Healthy Minds for Life A Message from Lee Ryan, Professor, Psychology Department: Director, BIO5 Brain and Body Imaging Center at the University of Arizona A New Year’s Resolution for 2025 – Take Care of Your Brain! The new year is a time for renewal, a new beginning and a chance for change.
veggies, and whole grains, exercise for at least 20 to 30 minutes per day, maintain a healthy weight, and reduce stress. These healthy habits will help lower cholesterol, control blood pressure, and decrease risk for heart disease. Importantly, scientific studies show that they also promote brain health and help maintain cognitive abilities throughout our lives. Another resolution on the list, personal growth, is also known as “lifelong learning”– seeking out new experiences that are challenging, engaging, and meaningful. There is growing evidence that lifelong learning enhances brain health, improving our memory and problem-solving abilities. Taking a course, attending a lecture series, joining a book club, or getting involved in community service are all examples of life-long learning. These activities also help us form new social relationships by bringing people together who share common interests. Having meaningful relationships decreases loneliness and stress and reduces anxiety and depression. Social connection is incredibly important for our emotional well-being, which in turn, benefits our physical, emotional, and cognitive health. Of course, changing habits that we’ve acquired over a lifetime isn’t easy, so here are just a few tips that can help us get started towards a healthier lifestyle. First, choose one goal that is most important to you. Trying to change many things at once can be overwhelming. Making one change and sticking with it will give you the confidence to make the next change, and the next, and so on.
Many people will make at least one New Year’s resolution this year, and a surprisingly large percentage of those people – as high as 85% – will keep their resolution! Here are the five most common New Year’s resolutions: • Fitness: I will improve my fitness through exercise. • Diet: I will eat more fruits and vegetables, and less processed food. • Mental Health : I will reduce my stress, and practice mindfulness. • Social: I will spend quality time with loved ones and friends. • Personal Growth: I will learn a new skill or hobby or read a book every month. The first thing to notice about this list is that every one of them is related to better overall health! Clearly, we know what is good for us. But of course, it’s not that simple, because for every resolution that is kept, an awful lot of them are forgotten a month later. Second, each of these resolutions can have a major impact on brain health. Taking care of our physical, emotional, and social needs also takes care of our brains, leading to decreased risk for experiencing memory and other cognitive problems as we age, and even decreasing risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. So, let’s talk about a few of these resolutions. The scientific advice on how to keep your brain healthy can be summed up in one phrase: Good for the heart, good for the brain . The best advice for maintaining a healthy heart reads a lot like these popular New Year’s resolutions – eat a balanced diet that is packed with fresh fruits,
Second, be reasonable. Too often, people choose goals that are overly ambitious, like going to the gym five days a week. Ultimately, they give up because it’s just too hard to maintain. Making small but meaningful changes can also lead to major health benefits. Third, you don’t have to do it alone. Studies show that we’re most successful in building healthy new habits when we share our goal with a friend. Find someone who is interested in trying new recipes, going for a walk with you, and sharing your challenges and successes. So, go ahead and choose a New Year’s resolution – any of them – from the list above. Whichever one you choose; you are also doing something really good for your brain. Wishing you a happy and brain-healthy 2025! Lee Lee Ryan is a Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Arizona. She is a researcher studying aging and Alzheimer’s disease, and is a member of the Precision Aging Network. You can find more information about the Precision Aging Network at our website: https://precisionagingnetwork.org/. To hear about ways that you can participate in our research studies, email us at healthymindsforlife@email.arizona.edu.
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Pima Council on Aging
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