exercise<\/a> plays a big part in this because it really helps the blood flow and blood vessels in the brain be optimal.\u201d<\/p>\nThe neurologist adds that exercise also helps improve the production of brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt promotes the increased production of the proteins that support the nerve cells in the brain,\u201d says Allder.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to pick an activity that you enjoy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you do something that you enjoy, then you can easily build that into your everyday life and are therefore more likely to stick with it,\u201d says Puckering.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government recommendations for exercise is around 150 minutes of aerobic exercise every week, and that could be going for walks or doing things like strengthening and balancing exercises.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. Prioritise sleep<\/p>\n
\u201cThe waste product mainly gets extruded from the brain during deep sleep, therefore if you sleep properly that helps this waste disposal process in the brain work optimally,\u201d says Allder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key to this is to make sure that you sleep for seven hours a night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Puckering agrees and adds: \u201cOther brain healthy habits around sleep include time away from screens for an hour or two before bed and keeping your bedroom as dark and as cool as possible.<\/p>\n
![\"Allder](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01KYH2SSGZECV6F2VJ707EGW1C.jpg\")
Allder says people should aim for seven hours a night (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n
\u201cDoing the same routine every evening to wind down can also be really beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. Get outside<\/p>\n
Being surrounded by nature can have a calming effect on the brain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe body has two modes, the sympathetic fight-and-flight go, go, go mode, and the parasympathetic rest-and-restore mode, and being in nature definitely helps you access the rest-and-restore mode,\u201d says Allder. \u201cThe brain likes being active, but it also needs periods where it\u2019s calmer and has time to clean and repair itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting outside can also help boost your mood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that depression is linked to dementia and for a lot of people being outside can be a great mood booster,\u201d says Puckering.<\/p>\n
4. Be social<\/p>\n
\u201cJoining a club or attending events in your community is another great thing that you can do for your brain this summer because we know that socialisation and depression are linked to dementia risk,\u201d highlights Puckering.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, anything that connects you with other people on a regular basis is really important for our brain health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allder agrees and says: \u201cThere\u2019s something unbelievably powerful about being connected socially with someone you like that seems to switch on the restorative mode in the brain by activating the parasympathetic nervous system.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Anything](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01KYH2T0Z32VYYA897MVSC61AP.jpeg\")
Anything that connects you with other people on a regular basis is really important for our brain health (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n
In contrast, loneliness can have a negative impact on both your mental, physical and brain health.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re lonely and you\u2019re not having that social connection, you spend more time in the sympathetic fight-or-flight state,\u201d says Allder. \u201cThat in turn drives chronic inflammation in your blood, which makes you more prone to heart attacks, strokes and diabetes \u2013 all of which makes you more at risk of dementia.\u201d<\/p>\n
5. Eat a balanced diet<\/p>\n
\u201cDiet is really important when it comes to dementia risk,\u201d says Puckering. \u201cWe want a healthy, balanced diet that includes lots of fibre, lean sources of protein, lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grain sources of carbohydrates, rather than lots of processed food or lots of saturated fats.\u201d<\/p>\n
She adds that the Mediterranean diet is often viewed as the gold standard diet when it comes to dementia risk.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01KYH2SZFD35M2CBEZSE23J9ER.jpeg\")
The Mediterranean diet is often viewed as the gold standard diet when it comes to dementia risk (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some emerging evidence that the Mediterranean style of diet is the most protective,\u201d says Puckering.<\/p>\n
6. Learn a new skill or practice an old one<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we challenge our brain and learn new things or practice something that we have been learning for a long time, such playing a musical instrument or learning another language, that helps build up our brain\u2019s \u2018fortress\u2019,\u201d says Puckering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the brain is faced with diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s, that slowly chips away at our memory, functioning and cognitive skills. However, if we build up this fortress by challenging our brain over our lifetime, then it takes longer to chip away at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allder agrees and highlights that some research suggests that undertaking a hobby that\u2019s completely unrelated to your day job could be beneficial.<\/p>\n
\u201cNick Petrie has been doing lots of research on burnout and found that people who didn\u2019t burn out maintained what he called \u2018opposite worlds\u2019,\u201d says Allder.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis findings suggest that doing something completely unrelated to what you do for work is incredibly helpful for your brain and brain resilience. The immersion into a completely different world and switching off from what you mainly spend your time doing seems to be what drives this benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[159,18,135,19,17,3795],"class_list":["post-608445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-brain","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-wellbeing"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116998395005034902","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01KYH2T15K4CFEPB67WAM8X32H.jpeg\")
It is important to pick an activity that you enjoy (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n