Brain and Cognitive Health Archive

A large study published online June 23, 2022, by JAMA Network Open found that poor handgrip strength in midlife was associated with cognitive decline a decade later.

Following healthy habits like exercising, eating a proper diet, and being socially engaged can help people live a longer, healthier life. Still, the ultimate goal is not simply to live longer, but to enjoy life, which means placing more emphasis on quality of life. How life quality is defined can vary depending on people's goals, but it often revolves around three certain mindsets: having a sense of purpose, focusing on where one wants to devote time and energy, and enjoying the process and journey.

A 2022 study found that women are more likely than men to have "generalized" stroke symptoms such as weakness and confusion, in addition to classic signs such as speech or movement problems.

Studies have shown that doing any one of certain activities, such as staying physically active and maintaining social ties, helps maintain brain health in older adults. A new study suggests that participating in multiple kinds of these activities, several times a week, may help even more.

Science has shown that when people multitask, they become more easily distracted and less productive, score lower on tests for recalling information, and make more errors. Older adults especially struggle with multitasking because aging brains have more trouble blocking distractions. The solution is to monotask by focusing on only one job until it's completed. Methods for monotasking include prioritizing tasks, blocking distractions, and working in intervals.

Humans' relationship with music is complex and individual, and there are times when music can have a clear and immediate impact on our well-being. Music therapy uses music as a therapeutic tool to address certain health care goals.

Brain damage can cause the language disorder aphasia. It affects a person's ability to understand or produce speech. Coping with aphasia requires treatment for the underlying cause and speech therapy to learn how to communicate despite language deficits. If the cause of the aphasia improves, so may the aphasia. But many people will continue to live with some level of aphasia, especially if the cause of brain damage is a progressive disease, such as Alzheimer's.

COVID survivors—even those with mild infections—appear to face a higher risk of cardiovascular problems such as heart failure, heart attack, and stroke for up to one year after their initial infection. People who were hospitalized (especially those who ended up in the intensive care unit) may have the highest risk. The virus that causes COVID can injure blood vessels and triggers an immune response that promotes the formation of blood clots in arteries and veins throughout the body and brain.

As discussion and debate continues on mass shootings there is increasing evidence that growing up amidst this violence and other extreme stressors affect developing brains and bodies in ways that can be permanent.

Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are something we think of as diseases of old age. Memory loss is a common symptom, and something that people in midlife also experience — but young onset dementia is very uncommon.