Smoking speeds up aging throughout the body, including the brain, and research shows it increases the risk of developing all types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, current smokers are 40% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, with the risk increasing the more a person smokes.

Feeling like life’s pressures are wearing you down? Your brain might feel that way too. Stress isn’t just an emotional experience—it’s a physical one. When you’re stressed, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that helps you respond to danger. But when cortisol stays high for too long, it can harm your brain’s memory center, the hippocampus, and speed up brain aging. Chronic stress changes how your brain functions and increases your risk for memory problems and dementia.

Sleep isn’t a luxury—it’s one of the best things you can do for your brain. When you don’t sleep well, your brain misses its ‘clean-up’ time—when it clears waste, stores memories, and balances mood. Good sleep also helps your heart and blood pressure stay healthy.

Feeling sad is part of being human—but when sadness sticks around for more than two weeks and starts to interfere with your life, it could be depression. It isn’t about weakness or willpower; it’s a real medication condition caused by changes in brain chemistry. The good news?  Depression is treatable and treating it early could protect your brain from future problems with dementia.

Ever had a sinking feeling in your stomach when you heard bad news—or butterflies when you were excited? Those “gut feelings” are more than figures of speech. They’re signs of a real, two-way communication system between your brain and your gut. Scientists call it the gut-brain axis, and it plays a major role in both your mood and your memory.

Keeping an eye on your drinking habits isn’t as obvious a strategy for protecting your brain health as doing crosswords or learning new skills. You might even be surprised that excessive alcohol use is a risk factor for dementia. In this article, we’ll explore how excessive alcohol consumption affects dementia risk and discuss practical, guilt-free ways to drink more mindfully and keep your brain healthier for the long run.

88 million people in the United States live in areas with dangerously high levels of urban air pollution. Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has been linked to faster memory loss and higher Alzheimer’s risk. Most people can’t simply move away from pollution, but you can take small, practical steps to lower your exposure and protect your brain.