My reader’s intelligence is above average. I know this partly because, as of today, I know most of you. You’re tech professionals, managers, leaders, entrepreneurs, creatives, artists (painters and musicians), professors and university students. True outliers. I know this will continue to be true, too, because this group personifies exactly who this newsletter is for. Everything I do now, I do for you.
And speaking of confirmation bias, my reader is also better looking than average. Also because I know most of you, therefore at least a little about your health and lifestyle. Besides, even if I were only kidding, humor must contain truth to be humorous.
Most people think brain health means taking supplements. Google Trends practically tells us so. Ranking “brain health supplements” #3 under “mental health” and (curiously) “mental health brain” for related searches. “Food for brain health” was #6 as of yesterday. At least it’s in the top ten.
Because of your above-average intelligence, health and beauty, I feel safe assuming that you know “supplements” are only supplements if they supplement an already balanced, healthy diet. But how do we know if or when we’re getting enough of what makes our brain happy and healthy, for supplement to then augment performance?
What’s missing from Google search trends can also tell us a lot. When looking for ways to improve brain health, people seldom search for “brain health exercise” or “brain health diet”. Side note: My well above-average reader almost certainly knows the difference between a brain health food and a brain health diet. But if you think it’s worth exploring further, together, please let me know in the website comments - should it be a future edition’s topic?
Analysis of 139 Reddit comments this week, across three relevant subs, reveals a fairly healthy ratio of supplement vs non-supplement intervention recommendations. Supplement recommendations appear in 45.3% of responses compared to 25.9% for lifestyle interventions. Approximately 15-20% of responses recommend lifestyle changes only, often with the caveat that “you can't supplement your way out of poor sleep/diet.” Sleep is mentioned in nearly 60% of all lifestyle-related recommendations, followed by Diet (30%) and Exercise (15%).
| Subreddit | Comments Analyzed | Lifestyle Rec % | Supplement Rec % | Both % | Lifestyle Only % | Supplement Only % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| r/supplements | 119 | 24.4% | 47.1% | 16.8% | 7.6% | 30.3% |
| r/biohacking | 15 | 26.7% | 33.3% | 6.7% | 20.0% | 26.7% |
| r/nootropics | 5 | 60.0% | 40.0% | 20.0% | 40.0% | 20.0% |
This reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon I once saw. A lone shopper looking up at bookstore shelves. One section called “Self-improvement”. Another, “Improve others”. My reader can guess which had sold out, and which remained full of books for sale.
“I came for a miracle cure supplement stack. I left with a kale and quinoa recipe.”
The optimism bias: we overestimate the effectiveness of interventions we hope will work. And let’s be honest, it’s now less effort to buy something than to do anything else. Literally, anything else. And people do. Then hope.
But for those of us who sincerely seek what brain health supplements purport to support, let’s build our brain health stack up the right way. From the bottom up:
How Improve Brain Health and Cognitive Performance
The Top Ten Non-Supplement Intervention Foundations That Make Our Supplements Actually Count
A lot of research literature, as with medical practice generally, focuses on restoration. Getting us back to “normal”. Supplements help people in sub-optimal health too. Of course. The use case we’re focused on here, for you, is optimization. Supplementing specific biochemical functions to increase performance from a healthy baseline state helps high-achieving professionals operate closer to full cognitive potential.
1Optimize sleep quality and consistency ☑
Action: Target 7–9 hours, consistent sleep/wake times, morning outdoor light, a cool dark bedroom, and a caffeine cutoff 8–10 hours before bed.
Why this is number one: Sleep directly supports memory formation. Slow-wave non-REM sleep helps replay hippocampal memory traces and coordinate slow oscillations, sleep spindles, and hippocampal ripples that stabilize new learning; REM sleep appears more involved in emotional memory, integration, creativity, and flexible problem-solving. Deep sleep also supports glymphatic fluid movement, a waste-clearance pathway implicated in removal of metabolites such as amyloid-beta and tau.
