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More than 10 years of research has shown that building certain healthy lifestyle habits — moving more, learning new things, being social and eating the Mediterranean way — can bolster our brain health. Just last year, the U.S. POINTER study found that people 60-plus who managed to make positive changes in these areas improved their mental sharpness during the study’s two-year trial.
With mounting evidence that we can make a difference in our brain health, why isn’t everyone giving it a try? In 2025, AARP surveyed American adults 50 and older and identified several barriers to success. Now, AARP has asked a group of experts for their suggestions to get past some common obstacles.
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“I don’t have time.”
Everybody’s busy. But there are some things worth making time for.
“We’ve learned a lot over the last several decades about the influence of exercise on brain function and, specifically, the reduced risk of dementia,” says Dr. Kirk Erickson, director of translational neuroscience at the AdventHealth Neuroscience Institute in Orlando. “If you want to improve your brain health, put exercise on the top of [your] list.”
Erickson understands that people have busy lives, so he recommends squeezing in some small steps. “Don’t think that you’re going to just jump in and start exercising an hour at a time if you’ve been really sedentary or inactive for a long time,” he says.
“If all you have is 10 minutes, try to take advantage of that 10 minutes and get up and do something. Every little bit counts,” he adds. To make progress and eventually reach your goals, he suggests pushing yourself a little bit further each time or adding five to 10 minutes every week.
Healthy meal prep is another priority that can fall away as the day gets busy.
Dr. Annie Fenn, a physician-chef and author of The Brain Health Kitchen, advises people who don’t have the time to cook from scratch to be strategic shoppers. Go for high-quality ingredients in the supermarket, such as salmon that’s already been poached, grilled slabs of tofu and precut vegetables from the salad bar.
“All those things can help you build a meal, a salad or a bowl or just a really fast, brain-healthy dish,” she says. The tinned varieties of fish and seafood come ready to eat and provide a good dose of omega-3 fats and lean protein. “Look for canned salmon, anchovies and sardines packed in water or olive oil,” Fenn suggests.
“I don’t enjoy it.”
In the AARP survey, 17 percent of respondents admitted they don’t exercise because they don’t like it, and 20 percent said they prefer to be alone rather than socialize. And a 2025 Purdue University survey of 1,200 U.S. consumers found that many people know it’s important to eat well, but they prioritize taste first, passing on many healthy foods.
So how do you bring the joy? Before you begin a new exercise regimen, think about whether it appeals to you. When you find activities you really like doing, it’s easier to continue them, Erickson says. “If you don’t like swimming, don’t force yourself to go to the pool,” he says.
Likewise, when Fenn helps people switch to the MIND diet — which includes nine brain-healthy food groups — she starts with one food group that they already like. She also focuses on finding the right fit for people, pointing out that there are multiple dietary pyramids that are very similar to the MIND diet, with its Mediterranean focus, but which also address ethnic and cultural heritage. They include African diets rich in leafy greens, beans, and other plants, and Asian diets heavy on green vegetables.
Dr. Seth A. Gale, codirector of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Brain Health Program, also tailors his advice to his patients' motivations, rather than proposing changes they may not stick to because they don’t like them.
Gale encourages socializing and engaging in cognitively stimulating activities that “challenge us to use our brains in different ways than in our everyday tasks.”
It doesn’t have to be crossword puzzles or online training programs, Gale says. “If you like history, watch the History Channel with someone and then talk to them about it.” Or “work on building a small model of a historic building or a ship from a model kit, doing a little every day over many weeks or months.”
For socializing, he suggests finding “just one or two group-involved activities, like a film showing or a talk (at a community or senior center). It’s really great for you and your brain, even if you only participate once or twice a season.”
“It’s too expensive.”
Cost was a top barrier to adopting healthy eating habits for 30 percent of AARP survey respondents. But, Fenn points out, some of the most important brain-healthy food groups are budget-friendly.
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“When shopping for berries, frozen are just as nutritious as fresh, and you can save money by purchasing them in large bags,” she says. “That's true for vegetables and leafy greens, such as spinach, peas, winter squash, edamame and more.” Dried and canned beans and legumes are often affordable, and whole grains like whole oats, quinoa, brown rice and whole grain pasta can often be found in the bulk section of the grocery store for savings, she adds.
Cost can also be a serious barrier when it comes to buying hearing aids. Hearing loss is one of the most treatable risk factors for dementia, according to AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health. Almost 1 in 3 people ages 65 to 74 have some hearing loss.
Hearing aids appeared to delay cognitive decline in people at risk for dementia in the Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) study. Another analysis from the same trial focused on 977 older adults with untreated hearing loss and found that hearing aids, sessions with a certified study audiologist, counseling and education over three years reduced isolation and loneliness, according to Nicholas S. Reed, author of the analysis and vice president of audiology research innovation for Amplifon, a hearing care network.
Social isolation is highly associated with cognitive decline, says Reed, whose analysis was published in 2025 in JAMA Internal Medicine. Whether you feel lonely or not, hearing aids improve your confidence, energy and social life, he says. New options including over-the-counter products as well as earbuds that act as hearing aids.
What about those who are put off by the cost of gym memberships, farm-to-table restaurants and private piano lessons? The good news is that what you choose to eat, where you work out and how you socialize or learn new things can be adapted to any budget. In terms of physical fitness, Erickson suggests taking walks in the park or around the block. For those in locations or seasons in which that’s difficult, doing living-room aerobics or using your own body weight as resistance are great alternatives.
AARP offers online fitness classes to do in your own home.
“It’s too late to start now” or “I’m not mobile enough.”
Less than 15 percent of adults 65 or older get the recommended amounts of aerobic and muscle-strengthening physical activity, according to the 2023 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. In the 2025 AARP survey, the leading barrier to exercise was mobility.
While it’s true that chronic conditions and joint and spine problems increase after age 50, there are ways to exercise that take those issues into account.
“I’ve never seen anyone who’s at an age where they can’t get started,” says Erickson, whose research focuses on the effects of physical activity on brain health across one’s lifespan. For people who are unable to walk safely on a treadmill or around a track, he promotes upper-body exercises. “We don’t think it’s as much about the mode of activity as the intensity and frequency,” he says. There are many routines and exercises that can be done in a chair, on a bench or balancing by a wall, he adds.
For those who say it’s too late to change eating habits, Fenn points to a 2022 study in Neurology that looked at over 72,000 people age 55 or older who replaced 10 percent of the ultra-processed foods in their diets with unprocessed or minimally processed foods and had a 19 percent lower risk of dementia over an average of 10 years. “Eliminate the worst foods for the brain,” she adds.
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