Brain HealthOct 24, 2026
In a new study of about 1,000 older Americans, people who napped often, and those who nodded off without intending to, were more likely to be classified with possible or probable dementia later. That makes persistent daytime dozing worth investigating, because it can point to a sleep problem, a medicine, or an early change in memory. It doesn't show that naps cause dementia. A small trial suggests that cutting back on naps may help preserve memory, though nothing yet shows it prevents dementia.
Brain HealthOct 23, 2026
The best-supported way to protect your memory is a plan built around exercise, blood pressure, blood sugar and diet. High-dose DHA hasn't earned a place in that plan yet. In PreventE4, a two-year trial in older adults at risk for dementia, the omega-3 reached the fluid around the brain but didn't improve thinking or slow brain shrinkage. Whether that helps prevent dementia over longer periods is still unproven, so a rising omega-3 level doesn't show that your memory is being protected.
Brain HealthOct 20, 2026
Older adults in Stockholm whose homes were surrounded by more trees and greenery developed dementia at a lower rate over 16 years. The link was clearest for vegetation closest to home, and it is an association: the study doesn't show that moving or planting more lowers your own risk. The evidence does support using the green space near you as a place to walk, move and unwind. Any additional dementia protection remains uncertain.
NewsOct 5, 2026
Juvmo (tavapadon) is a once-daily Parkinson's pill, and if an older dopamine agonist has caused you or a family member trouble, it's worth asking your neurologist about. It's the first new class of dopamine drug for Parkinson's in decades. In three phase 3 trials it delivered the motor benefit you'd expect from an agonist, with very low rates of the compulsive gambling, sudden sleep, and leg swelling that push so many patients off pramipexole and ropinirole. It's the first agonist in a long time that most patients might be able to stay on.
LongevityOct 5, 2026
Nearly half of dementia is tied to things you can act on, and most of the strongest levers are midlife ones you already know how to measure: your blood pressure, your LDL cholesterol, your hearing, how much you move. The World Health Organization (WHO) now ranks dementia as the fifth leading cause of death globally, mostly because populations are aging, and per-person risk hasn't been rising. What you can do before symptoms show up is clearer than it used to be.
Brain HealthSep 27, 2026
A mini-stroke isn't brain damage that dooms you to dementia. It's the vascular system's earliest useful warning about it. A large new study found dementia about a third more common in the years after a transient ischemic attack (TIA), with the sharpest rise in the first year. The studies that looked deepest suggest the fleeting event isn't doing new damage; it's flagging vascular injury already underway. That year is the clearest chance most people get to bend their own dementia trajectory, and it's the year TIA patients are least likely to be treated for it.
Heart HealthAug 31, 2026
If your systolic runs 140 or higher, getting it under 130 now has randomized evidence for your brain, not only your heart. Intensive blood pressure control lowered new dementia cases by about 15% over seven years, and did it with fewer serious adverse events in the treated group than in usual care. That closes a gap the field has been carrying since SPRINT MIND.
Brain HealthAug 27, 2026
If you're 50 or older and haven't finished your Shingrix doses, the newest evidence gives you a second reason to schedule them. A 2026 study of more than half a million older adults ties the shot to fewer dementia diagnoses over four years, and it fits a pattern already seen in Wales, Australia, Canada, and several US cohorts. This isn't proof the vaccine prevents dementia, and the headline study was funded by GSK, which makes Shingrix. But the shingles protection alone already justified getting it. The cognitive signal is now hard to wave off.
NewsAug 25, 2026
Depression appears to press pause on the hippocampus's ability to make new neurons, not destroy it. A new Nature Medicine paper on brain tissue from unmedicated donors found the young progenitor cells still there, just held mid-lineage. The treatments already in the clinic, from SSRIs to esketamine to a regular running habit, look like the ones aimed at pressing play.
Brain HealthAug 25, 2026
At least 1 in 4 former NFL players who died recently had CTE at death, and the true rate probably sits well above that. That's the finding of a new BMJ analysis covering every NFL player who died from 2008 to 2021. It corrects the famous 99% number for the fact that families donate brains when they suspect disease, and it lands on the same lever a decade of neuropathology has kept pointing to: years of tackle football, not the concussions someone remembers, drive who gets the disease. If you or someone you love plays, that's where the decision lives.
Women's HealthAug 16, 2026
Hormone therapy hasn't been shown to prevent Alzheimer's. It earns its place for menopausal symptoms and bone protection, and the newer estrogen-and-brain studies matter on their own terms: some women using hormones show lower tau markers and larger brain regions tied to Alzheimer's risk. But no trial that tracks actual diagnoses has found fewer cases, and starting combined hormones at 65 or older raised dementia risk in the largest randomized dementia trial. Timing and formulation matter more than a simple yes or no.
Brain HealthJun 4, 2026
Alcohol doesn’t just put stress on your liver. It also depletes thiamine, an essential vitamin for brain and nerve health. Even moderate drinkers may slip into deficiency over time. Supplementing with thiamine is a safe, low-cost way to protect your nervous system.
Alzheimer's DiseaseMay 29, 2026
A simple blood test measuring phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) is now outperforming older biomarkers like amyloid beta in detecting early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, offering hope for earlier diagnosis and intervention.
