Dr. Majid Fotuhi

I teach at Johns Hopkins.

I teach at Harvard.

And everywhere I go, what I find interesting is that people don't realize the brain is an organ.

To most people, the brain is like this mysterious black box.

Many people think that the brain is like a computer that gets old and rusty with aging, and that there is not much they can do.

In reality, I think people need to think of their brain as a garden.

If you take care of a garden, the plants grow.

If there are any fruit plants, they produce fruits.

The weeds will not be there.

And if you neglect that garden, the weeds grow, and the plants won't grow, and it's a mess.

And if you take care of the garden by, you know, remove the weeds and water it properly, you know, give fertilizer regularly, you'll have a beautiful garden that blossoms.

And the same applies to your brain.

I've been studying this thing for a long time.

So I have taken care of many patients and I've come to appreciate that 12 weeks seems to be the sweet spot in order to see noticeable improvement in your cognitive function with lifestyle modifications.

First of all, you don't have to run a marathon.

just walk 3,000 to 5,000 steps a day, or just exercise three hours a week.

Make sleep a priority, sleep seven to eight hours.

Do something like meditation or slow breathing 10 minutes a day, and get a habit of learning things.

So if you do five things that are part of your daily routines, you really don't have to do anything extra.

You don't have to buy equipment or buy expensive supplements or do anything extraordinary.