A good night’s sleep isn’t just about the number of hours you log. Getting quality sleep — the kind that leaves you feeling refreshed and ready for the day — is critical for a healthy brain. People with disturbed sleep, like insomnia or sleep apnea, have a higher risk of developing dementia than those with…
The human brain is so complex that scientific brains have a hard time making sense of it. A piece of neural tissue the size of a grain of sand might be packed with hundreds of thousands of cells linked together by miles of wiring. In 1979, Francis Crick, the Nobel-prize-winning scientist, concluded that the anatomy…
Dear readers, I have a confession: I am suffering from an ailment that the younger ones call “brain rot,” the inability to think deeply after too much scrolling on my phone. These days, it’s tough to even finish a book. Plenty of people have this problem. So many, it has birthed a category of minimalist…
Small tweaks to your daily routine can go a long way toward protecting your body’s control center and preventing cognitive decline down the road. In fact, scientists believe that as many as 45 percent of dementia cases could be delayed or prevented with help from some simple, sometimes surprising, changes in behavior. It’s never too…
For the millions of Americans who retire each year, stopping work might seem like a well-deserved break. But it can also precipitate big changes in brain health, including an increased risk of cognitive decline and depression. Before retiring, you’re getting up in the morning, socializing with co-workers and dealing with the mental challenges of your…
Q: I’ve heard that keeping my brain active, with word games, crossword puzzles, reading and other activities, will help prevent memory loss as I get older. Is that true? Are some activities better than others? When Jennifer O’Brien, a psychologist who studies Alzheimer’s disease prevention at the University of South Florida, gives public lectures, she…
Five years — and hundreds of millions of cases — after the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists are getting a clearer picture of how the virus can affect the body long after an infection seems to pass. Some of Covid’s effects became apparent soon after the virus began spreading. We quickly understood…
Women’s brains are superior to men’s in at least in one respect — they age more slowly. And now, a group of researchers reports that they have found a gene in mice that rejuvenates female brains. Humans have the same gene. The discovery suggests a possible way to help both women and men avoid cognitive…
