Can we change how our brains age? If you ask acclaimed neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, MD, the answer is absolutely! “Our brains are plastic, and we have the ability to change and shape them throughout our entire lives," he says.

To support your brain and mental health, you must start with the basics – and that means changing any behaviors that are known to harm the brain. Here are 8 brain-damaging habits and lifestyle choices to eliminate from your life now.

Your sweet tooth might be harming your brain more than you think. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 25 grams of added sugar per day for women and 38 grams for men. (Even those amounts are considered high by many holistically oriented doctors and nutritionists, many of whom believe 0 grams of added sugar per day is the correct amount).

Negative Impacts of Excessive Sugar Intake on the Brain

Most Americans consume way more than this, draining brain power and negatively affecting mood. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average American consumes 17 teaspoons of added sugar daily (1 teaspoon equals 4–7.5 grams of sugar).

While your brain uses glucose for energy, too much can be detrimental. Studies have linked excessive sugar intake to memory deficiencies, depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, and more.

Sugar also affects neurotransmitters like dopamine, which controls mood, behavior, learning, and memory. Over time, excessive sugar intake can alter dopamine receptors in your brain, making sugar addictive and difficult to eliminate from your diet.

Sleep deprivation can significantly impact your brain health and overall well-being. As Dr. Huberman puts it, “The single most important thing for optimizing brain function is sleep.” According to a study of 22,330 adults from 13 countries, one in three participants had clinical insomnia symptoms, and nearly 20% met the criteria for insomnia disorder — rates more than double pre-pandemic levels. Poor sleep affects cognitive skills, including attention, learning, and memory, making it harder to cope with stressors of any kind.

Insufficient Sleep can Impair Brain Function

Insufficient sleep increases the risk of mental health disorders too. One-third of U.S. adults report sleeping less than the recommended amount, and approximately 20% have a mental illness diagnosis. Those who sleep 6 hours or less per night are about 2.5 times more likely to experience frequent mental distress. Sleep deprivation can impair brain function, throw off emotional balance, and increase the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

Not surprisingly, chronic stress can have a significant impact on your brain health and overall well-being. It occurs over an extended period, resulting from sustained stressors like long-term illness, caregiving, or recurring life challenges. This prolonged exposure to stress hormones can lead to various health issues, including muscle tension, digestive problems, headaches, and cardiovascular diseases.

The Damage of Chronic Stress on the Brain

Your brain, as the central organ of stress response, can undergo structural changes due to chronic stress. It may cause an imbalance in neural circuitry, affecting cognition, decision-making, and mood. Studies show that chronic stress can shrink the hippocampus, a crucial area for learning and memory. This can potentially increase your risk of cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

How to Combat Chronic Stress

To manage chronic stress, try coping strategies such as movement (any form of daily exercise helps), mindfulness meditation, and strong social connections. Remember, while you can't always control stressors, you can take steps to mitigate their impact on your brain and body.

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The secret to honokiol’s mood benefits is its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and support the activity of the neurotransmitter GABA, helping encourage a positive mood and gentle relaxation. It’s also a powerful antioxidant and supports healthy inflammation responses in the brain and body, helping with the cycle of inflammation and depression.

This one won’t shock anyone, but it bears repeating. Smoking has a devastating impact on your brain health. It's estimated that 35% of cigarette smokers have a behavioral health disorder, accounting for 38% of all U.S. adult cigarette consumption. The nicotine in cigarettes reaches your brain within 10 seconds, initially improving mood and concentration. However, regular nicotine exposure leads to changes in your brain, causing withdrawal symptoms when nicotine levels decrease.

Smoking can harm almost every part of your body, including your brain. It accelerates brain aging and can lead to cognitive decline, affecting functions like information processing, memory, and concentration. If you are a smoker, you're also at a higher risk of stroke.

 Helpful Tips while Quitting Smoking

Quitting smoking can partially reverse the damage to your brain, but it may take a while. To quit successfully, you need to deal with both the physical addiction to nicotine and the habits associated with smoking. Using nicotine replacement therapy and avoiding triggers can help you overcome cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Take vitamin D too – one study showed that vitamin D3 helps mitigate anxiety associated with smoking cessation.

Another no-brain here, but worth emphasizing. A sedentary lifestyle, often defined as spending six or more hours per day sitting or lying down, can severely affect your brain health. Despite the growing awareness of its dangers, physical inactivity remains the fourth leading risk factor for mortality worldwide, according to research.

Your brain‘s health is closely tied to your overall physical activity. Excessive sitting time is associated with an increased risk of all-cause dementia. This risk persists even if you exercise regularly, highlighting the importance of reducing sedentary time.

Prolonged inactivity can lead to various health issues, including:

• • Impaired cognitive function

  • Mood imbalances like depression and anxiety

  • Increased risk of cardiovascular disease

  • Higher likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes

  • Potential weight gain and obesity

How to Reverse the Negative Effects of a Sedentary Lifestyle

To counteract these effects, consider breaking up long periods of sitting with light activity. Even small changes, like standing while working or taking short walks, can significantly benefit your brain health. Also, consider an under-desk treadmill. Considerably more affordable than a full-size treadmill, these small pedal exercisers are a fun, painless way to move your body while working or watching TV.

Just like your body, your brain needs specific vitamins and minerals to maintain cognitive function, memory, and overall health. When you don't get enough of these essential nutrients, it impacts your brain performance. The most common deficiencies include vitamins B12, C, and D.

