What can we do to keep our brains healthy throughout our lives?

We asked leading Australian dementia researcher Professor Henry Brodaty AO about the practical and simple ways we can all keep our brains healthy.

Professor Brodaty is a Dementia Australia Honorary Medical Advisor and was recently named 2026 Senior Australian of the Year in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the understanding, diagnosis and prevention of dementia.

He is Co-Director, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW Sydney.

Many people believe that dementia is a normal part of ageing. You led the clinical trial, Maintain Your Brain, to test whether improving lifestyle behaviours could slow cognitive decline. What did the study reveal?

While some elements of cognition slow as we age, such as speed of information processing and ability to remember random words, and some improve such as vocabulary and reasoning, dementia is not a normal part of ageing.

Our Maintain Your Brain study of 6,104 people living in the community aged 55 to 77 years showed that tackling four of the risk factors for cognitive decline could improve cognition over three years.

Half of the participants received coaching in physical activity, nutrition, brain training and depression/anxiety treatment/prevention while the other half received information only about the same factors.

Interventions were tailored to participants‘ risk factors.

While both groups improved, the coaching group improved almost three times as much as the information-only group.

What are some simple, practical things that people can do to support their brain health?

• Do at least 30 to 60 minutes of exercise five days per week of moderate to intense activity combining aerobic and strength training. Balance training is also advisable.
• Keep your brain active either by taking on new activities such as learning an instrument or language or using a computer cognitive training program.
• Stay socially connected, avoid isolation and be a participant in life e.g. volunteer or join a group.
• Have your blood pressure monitored and if it is high have it treated.
• Don’t smoke and don’t drink alcohol to excess.
• If involved in contact sport or cycling, protect your head by wearing a helmet.
• Eat a healthy diet based on the Mediterranean style - more vegetables, legumes, nuts (walnuts, almonds), extra-virgin olive oil, moderate amounts of fish, small to moderate amounts of dairy and eggs, and less red meat and sweets. Avoid ultra processed food and excess alcohol.

Are there any lesser-known risk factors of dementia that people may not be aware of?

People may not be aware that untreated hearing loss, untreated loss of vision, high cholesterol, midlife obesity and diabetes are associated with dementia.

Wearing a hearing aid can ameliorate the risk of dementia in people with hearing loss.

Why is brain health something that we should be thinking about at every stage of life?

We should be thinking about our brain health throughout our life.

Education through childhood and adolescence may be one of the strongest builders of resilience against dementia. Continuing education in adulthood can still help build cognitive resilience.

Contact sport or working in the military are risk factors for head injury especially in teenage years and young adulthood.

Is it ever too late to focus on brain health especially for people who are already experiencing cognitive changes?

It is never too early to think about our brain health and it is never too late.

For people who are already experiencing cognitive decline then embracing the advice above may help slow the rate of decline.

We know that brain health is good for individuals but what are the broader benefits for our community and society as a whole?

There are more than 446,000 people living with dementia in Australia with the total cost exceeding $18 billion annually.

If we can adopt all the advice above we could reduce the risk of dementia by 45 per cent or at least delay its onset.

For every year we can delay the onset there will be 10 per cent fewer new cases.

And a word of warning and hopefully reassurance. We need to distinguish between relative risk and absolute risk.

If for example hearing loss increases risk by 7 per cent this means instead of the risk of dementia in the population over 80 being 20 per cent, the absolute risk will now be 21.4 per cent.

Further information

If you would like support, advice or information about any type of dementia-related issue, including brain health, contact the National Dementia Helpline.

The National Dementia Helpline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year on 1800 100 500 or via our live chat.

You can also visit the Reduce your risk of dementia page on our website to learn more about brain health.

And, if you want to monitor and understand changes in cognition over time, you can download the free BrainTrack app. Visit the BrainTrack page to find out more.

Photo of Professor Henry Brodaty courtesy of Salty Dingo.