Source: Paller et al., “Memory and Sleep,” Neurobiology of Learning and Memory/PMC, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7983127/ ; Brodt et al., “Sleep—A brain-state serving systems memory consolidation,” Neuron, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627323002015 ; Reddy & van der Werf, “The Sleeping Brain,” Neurotherapeutics/PMC, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7698404/
2Upgrade walking into deliberate aerobic training ☑
Action: Build toward 150–300 minutes per week of brisk walking, incline walking, cycling, rowing, or swimming; most sessions should feel “comfortably hard” but conversational.
Why this is number two: Aerobic exercise improves blood flow, endothelial function, insulin sensitivity, and neurotrophic signaling. One key pathway is brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which supports synaptic plasticity and hippocampal function. In a randomized trial, aerobic walking increased hippocampal volume in older adults and was accompanied by improved memory, making brisk walking one of the most practical brain-health interventions.
Source: Erickson et al., “Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory,” PNAS/PubMed, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21282661/ ; CDC Adult Physical Activity Guidelines, https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/guidelines/adults.html
3Add progressive resistance training ☑
Action: Do 2–3 full-body strength sessions weekly: squat/hinge, push, pull, carry, core, and balance; progress gradually.
Why this is number three: Muscle is an endocrine and metabolic organ. Resistance training improves glucose regulation, vascular function, inflammatory tone, body composition, and physical confidence, all of which reduce load on the brain. Emerging evidence suggests resistance training benefits working memory, verbal learning, spatial memory, and overall cognition, especially as adults age.
Source: Wu et al., “Effects of resistance exercise on cognitive function in older adults,” Frontiers in Psychiatry, https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1708244/full ; CDC Adult Physical Activity Guidelines, https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/guidelines/adults.html
4Adopt a Mediterranean/MIND-style dietary pattern ☑
Action: Emphasize leafy greens, colorful vegetables, berries, legumes, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, fish, and minimally processed proteins; reduce ultra-processed foods, refined sugar, and heavy saturated-fat intake.
Why this is number four: Brain nutrition works best as a pattern, not a single pill. Mediterranean and MIND-style eating may support cognition through better vascular function, lower oxidative stress, steadier glucose control, healthier lipid profiles, and anti-inflammatory polyphenols and fats. Observational MIND diet research links higher adherence with slower cognitive decline, while trial evidence is more mixed, so the strongest claim is “high-value, low-risk foundation.”
Source: Morris et al., “MIND diet slows cognitive decline with aging,” Alzheimer’s & Dementia/PMC, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4581900/ ; Barnes et al., “Trial of the MIND Diet for Prevention of Cognitive Decline,” NEJM, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2302368
5Manage cardiometabolic risk aggressively ☑
Action: Track blood pressure, ApoB/LDL-C, HbA1c, waist circumference, resting heart rate, sleep apnea risk, and family history with your physician.
Why this is number five: The brain is highly vascular and metabolically demanding. Hypertension, high LDL cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, smoking, and physical inactivity can damage small vessels, impair cerebral blood flow, increase inflammation, and reduce glucose handling in neural tissue. The 2024 Lancet Commission identified 14 modifiable dementia risk factors and estimated that addressing them could prevent or delay a large proportion of dementia cases.
Source: Livingston et al., “Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet Commission,” The Lancet, https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(24)01296-0/fulltext ; Gottesman et al., “Blood pressure and the brain,” Cardiovascular Research, https://academic.oup.com/cardiovascres/article/120/18/2360/8078381
6Practice effortful learning ☑
Action: Choose one demanding skill: language learning, music, coding, statistics, chess, writing, public speaking, or a technical certification; train it 2–4 times weekly.
Why this is number six: Novel learning builds cognitive reserve—the brain’s practical ability to route around stress, age-related change, or pathology by using richer networks and better strategies. The mechanism is not “brain games”; it is progressive challenge, error correction, attention, memory retrieval, and skill consolidation over time.
