51 everyday habits that reduce your risk of dementia

One research review out of the University of Miami and Duke University concluded that massage helped to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol while boosting levels of brain chemicals thought to be associated with positive emotions.

Potatoes contain an amino acid called asparagine, which, when exposed to high heat, changes into acrylamide, a neurotoxin.

Acrylamide binds to the ends of our axons, making it tougher for brain cells to communicate with one another.

Water protects asparagine, so soaking potatoes for 15 to 30 minutes before cooking them can stop it from transforming into acrylamide.

Drain the potatoes and blot them dry before cooking.

It’s no joke. Laughter clubs exist. They’re run by “certified laughter leaders”—often psychologists, therapists, and psychiatrists—who are trained in the healing benefits of laughter.

These workshops can help you connect with others as you get in a good laugh.

Look at World Laughter Tour to find out if there’s a club near you.

A good belly laugh produces a chemical reaction that elevates your mood; reduces pain, stress, and blood pressure; and boosts immunity.

Humour therapy may be as effective as some prescription drugs at reducing agitation in people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Nursing home patients who were entertained by clowns for two hours once a week were significantly less aggressive and agitated.

Even two weeks after the nursing home stopped bringing in the clowns, the patients remained less agitated.

Researchers at the Laboratory of Human Chronobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College in White Plains, New York, studied how 22 men and women reacted to varying napping regimens, finding that naps of all lengths enhanced cognitive performance during the day.

Black and green tea are rich sources of antioxidants called catechins that may fend off oxidative damage throughout the body, including the brain.

Green tea is also a rich source of epigallocatechin-3-gallate, which has been shown to reduce beta-amyloid plaque and tau tangles in mice.

Tea has also been shown to drop blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

But commercially available bottled teas have been shown to contain few, if any, of these protective substances.

Rather than exercise in one long 30-minute session, consider breaking up your exercise into shorter seven- to ten-minute bursts, repeated several times a day.

This kind of training may be ideal for people who have diabetes, a risk factor for Alzheimer’s, especially if you do these bursts about a half hour before each meal.

Study participants with insulin resistance (a precursor to diabetes) were instructed to do six minutes of vigorous exercise (such as walking uphill on a treadmill or vigorous calisthenics) interspersed with six minutes of recovery exercise (such as slow walking) about a half hour before breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Other study participants just walked for 30 minutes before dinner.

Those who did the six-minute vigorous intervals experienced better post-meal blood sugar levels than study participants who did the once-daily, moderate session.

That way you’ll get to know the teller at the bank, the checkout person at the grocery store, and the clerk at the post office.

Whenever possible, actually walk into such establishments and conduct business in person instead of using the drive-through.

In addition to providing you with a moment of face-to-face interaction, this gives you a short burst of movement, which is also good for your brain.

Microwave popcorn contains many different potential health hazards.

For one, most bags of microwave popcorn are lined with perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical thought to raise risk for cancer (though the jury is still out). Many microwave varieties with a “buttery taste” contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil, or trans fat.

Research has linked a high consumption of trans fats to Alzheimer’s and heart disease, and the evidence is so strong that the FDA is considering banning the fat. In some brands of popcorn, the buttery flavoring also comes from diacetyl, a chemical that has been linked to lung disease.

Instead, make your own popcorn. Place popcorn kernels inside a plain brown paper lunch bag.

Fold the top down a few times. Then microwave for two to three minutes, until the popping starts to abate. Voilà. Microwave popcorn without the trans fats and chemicals.

If brain-fitness awards were given to types of fitness pursuits, dance would earn the first-place trophy year after year after year.

hat’s because it combines several brain-health prescriptions into one.

If you dance with a group or a partner, you are exercising social smarts.

If you are learning new steps, you’re also boosting your intellectual fitness.

Dance, by nature, is fun, which helps to reduce stress.

Ballroom dancers have performed higher on tests of cognition than did nondancers, and competitive ballroom dancers have scored higher on many different measures of cognitive performance, including reaction time.

In a study of 256 octogenarians by researchers at the Mayo Clinic, crafting activities—such as woodworking, pottery, ceramics, and quilting—reduced the likelihood of mild cognitive impairment by 55 percent.

In a smaller study done in Germany, 60- and 70-year-olds who took art classes improved their scores on tests of psychological resilience over 14 weeks, indicating that their ability to cope with stress had grown.

Also, fMRI (functional MRI) scans revealed that their brains had sprouted new connections in areas that tend to lose connections with increasing age.