they start to become our main reason for choosing healthy behaviors. For example, people will try to eat more whole foods in hopes to lose a little weight and fit in their jeans better. People will run miles and miles in hopes they can knock a few minutes off their marathon. People will even choke down terrible greens supplements to make sure they hit their micronutrients for better digestion. Yet, if progress (or at least observable progress) is not being made, people often easily get discouraged and will likely quit. Using some of my previous clients as an example, when the scale isn’t moving, when measurements aren’t changing, or even with they don’t think they are getting stronger, they start to question why they even care about sleep, why they care about whole foods, and if any of the lifestyle modifications they are making even matter.
If this describes you or you have at least had thoughts where you wonder what is the point of trying to do all these “healthy” things when in reality it feels more like a burden than an actual benefit, let me just remind you why they matter.
We (you) know there are many benefits of exercising, eating well, sleeping more, and reducing stress, but one benefit I think we should all remind ourselves more about are the benefits for the mind!
First, some facts!
- 57 million people are currently living with dementia worldwide
- 153 million people will be living with dementia by 2050
- 1 in 3 adults die with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia (1)
Even if you aren’t a betting person, these facts highlight we are all at risk. We are all at a heightened probability of dementia. Just within the LVLTN team, if probabilities hold true, 5–6 of us will get dementia at some point. Our minds are slowly getting worse and something needs to be done about that. So, what can we do?
First, it is important to note that genetics do play a role for everyone, plain and simple. Some people might be genetic carriers and already at greater risk. But even for those with increased genetic risk, individuals can either substantially increase risk of dementia (~300%) by choosing unhealthy behaviors or reduce their risk of dementia (~30%) by choosing healthy behaviors (2). So while genetics play a role, lifestyle plays a bigger one.
Moreover, with each added health behavior (e.g., healthy nutrition, better sleep, lower stress, more activity, etc.) individuals can potentially lower risk of Alzheimer's by upwards of 60% (3).
So what can you do, in your lifestyle, that will help your mind?
1) Examine your food choices:
First notice, I did not say examine your macros. We sometimes like to hyper focus on hitting our protein, carbs, and fats but really should focus more on what food we are actually eating to hit those macros.
For example, people who adhered to the MIND diet (i.e., a diet high in whole grains, dark leafy greens, berries, legumes, etc.), reported a 53% reduction in Alzheimer's compared to those who did not adhere (4). Additionally, people who eat more whole grains report a 34% lower risk of dementia and 40% lower risk of Alzheimer's (5). Therefore, go ahead and hit your macros, but hit them with foods that really help.
2) Examine your movement patterns (or lack thereof):
Again, notice that I did not say examine your exercise split or exercise modalities. Those matter for sure but are also not the end all be all. You need to first look at just how much (or how little) you move. When it comes to the mind and brain health, movement matters. Being active matters. In a study of 431,924 individuals, physical activity and sedentary behavior were associated with brain volume (the more active = bigger brains) and dementia risk. Specifically, increased sedentary behavior (or decreased PA) suggested greater dementia risk (6).
3) Examine your sleep:
We all know sleep is good, and based on previous research, getting about 7 hours of sleep per day appears to be the optimal amount of sleep for brain health. However, as with most things, too much of a good thing could end up being a bad thing – which appears to be the case with sleep. In the same study as above, researchers highlighted that sleep had a U-shape relationship meaning as individuals started to sleep too much, risk of dementia began to increase similar to individuals who did not get enough sleep. So just like the Goldilocks Principle, 7 hours of sleep a day is not too little or too much but Just Right!
Now if you made it this far, all of this is a long-winded way of saying eating right, moving more, and sleeping (just not too much) are important…DUH! However, remember that they are important when you are seeing visual progress, but they are also important even when you aren’t. Your brain, as with many other systems, are impacted positively by these healthy behaviors, even if you don’t notice the benefits at this specific.
So, stay the course and keep choosing the healthier even if you don’t think they really matter. Your future self will thank you!!
Ready to start thriving again? Let us help by putting an expert in your corner to get you there faster and maintain that progress for life! Learn more about our online health coaching by clicking here!
REFERENCES
- Alzheimer’s Association. What is Dementia? Available at: www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-isdementia. Accessed November 21, 2024.
- Lourida, I., et al. (2019). Association of lifestyle and genetic risk with incidence of dementia. JAMA, 322(5), 430-437.
- Dhana, K., et al. (2020). Healthy lifestyle and the risk of Alzheimer dementia: Findings from 2 longitudinal studies. Neurology, 95(4), e374-e383.
- Morris, M. C., et al. (2015). MIND diet associated with reduced incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 11(9), 1007-1014.
- Wang, K., et al. (2023). High consumption of whole grain foods decreases the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease: Framingham Offspring Cohort. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 77(3), 141-148.
- Huang, S. Y., et al. (2022). Sleep, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and risk of incident dementia: a prospective cohort study of 431,924 UK Biobank participants. Molecular Psychiatry, 27(10), 4343-4354.
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