Key takeaways:

• 42% of surveyed adults listed brain health among their top three personal health priorities.
• Protecting brain health can include consistent exercise, socializing and proper nutrition.

People should begin taking proactive steps to protect their brain health at or before age 40 years, according to more than 60% of U.S. adults who took part in a survey from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

In a poll of 1,004 adults (51% women), 37.5% of respondents said adults should begin taking steps to protect brain health before age 30 years while 23.8% said they should start taking steps from age 30 to 40 years, according to Douglas Scharre, MD, medical director of the Center for Cognitive and Memory Disorders at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

Data derived from press release

Scharre said he was surprised by the percentage of people who were thinking about brain health, adding that he believed the results represented a change in awareness levels that could be tied to baby boomers getting older.

“You have this sandwich generation now, and they’re seeing firsthand what’s impacting their parents or maybe their grandparents, and they’re saying, ‘I would rather not go through that myself,’” Scharre told Healio.

The survey was conducted by SSRS on its Opinion Panel Omnibus platform, a national, twice-monthly, probability-based survey. It was conducted online and by phone from May 14 to 18 (95% CI, margin of error ± 3.5 percentage points).

When asked to choose the top three personal health priorities from a list of nine, 51% of respondents chose mental health, 48% chose cardiovascular health and 42% chose brain health, making those the top three most popular choices.

When broken down by age, brain health was the second highest priority among those aged 18 to 29 years and 30 to 49 years, as well as for those aged 65 years and older.

Another factor that could be driving younger people to prioritize brain health is the mounting scientific evidence showing how small changes could have tangible benefits, Scharre said.

Results from the U.S. POINTER clinical trial, released in 2025, were particularly impactful in terms of changing people’s attitudes about how the human brain works, Scharre said. The trial demonstrated how certain brain healthy lifestyle interventions, such as physical activity, nutrition and socializing, can protect cognitive function in older adults, he said.

“You can, perhaps, increase the number of neurons that are working or connected,” Scharre said. “There’s a way that you could, even if you’re genetically prone to getting Alzheimer’s, for example, increase your brain reserve, so to speak, to stave off or delay the onset of some of these conditions.”

Moving forward, Scharre said he believes that brain health and mental health will both continue to become more of a focus for people of all ages. Brain health could eventually become the top health priority among Americans, he said.

For healthcare professionals whose work touches on brain health, Scharre said the messaging for people of all ages should focus on the importance of consistent physical activity, getting good sleep, following a Mediterranean diet, socializing and keeping the mind active.

People who notice cognitive changes should consider getting a cognitive assessment, which he said could be self-administered or done through a healthcare provider.

Seventeen percent of survey respondents said they completed a cognitive or memory screening at some point in the past 2 years, including 18% of people aged 18 to 29 years and 30 to 49 years and 21% of those aged at least 65 years.

It can also be a good idea for people to take a cognitive assessment at age 65 years, regardless of whether they notice cognitive changes, Scharre said.

“That’s probably a good time to take a cognitive assessment and see how you’re thinking,” he said. “You have a good baseline that you can compare in the future, even though you may be acing it at that time at 65.”

With more disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia hitting the market, there are more indications that identifying cognitive changes earlier gives people more opportunities to preserve brain health, Scharre said.

“You only get one brain in life, so you have to take care of it,” he said.

For more information:

Douglas Scharre, MD, can be reached at neurology@healio.com.