6 Expert Habits to Keep Your Mind Sharp From Neuroscientist Dr. Majid Fotuhi

“The other one I like is the ma-ta-sa-ba, where you put your hands in front of you, and then you get your thumb and you rub your pinky and say ma, ma, ma, ma, ma about 10 times. Then you do your ring finger and say ta, ta, ta, ta. And then you go to your middle finger, sa, sa, sa, and then you go to the index finger and say ba, ba, ba.

“Now why do I do this? Because there’s actually research that shows this kind of exercise improves brain health. So it’s not like hokey-pokey stuff. As a neurologist who’s reviewed the literature, I know what’s good for me and what’s questionable. And so I know that slow breathing and what I just told you are really powerful techniques for brain health. And I use it myself. I wouldn’t use other things.

Don’t obsess over a good night’s sleep

“If you wake up in the middle of the night, you shouldn’t toss and turn, toss and turn, toss and turn. If you’re not sleeping, you’re not sleeping. Just get up, get a book, and just read the book. And don’t worry about the next day, life will go on. It’s not OK if you can’t sleep every night, but it’s OK if you miss an occasional night of sleep or you sleep five hours or six hours instead of seven to eight hours. A lot of people make the mistake of just getting frustrated that they can’t fall asleep and they keep tossing and turning and not sleeping and keep looking at the clock. It’s 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:15, 2:35, 3:00. Don’t do that.

“If you can’t sleep, get up and just do breathing exercises. The breathing exercises really can calm the mind and help you fall asleep. And if you are worrying about things, if you’re woken up in the middle of the night because you’re worried about the project that you haven’t finished, then just get up and make a list of things to do. And if you really are concerned, just go do it. I mean, you shouldn’t miss the night of sleep because of a deadline, but if you’re not sleeping, you might as well just go work.

“Again, it’s OK if these things happen once in a while. You don’t want to make a habit of it, but you might as well use this time and make it productive. So again, I’m happy and feel fortunate that I don’t have sleep problems and the only time I do is caused by my own doing. Also, I think it’s important for people to make sure they’re physically tired. I usually walk around five, 10,000 steps a day just going around doing things. And with the exercise I do in the morning, I am tired.”

Memorize at least three new names a day

“There is definite scientific evidence that brain training improves brain function. There’s some debate as to how much brain training, what form of brain training, what kind of outcomes. And that’s not because they’re not good. It’s because of what you measure as an outcome. Are you measuring the outcome as incidents of Alzheimer’s disease, or measuring the outcome as improving your memory? Whatever you practice on, you get better. So if you practice memory, you’ll have better memory. If you practice attention, you’ll have better attention. If you practice processing speed, you get better at processing information quickly. My recommendation is do the things you enjoy.