Dr. Majid Fotuhi

Now, the things that can shrink the hippocampus include obesity, diabetes, hypertension, poor diet, and sleep apnea.

These are just some of the factors that can literally shrink the brain in a dose-dependent manner.

And hundreds of studies have shown this.

It's not just one or two study here and there.

There's consensus in the literature about those factors shrinking the brain.

On a positive side, there are at least five factors that literally grow the brain, especially the part of the brain called hippocampus.

This part of the brain is roughly the size of your thumb.

You have one on the right, one on the left.

And so exercise, physical exercise, grows the hippocampus.

The more fit you are, the larger will be your hippocampus, and the less likely it is for you to develop Alzheimer's disease.

Second is proper sleep.

people who sleep fewer than six hours a night have a high possibility of shrinking the brain by about 50%.

The hippocampus can go to half its original size if they've had chronic insomnia for 20 to 25 years.

poor diet people who eat a diet that's high in trans fats and high processed food on average have smaller brains and those who eat a mediterranean diet have a slightly larger brain especially the campus people who eat a mediterranean diet can keep their brain up to 18 years younger

Yeah, so the other two are meditation, slow breathing, and brain training.

So those five pillars of brain health have been shown to increase the size of your hippocampus in a dose-dependent manner.

You're asking the great questions, Mike, I must say.

So there are things that can reduce and mitigate the abnormalities that have happened to the brain due to what we call Alzheimer's disease.

Let me just step back and explain something a little more clearly.

So there are two basket of things that can shrink your brain.