Impacts of B Vitamins in Brain Health

B vitamins, particularly B12, are essential for brain health. A deficiency in vitamin B12 can cause cognitive impairment, memory problems, and even neurological issues. You might experience tingling sensations, numbness, and difficulty with balance. B12 deficiency can also lead to elevated homocysteine levels, which have been associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and stroke.

Get your B12 levels tested with a blood test to determine your status and appropriate supplement dosage. Good food sources of vitamin B12 include clams, oysters, sardines, beef and beef liver, dairy, eggs, and nutritional yeast.

How Vitamin D Plays a critical Role in Brain Health

Vitamin D also plays a vital role in brain health, and its deficiency can lead to various cognitive issues. Common symptoms of vitamin D deficiency include fatigue, low energy, and mood changes. You may experience irritability, anxiety, and depression when your vitamin D levels are low. Additionally, vitamin D deficiency has been linked to impaired cognitive function and an increased risk of developing mood disorders.

Same advice as above – get a vitamin D blood test and customize a supplement dosage from that information. Good food sources of vitamin D include oily fish, mushrooms, egg yolks, and figs.

Vitamin C Effects in Brain Health

Vitamin C is another important player in brain health. When you’re deficient in this powerful antioxidant, you may experience fatigue, weakness, and mood changes. Chronic vitamin C deficiency can impact cognitive performance and potentially increase the risk of age-related cognitive decline. A typical dosage range for vitamin C supplements is 500–1,000 mg daily. Citrus fruits, bell peppers, broccoli, guava, kale, papaya, strawberries, and potatoes.

Dehydration can have a significant impact on your brain health and cognitive abilities. Even mild dehydration can affect your mind's performance.

Studies have shown that dehydration can impair short-term memory. Research has found that subjects' performance on memory-related tests, such as recalling a list of objects, improved after water consumption compared to their no-water performance.

Dehydration can also slow down your reaction time — a study examining adults’ hydration status found that dehydrated individuals had significantly worse performance and slower reaction times in tests compared to properly hydrated folks. In a separate study, dehydrated pilots scored lower on flight performance and spatial cognition test scores than hydrated pilots.

Your Brain Needs Proper Hydration  

Several websites offer free water intake calculators with daily water recommendations based on your weight and height.

As you spend more time in front of screens, you might be wondering about the effects on your brain. Research has shown that excessive screen time can have a significant impact on brain structure, particularly in children and adolescents whose brains are still developing.

One of the most concerning effects of excessive screen time is its influence on gray matter. Gray matter is essential for processing information, controlling movement, and regulating emotions. Studies have found that individuals who spend more time on screens may experience a reduction in gray matter volume, especially in areas responsible for cognitive functions like planning, organizing, and impulse control. This atrophy can potentially affect your ability to reason and control impulses effectively.

Studies have also shown that increased screen time is associated with changes in white matter integrity, particularly in areas involved in language and literacy skills. These alterations can potentially affect your brain's ability to efficiently transmit information between various regions, impacting functions like attention, memory, and learning.

Cognitive and neurological changes linked to excessive screen use include:

• • Attention and focus issues

  • Memory impairment

  • Reduced information processing

  • Melatonin suppression

  • Disrupted sleep cycles

  • Impact on REM sleep

A digital detox challenge can be a powerful way to step away from screens, reduce stress, boost mood, and reconnect with yourself and the world around you.

Give these digital detox tips a try and see if you notice a difference in how you feel mentally and physically:

• • Turn off your push notifications for non-essential apps: These constant distractions can keep you glued to your devices.

  • Multitasking has become a norm, but research suggests that it can hinder productivity and increase stress levels. Instead, embrace single-tasking — for example, avoid scrolling through your phone while watching TV or texting during virtual meetings.

  • Use Airplane Mode to help you take intentional breaks from the digital world. You can block incoming calls, messages, and internet access while still doing offline activities like reading, playing games, or creating art.

  • Designate specific areas in your home as “device-free zones” to promote a healthier digital/life balance — e.g., keep your phone out of the bedroom to improve your sleep or make phones off-limits at dinner.

  • Declutter your digital space by periodically reviewing apps and deleting those that are merely distractions. If you can't bring yourself to do this, at least organize some apps into folders and move them off your home screen. This helps minimize visual distractions and helps prevent mindlessly opening time-wasting apps.

Your brain's well-being has a profound influence on every aspect of your life. By steering clear of these damaging habits, you are taking important steps to protect your cognitive health. It's never too late to start taking care of your brain. Be mindful of your habits and implement strategies to limit or completely avoid behaviors that can negatively affect your brain and cognitive abilities.

What is the worst dietary habit that leads to memory loss? Consuming a poor diet high in processed foods, sugary beverages, and unhealthy fats is among the most detrimental to brain health and memory.

Can you name four habits that negatively affect brain health? The top four habits that can severely impact brain health include excessive sitting, insufficient social interaction, inadequate sleep, and persistent stress.

Which habits are known to reduce brain size? Eating large amounts of junk food, such as hamburgers, fries, potato chips, and soda can lead to a decrease in the size of brain regions associated with learning, memory, and mental health.

What lifestyle choices are associated with an increased risk of dementia? Lifestyle factors such as smoking, obesity, and heavy alcohol consumption increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia.

Sources:

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https://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/ss/slideshow-bad-brain-habits
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