Last month, my Times colleague Dana G. Smith examined six common medications that may lower the risk of dementia and, in a separate report just five days later, four drugs that may increase it. According to The Times’s Most Emailed list, both articles were widely shared, suggesting readers’ deep investment in them.
Along with popular brain journalism there are plentiful brain books, written by members of a growing pantheon of brain whisperers who promise that the right diet, exercise and engagement can safeguard our smarts. In “Keep Sharp,” Dr. Sanjay Gupta assembles tools for a task detailed in the subtitle: “Build a Better Brain at Any Age.” “The Ageless Brain” presents a best-brain protocol by Dr. Dale E. Bredesen, and it inspired a recipe collection, “The Ageless Brain Cookbook for Seniors,” by Hadwin Macy.
Dr. David Perlmutter has stretched his prescriptions for brain health into more than a half dozen volumes, including “Grain Brain” (about the danger of too many carbohydrates), “Brain Maker” (about the benefits of gut microbes), “Brain Defenders” (about the importance of the immune system) and “Brain Wash” (about detoxing the brain). To feed your thoughts, heed his thoughts.
Or just play with puzzles, as a rapidly expanding number of my friends, relatives and other acquaintances do. A widespread belief that brain games are game changers has “launched multiple brain training websites and apps, and most likely contributed to the sale of countless Sudoku, crossword and logic puzzle books over the past two decades,” Smith and Katie Mogg wrote in The Times in late 2024. I like to think that my habit of starting every day with a sequence of challenges in The Times — Wordle, Connections, Strands, the Mini, the Midi and Spelling Bee — amounts to mental calisthenics, and that when I bop over to The New Yorker to play Shuffalo, I’m doing yet more cognitive cardio. It’s not loafing; it’s working out. It’s not procrastination; it’s brainmaxxing.
An irrational rationalization? Not given the statistics and the stakes. We live longer than we once did, which puts more of us in the path of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. According to a report published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia last month, about 7.4 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, which isn’t the only kind of dementia, and more than 12 million relatives and other unpaid people help care for them.
