Dr Ginni Mansberg - Save Your Brain

As I conducted the interviews for this book, I invited each expert to share what they do in their own lives to maintain their brain health and prevent cognitive decline. While each of them does something a bit different, there are also lots of similarities. Here is a summary of their feedback.

• Everyone exercises. And were not talking slow strolling once a week. They do it properly.
• They all watch what they eat, but few are dogmatic about their diets, just generally going for a healthy diet with less junk food and processed foods.
• Nobody doesnt drink except for reasons unrelated to brain health.
• They are all dedicated to getting 78 hours of quality sleep a night well, as often as is practically possible.
• Only a couple of experts take brain supplements.
• All credit their work with keeping their brains cognitively active and with keeping them socially active.
• Most see a GP to get their vascular risk factors in check.
• None of them smoke.

These messages may be boring, but just keep healthy. Its not a secret magic pill, its not an ancient mysterious cure its the stuff doctors say all the time, whether its to help you prevent high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer or dementia. As Dr Trevor Chong so eloquently put it: People dismiss this advice as motherhood statements, like the GP just dishes this advice out because they have to say something, and theyre sick of hearing it. But theres excellent evidence that this works. Thanks to all the medical professionals who contributed to this project.

When I started writing this book, I was excited about the possibility of discovering the secret sauce for a young brain. Maybe there was a supplement I could take to undo the harm of sitting at my desk all day every day. Perhaps I could add some magic juice to my daily regimen, alongside my red wine and champagne, to split the difference?

But having interviewed 22 experts, dialled in to countless webinars and read close to 700 studies, I keep hearing the same things. There is no magic. There is no elixir of youth for the brain in the health food aisle of the supermarket or online. There are no expensive supplements or brain games that will work wonders. It comes down to basic good health with a big dose of common sense.

What is good for the heart is good for the brain. A healthy diet, a decent amount of exercise, drinking alcohol in the healthy range, keeping your blood sugar, blood pressure, weight, thyroid and cholesterol levels in the healthy range and getting enough sleep are key. Go to the dentist. Get your hearing checked and accept a hearing aid if youre going deaf. Look after your mental health; it is critical for your brain health. Use your brain, stay in the workforce if you can and be social. And have some compassion for your doctor. When they keep on repeating the message about healthy diet, and the need for regular exercise and sleep, its not because they have run out of ideas about how to keep us healthy. Its because these things are the real deal!!

For me, the hardest change has been embracing exercise. Ive had to make space for Tai Chi. Its a work-in-progress. Im still going for bushwalks on the weekends. But Im not beating myself up about it because so many of the other things on my healthy brain list have tick marks against them.

Writing this book has been the most mentally challenging thing I have ever done. Thank you for coming on this journey with me. I wish you long and lasting brain health.

Thank you to my late nana. You were just the best grandmother. Thank you for leaving Poland, for fighting so hard for your family and for every warm hug and sloppy kiss, your Yiddish nursery rhymes and your chicken soup. I hope I told you enough when you were alive how much I loved you and still do.