- Health
- Wellness
- Brain Health
- Education
- by The Memory Exam Team
- June 9, 2026
Not nine. Three, chosen because the evidence behind them is strongest and because you might actually keep them up.
June is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month, which means you are about to be handed a lot of lists. Most have nine or ten items, and a list of ten things is a list of nothing, because nobody starts ten things at once.
Here are three.
One: Move, in a Way You Will Repeat
Physical activity has the most consistent evidence of anything on these lists. The specific activity matters far less than whether you keep doing it, and the trials that worked gave people structure and company rather than a better exercise.
Two: Deal With Your Blood Pressure and Your Hearing
Two separate things, but they belong together because both are concrete, both are checkable this month, and both are among the better supported changeable risks. Neither requires willpower, which is what makes them unlike most advice.
Blood pressure and hearing.
Three: Stay in Other People's Company
Social contact is the one people skip because it does not sound medical. It is consistently associated with better outcomes across large studies, and it is usually the first thing to quietly disappear.
What Is Not on the List?
Supplements. World Health Organization guidance does not recommend omega-3, vitamin B, vitamin E or multivitamins for reducing dementia risk in people without a diagnosed deficiency. That is worth knowing before you spend money on them.
Where This Information Comes From
World Health Organization guidelines on reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia, published 15 July 2026.
Stephan BCM, Cochrane L, Kafadar AH, and others. Population attributable fractions of modifiable risk factors for dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Healthy Longevity 2024;5(6):e406-e421. doi:10.1016/S2666-7568(24)00061-8