Six steps to cognitive health

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So how do you keep your brain healthy, stay cognitively fit, and build your cognitive reserve? It's easier for some people than for others. And though genetics set the stage for your brain health, you can do something to improve your cognitive fitness.

First it is important to remember that you need a healthy body to have a healthy brain. Therefore, ensuring your brain health depends upon regularly seeing your doctor, following her or his recommendations, and managing any health conditions you have.

Get your copy of A Guide to Cognitive Fitness

In this Special Health Report, Harvard Medical School doctors share a six-step program that can yield important and lasting results. Together these “super 6” can strengthen your intellectual prowess, promote your powers of recall, and protect the brain-based skills that are essential for full, rewarding, and independent living. From simple and specific changes in eating to ways to challenge your brain, this is guidance that will pay dividends for you and your future.

The heart of our cognitive fitness program, however, involves lifestyle changes. Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified six cornerstones to any effective brain health and cognitive fitness program. Though we refer to them as "steps," they should all be done together rather than sequentially:

Step 1: Eat a plant-based diet

Step 2: Exercise regularly

Step 3: Get enough sleep

Step 4: Manage your stress

Step 5: Nurture social contacts

Step 6: Continue to challenge your brain

Together, these can yield real results, leading to changes in both your brain's structure and function. But the key word is "together." These factors are equal parts of a cohesive plan—they don't work in isolation. Simply eating more fiber or adding a morning walk to your routine isn't enough to forestall mental decline. Instead, exercise, diet, sleep, stress management, social interaction, and mental stimulation work in concert to yield results.

In this report, we'll show you how to make changes in all of these areas so you can start improving your brain health and cognitive fitness today. Get your copy of A Guide to Cognitive Fitness from Harvard Medical School.

What is cognitive reserve?

An important concept that is crucial to the understanding of cognitive health is known as cognitive reserve. You can think of cognitive reserve as your brain's ability to improvise and find alternate ways of getting a job done. Just like a powerful car that enables you to engage another gear and suddenly accelerate to avoid an obstacle, your brain can change the way it operates and thus make added recourses available to cope with challenges. Cognitive reserve is developed by a lifetime of education and curiosity to help your brain better cope with any failures or declines it faces.

The concept of cognitive reserve originated in the late 1980s, when researchers described individuals with no apparent symptoms of dementia who were nonetheless found at autopsy to have brain changes consistent with advanced Alzheimer's disease. These individuals did not show symptoms of the disease while they were alive because they had a large enough cognitive reserve to offset the damage and continue to function as usual.

Since then, research has shown that people with greater cognitive reserve are better able to stave off the degenerative brain changes associated with dementia or other brain diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, or a stroke. A more robust cognitive reserve can also help you function better for longer if you're exposed to unexpected life events, such as stress, surgery, or toxins in the environment. Such circumstances demand extra effort from your brain—similar to requiring a car to engage another gear. When the brain cannot cope, you can become confused, develop delirium, or show signs of disease. Therefore, an important goal is to build and sustain your cognitive reserve. You can get a rough idea of your cognitive reserve simply by gauging how much your education, work, and other activities have challenged your brain over the years. Our six-step program will help you improve your cognitive reserve.

To learn more about staying mentally sharp and fit, read Cognitive Fitness, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.

A Guide to Cognitive Fitness

Featured content:

•	Cognitive fitness: Your No. 1 health goal
•	How cognitive function is shaped over a lifetime
•	STEP 1: Eat a plant-based diet
•	STEP 2: Exercise regularly
•	STEP 3: Get enough sleep
•	... and more!