When we think about the common signs of aging we often think about the obvious everyday externals, like wrinkles and thinning hair, or the need for increasingly more powerful reading glasses. But when it comes to longevity, it’s pretty clear that what's going on in your head is ultimately far more important than what it looks like on the outside. 

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While fillers and Botox can shore up an aging face, what are the most important ‘tweakments’ to help keep your brain young? There are a number of must-dos, but the real chart-trooper is sleep. Without enough of it – we’re talking the restorative, high-quality kind – you're all but daring your brain to age rapidly. Forgetfulness, slowed thinking, and a diminished ability to process new information are just the tip of the iceberg. Over time, poor brain health can set the stage for serious cognitive disorders like dementia and Alzheimer's disease. So, how to slow the speed at which your brain ages? I have some sleep-centric thoughts:

Send in the brain cleanup crew.

Sleep isn’t just a couple of hours of downtime for the body — it’s an essential maintenance period for the brain. Sleep is the time when the overnight cleaning crew comes in to take out the cellular trash, make repairs and refresh your brain for the next day. During deep sleep, cerebrospinal fluid (moved along by your glymphatic system) washes through your brain, helping to clear out toxins and waste products, including beta-amyloid, the primary protein associated with Alzheimer's disease. Without adequate sleep, the waste-clearing glymphatic system sputters, and over time, beta-amyloid can pile up, accelerating brain aging and heightening the risk of cognitive decline. 

To make memories – and keep them – sleep is non-negotiable.

What’s more, quality sleep also plays a critical role in memory consolidation. Your brain does a lot of the processing and storing of new information while you’re sleeping. Running on too few hours of shut-eye interferes with the process, leading to increased forgetfulness and a reduced capacity for learning. You’ve probably experienced this on a micro level, for example, after a few nights in a row of poor sleep, you find yourself in a fog, struggling to think straight or quickly. Now multiply that over hundreds or thousands of nights and all those hours of sleep shortfall wind up contributing to the cognitive slowdown that many people assume is an inevitable part of aging — but it doesn’t have to be. 

Sleep disruption is a quiet culprit in brain aging.

As we age, sleep tends to get shorter, choppier, and lower in quality — less slow-wave (deep) sleep and more fragmented rest. That’s bad news for our brains. These disruptions are linked to neurodegenerative diseases, and scientists believe poor sleep doesn’t just go along with these conditions — it might actually help cause them. A recent study found that people with poor sleep quality in their 30’s and 40’s showed more signs of poor brain health in late middle age. While there’s more research to be done on the subject, for the sake of your brain, the time to start upgrading your sleep program is now. The thinking is that prioritizing good sleep, early in life and early middle age supports sharper thinking and better brainpower as you age, so why not give your brain the best shot at a long and healthy life. Doing so is like an investment in future-you’s mental clarity.

Sleep keeps your brain more youthful – and nimble too.  

Not getting enough sleep? Your brain may pay the price, both now, and much much later. Sleep deprivation is connected to faster brain atrophy (yikes!) and weaker functional connectivity (eek!) — aka, the brain's ability to keep its different regions working smoothly together. High-quality sleep, on the other hand, supports brain balance, or homeostasis, and helps put the brakes on premature aging. Think of it sleep as a kind of nightly rejuvenating spa treatment.

Sleep lets your brain remember better and more.

One of sleep’s superpowers that you might not be aware of is its key role in ‘memory consolidation’ — the process of strengthening and organizing new memories. But as we age, sleep changes can mess with this process, particularly affecting episodic memory in older folks. During sleep, rhythmic electrical activity, or oscillations, are crucial for memory reactivation and integration, which can become impaired with age. So, the high-quality sleep you get now can go a long way in helping to cement those memories, so you’re better able to access them now and down the road.

Aging and sleep – a two-way street.

Aging doesn’t just affect sleep — sleep affects aging. As we get older, sleep disruptions become more common as the brain undergoes physical changes like cortical thinning, white matter decline and neurotransmitter imbalances, and the glymphatic system starts to decline. Those disruptions tend to create a vicious circle that drives cognitive decline. 

The Good News: sleep deprivation’s rapid aging effects are avoidable.

Here’s the silver lining: even though pulling an all-nighter can make your brain temporarily "older," recovery sleep can reverse those effects. While one bad night won’t doom your brain to disease, a lot of bad nights likely will, so consistent good sleep is key to keeping your mind sharp and spry for years to come. So, how can you harness the power of sleep to keep your brain young? Here are a few brain-saving strategies:

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1. Prioritize the length of time you sleep: Adults typically need 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Consistently getting less than that can impair cognitive function and speed up brain aging. 
2. Maintain a consistent sleep schedule: Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day helps regulate your body's internal clock, making it easier to fall asleep and wake up refreshed. Your body – and your brain’s cleaning crew, aka the glymphatic system – thrive on a consistent routine.
3. Create a sleep-friendly environment: Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet. Avoid screens before bed — the blue light emitted from devices can suppress melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep.
4. Limit caffeine particularly after 2 pm, and alcohol: Caffeine can linger in your system for up to 8 hours, disrupting sleep, while alcohol, despite its sedative effects, interferes with sleep quality, waking you up for multiple bathroom visits throughout the night as blood sugar rises and falls. 
5. Keep it moving: Regular physical activity and movement throughout the day supports better sleep and overall brain health. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days.
6. Relax and wind down from the day before bed: Establish a calming pre-sleep routine — reading, gentle stretches, or meditation to help signal to your body that it's time to wind down.
7. Lay off the Ambien: The powerful sleep aid, according to recent in the journal Cell, the powerful prescription sleep aid Ambien may reduce the glymphatic system’s efficiency by more than 30%, impairing the clearance of beta-amyloid, the primary protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.
8.  Do a sleep deep dive: check out post ‘14 Strategies for Superior Sleep’ featuring my favorite sleep savvy tips.

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BOTTOM LINE: Prioritizing quality rest now can help ensure that your brain stays sharp, resilient, and ready for whatever the years ahead bring. A youthful mind is arguably the greatest anti-aging asset of all.