A study of nearly 2,000 adults found that reading, writing, learning languages, and puzzles delayed Alzheimer's onset by five years. TJ Walker explains cognitive reserve, the brain's ability to compensate for damage, and shares his own habits: daily drawing, poetry, Wordle, dancing. Combine mental challenge with exercise, diet, sleep, and social time.
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Keeping your brain sharp. Scientists say keeping your brain active may help delay cognitive decline, but the key is variety. New research tracking nearly 2,000 adults for 8 years found that people who regularly engage in intellectually stimulating activities— reading, writing, learning languages, playing chess, or visiting museums— had a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and slower cognitive decline. Participants with the most lifelong learning developed Alzheimer's about 5 years later than those with the least mental stimulation. Researchers say these activities build what's known as cognitive reserve, strengthening neural connections that allow the brain to compensate for damage from aging or disease. Experts stress there is no guaranteed way to prevent dementia, but combining mental challenges, physical exercise, and healthy lifestyle habits may help keep the brain resilient over time. Now, this is not shocking news to anyone who follows personal development, but it's yet again more evidence. Again, it's tracked 2,000 adults for 8 years. So again, I don't waste your time with some study done on 5 undergraduates by an associate professor at a local community college, not that they can't do good work from time to time,. But I do feel much more comfortable sharing with you stuff that's done by serious scientists at scale. And 2,000 people over 8 years seems pretty significant. So how do you stretch your brain regularly? The problem I find with so many people, even if they're well-educated from elite universities, is it's so easy to retreat in this. Again, for those of you listening on the podcast, I'm just staring at my phone, looking at social media, where everything is confirming my worldview. That's the problem so many of us face. It's passive, it's sedentary. Now, I don't have the magic guaranteeing you'll never get Alzheimer's or dementia, but I do like the odds of keeping it away for 5 years. I hope I never get it. I have had grandparents and others who did, thankfully not until seemingly their late 80s or 90s, but I'm sure early 90s, but I'm sure they would've loved an extra 5 years. How do you do it? It's not by just watching the same old shows or watching the same old YouTube channels, unless of course it's this one. I hope this one keeps you lively and active, but even this one, I'm just being facetious. Expand your horizons. Do different things that test you, even if it seems silly or goofy or takes you out of your comfort zone. I am not a good artist. I'm not a good drawer.. But I do a drawing every single day. Why do I do that? It's just something that sends a little zap to my brain reminding me, hey, TJ, you can create. It's not going to be anything that gets into a museum, but it's exercising a different part of my brain. Every single day I write poetry. Here, you want to hear some? Oh, I'm not going to share with you. It'd be embarrassing. It's awful. Just a little rhyme, sometimes a haiku, but I do it every single day to stimulate a different part of my brain. I urge you to do the same thing. Every day I play Wordle and Strands on the New York Times for a couple of reasons. It stimulates the brain in a slightly different way, and it's something I do with my daughter each day. It's a tradition in our household. So I'm urging you, don't do the exact same things I do, but do something. According to Dr. Ronald Petersen at the Mayo Clinic, Lifestyle change may help slow down the arc of deterioration. That's a depressing phrase, kind of a sad phrase, but it does kind of accurately talk about what does happen to human beings. I hope it's not happening to you yet. I still feel great, but if I'm honest with myself, there's some deterioration. It used to be very easy for me to stay up till 2:00 AM if I wanted to socialize with friends, do fun things, have a big night out on the town. These days, that would ruin me for the next week. I got to be in bed by 9:00 at night. Now, I don't feel like that diminishes my life, but if I'm honest, it's some form of deterioration. It's happening to all of us. Now, you might be 18 years old thinking, well, that's a long way off. It's never too soon to start healthy habits. And one of the healthiest habits you can ever develop is to simply do new things, try new things, learn new things. Don't just get stuck doing the same old thing, watching the same old stuff. Worst of all, of course, being sedentary. I know a couple of years ago, my wife and I took a ballroom dancing class. Now, do I love ballroom dancing? Can I tell you I got so hooked, we now do it 3 hours a night every week? No, haven't done it since. But I'm glad I did it because it really forces the brain to learn in new and different ways, unique ways. And it kind of did something a little different in my brain. And I'm glad I tried it. I went to a square dance a couple of months ago. Again, I'm not the best square dancer. I square danced as a kid growing up in the South. But is this something I have to do forever? No. But one evening event, it was fine. I didn't just say, well, that's not for me. Let's stay home and watch the same old shows. No, try new thing. It's one reason why I create personal development courses in many, many different areas. Now, I think of them all as under the umbrella of personal development, but a handful of years ago, I was in the process of dramatically reducing the clutter from my home. Simplifying things, throwing away things, cleaning things, getting rid of clutter, trying to practice minimalism. So I actually made an online course on how to declutter your life. And for quite a while, it was a bestseller and it made some money. And it was not a huge success, but a success. If I had told myself, well, I only teach communication skills, I won't be credible teaching people on decluttering, I never would have done it. The sheer act of me creating a course on this subject forced me to go deeper, forced me to learn more, took me out of normal thought patterns and expanded my brain. So I urge you, do something like that yourself. Here's some more facts from the study I want to share with you. Again, 2,000 adults were studied, age 53 to 100. It lasted 8 years. It was published in the journal Neurology.. And again, what they found is lifelong learning was linked to lower Alzheimer's risk. Who wouldn't want that? High cognitive activity delayed Alzheimer's by 5 years. I, I would love to have an extra 5 years of not just life, but quality life. If you live to 100, but you have Alzheimer's from the age of 80 and you don't know where you are and don't even recognize family members, what kind of life is that? 948 participants underwent brain autopsies after death. So, they literally studied what the brain looked like. And again, the conclusion was cognitive stimulation linked to slower cognitive decline. Now, activities included reading, writing, puzzles, chess, and museums. I like all of those things. I did try to learn how to play chess a handful of years ago. It just didn't stick. I tried as a kid, it didn't stick. I tried as an adult, but all the others, I like to read every day. I like to write every day. I do puzzles every single day, other word games beyond the ones I mentioned to you, and I do frequent museums. I would urge you to give all those things a try. No, you don't have to spend every waking moment on the weekends going to some boring stuff in museum. Try museums you like. I mean, there are museums for ice cream these days. There's candy museums. Go to any kind of museum to stimulate your brain. Brain training programs, studying attention and reaction speed, physical exercise, obviously supports brain health as well. High blood pressure harms brain blood vessels. Diabetes can trigger inflammation, brain damage. Healthy diet and weight help protect cognition. These are all findings from this study. Social activities like book clubs encourage brain engagement. I should look into that. I do have a niece and a sister and a few other members of my family who are active members of book clubs, and they do share with me their excitement for them. Other things that reduce dementia risk: a shingles vaccination. I did get a shingles vaccination a few years ago, so I'm hoping that helps as well. I should point out there's no single lifestyle change that guarantees that you're not going to get dementia or Alzheimer's, but you add it all together, it does increase your odds of getting more good years, and I think that's ultimately all we can hope for. I'm TJ Walker. I want to thank you for spending time with me today. What we're talking about right here, how to increase your odds at living a long, healthy life, expanding not just your lifespan but your healthspan. These are issues I talk about in a good number of my personal development online courses. If you're interested in getting a free online course, all you have to do is go to ultimise.com. You can get a free habits-building course. You can also look at all all the other courses. There are hundreds of them on every aspect of personal development, including how to live a healthier, happier life.