Source: Liu et al., “Cognitive reserve over the life course and risk of dementia,” BMC Medicine/PMC, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11047126/ ; Livingston et al., Lancet Commission 2024, https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(24)01296-0/fulltext
7Regulate chronic stress with daily downshifting ☑
Action: Use 10–20 minutes daily of mindfulness, slow breathing, walking without devices, journaling, or a structured end-of-work shutdown.
Why this is number seven: Acute stress can sharpen performance, but chronic stress loads the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, sleep systems, glucose regulation, and attention control. Elevated or poorly regulated cortisol is associated with memory impairment and hippocampal changes; mindfulness practices appear to train attention and emotion-regulation networks, including anterior cingulate and fronto-limbic circuits.
Source: Kim & Diamond, “Stress effects on the hippocampus,” Nature Reviews Neuroscience/PMC, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4561403/ ; Tang et al., “The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation,” Nature Reviews Neuroscience, https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3916
8Protect meaningful social connection ☑
Action: Schedule recurring, non-transactional connection: walking meetings, dinners, clubs, volunteering, faith/community groups, or shared learning.
Why this is number eight: Social interaction is cognitively dense: it uses attention, language, memory, emotional regulation, prediction, and perspective-taking at once. Loneliness and social isolation are associated with higher dementia and cognitive impairment risk, likely through overlapping pathways that include stress biology, depression, lower physical activity, poorer sleep, and reduced cognitive stimulation.
Source: Luchetti et al., “A meta-analysis of loneliness and risk of dementia,” Nature Mental Health/PMC, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11722644/ ; Livingston et al., Lancet Commission 2024, https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(24)01296-0/fulltext
9Interrupt sedentary time ☑
Action: Stand or walk 2–5 minutes every 30–60 minutes; use walking calls, post-meal walks, and stairs as default micro-doses.
Why this is number nine: A single workout does not fully erase the metabolic effects of long sitting. Prolonged sedentary time can worsen glucose control, vascular function, posture, pain, mood, and alertness. Reviews associate greater sedentary behavior with worse cognition and brain health, although the exact dose and best interruption pattern are still being studied.
Source: Gogniat et al., “Sedentary behavior, cognition, and brain health in older adults,” Neuropsychology Review/PMC, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12279810/ ; Zou et al., “Sedentary behavior and lifespan brain health,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364661324000305
10Protect hearing, vision, and head health; limit alcohol ☑
Action: Get eye exams, check hearing if conversations are harder, wear corrective devices when needed, reduce fall/head-injury risk, and keep alcohol modest or occasional.
Why this is number ten: Untreated sensory loss increases cognitive load and can reduce social engagement, mobility, and environmental stimulation. Hearing loss and untreated vision loss are now recognized among modifiable dementia risk factors. Head injury and excessive alcohol also appear in major dementia-prevention models, so protecting sensory input and the brain’s physical integrity is a practical late-stage safeguard.
Source: Livingston et al., Lancet Commission 2024, https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(24)01296-0/fulltext ; NIH, “Hearing aids slow cognitive decline in people at high risk,” https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/hearing-aids-slow-cognitive-decline-people-high-risk ; Smith et al., “Vision Impairment and the Population Attributable Fraction of Dementia,” JAMA Ophthalmology, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/2823286
PDF For Download/Print
Please download and/or print this for reference this week, as will I, in preparation for next weeks installment: The Top Ten Best Brain Health Supplements!
Footnotes:
Pomeroy DE, Tooley KL, Probert B, Wilson A, Kemps E. “A Systematic Review of the Effect of Dietary Supplements on Cognitive Performance in Healthy Young Adults and Military Personnel.” Nutrients. 2020;12(2):545. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12020545.
Harvard Health Publishing, "Don't buy into brain health supplements," https://www.health.harvard.edu/brain-health/dont-buy-into-brain-health-supplements