Cognitive decline can be slowed down with lifestyle changes

Weight loss is much easier if you eat foods with low calories per gram.

If you have access to statistics for the general population, you can forego the control group, I would think. But that requires doing the study in a country with a well run health care system and properly regulated medical records so that you can get these stats without privacy issues.

(Glances in Denmark's general direction.. )

> neglecting to offer an intervention to one group would be unethical.

i read that as "doing Science would be unethical"

Just BrainHQ training alone would likely increase the scores. The rest is general health management.

If you stop using your phone for anything other than communicating (yes, not just the loose "stop doomscrolling" advice) a lot of these will come naturally. It will lead you to using a real alarm clock and not using your phone after going to bed, which will make your sleep schedule that much more consistent, and also improve quality of sleep. These will probably give you more motivation, which you'll need because the time you used to waste on the phone now needs to be occupied by a real hobby, and here comes language learning, chess, music, etc.

(not saying you specifically are a phone addict)

>Just need to sleep, exercise, eat well, socialize, reduce stress, stop doomscrolling, learn a language, play chess, meditate, avoid sugar, limit screen time

these are mainly issues in america, canada and parts of europe. I'm currnetly down in colombia. I walked 30 min just to get to a cafe. am activly learning spanish with locals which also checks of socializing. I drink black coffee and you won't have much time for screens if you meet someone to keep you focused on them.

> and reverse the entropy of the universe.

if only...

pick one intervention and work on just that one to start. less anxious decision paralysis

I say sleep is the best one to open with

The point of life is to struggle. I don't even mean that to be deep. And I don't wish misery on anyone.

I'm saying entropy is a mess. That's what it is.

Honestly, these all start to happen naturally when you start dedicating yourself to doing something first thing in the morning. I spent my 20s smoking cigarettes, drinking as much as I wanted, eating whatever. Then after a pretty intense LSD trip I decided to re-dedicate myself to a daily meditation practice. No excuses, just every morning wake up and sit for 20 minutes.

The first thing you realize is that your sessions are a lot more fruitful when you don't show up to your morning practice hung over, or on 5 hours of sleep, or after a night of chain smoking. After that practice was established for a year, I started working out. And then you realize your training is better when you're feeding your body correctly, so your diet changes. Etc. They all flow into and out of each other, as they're all essentially the same practice.

The important thing I've found is when you want to begin a new habit, put it first thing in the morning. No excuses. Actually, this reminds me of something I read in an interview with David Bowie years ago -- when asked what he learned to appreciate as he got older his answer was just "mornings".

Don't forget to have a diet low in histamine. Figuring out how to do it is a fun exercise - some of the stuff that's rich in it is otherwise genuinely healthy, like spinach.

Excluding the last one, those are all things that will probably make you happier day to day, too.

I could have told you that for a lot less than 50 mil!

> reverse the entropy of the universe.

INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER

Don't forget to journal

What an inspiring way to give back, kudos. There's definitely something to be said for keeping busy, and as you allude it's that people-centered problem solving and banter that gets you that lift.

Yeah it's real. I spent a few months recovering from PTSD and burnout a few years ago, and noticed myself starting to slip in various ways. As soon as I could, I picked up a coding project as part of my recovery plan — it was really helpful.

Even if I retire, I hope to be able to do some cognitively-challenging thing for as long as I can.

I don't mean to be negative, but things become boring fast when you have no hobbies and interests outside of work. You were likely programmed to do work -- so much that it became your only hobby.

The more important question appears to be why it seems to difficult to follow the advice?

Personally, I'm well aware of the positive effects of drinking plenty of water, eating vegetables, exercising daily, and going to bed early. However, I buy myself a chocolate bar every day, love pizza, just want to unwind after a hard day at work, and still read Reddit late into the night.

All the healthy stuff has friction: a workout takes time out of the day, the veggies need preparation, while going to bed early means I'm missing out on fun or intriguing things that I would learn about otherwise.

This was a large multi centre prospective RCT; so I would say that it adds to evidence from other sources acquired in less rigorous ways. This was also a structured multidisciplinary intervention; so this study may add to what can be done in terms of implementation, because there is still work to be done on that front. But yes, at face value, it sounds like what we already know! (But which many/most are not implementing…)

Apparently a lot. Between 2021 and 2023 the US obesity rate was 40%+.

I'm actually working on an app for myself to remind me of that.

For example, there is a full glass of water sitting on my desk from 9am. It's noon. I haven't taken a sip. Until now.

Constant reminders do work.

Beatings will continue until morale improves.

It's the signal that they have no idea what they're talking about. Always remember everything doctors said people should do to cure their stomach ulcers: the "why not?" list.

"Your medical team has carefully gone over the results of your tests, and we've finally come to the careful consensus that you should keep active, drink more water, get enough sleep but not too much, and eat your vegetables."

"But..."

"Why not? Do you think vegetables are bad for you?"

"But doctor, I have a broken leg!"

Maybe start with a 5k rather than an ultra?

I think that setting goals like "do an ultra" is more likely to have people stop entirely rather than downgrading their goal to something more doable when they hit that first roadblock.

Better to start small and catch the running bug than try to do something that the vast majority of the population will never even aspire to.

Hard disagree with this.

The number one reason I see people fail their diet/exercise goals is because they go to big to fast.

Training to do an ultra marathon if youve never run a 5k, swam a mile in open water, or even mountain biked for 5 miles is a sure fire way to get injured. You need to build a base of knowledge, muscle, and nutritional habits or you set yourself up for failure, imo. Not a hard rule, but close.

Crossfit is the last thing I would recommend to anyone, especially a beginner.

Are you related to Dricus du Plessis?

Also, ultras will overwork the shit out of your heart. (Bro science)

Nonsense, my AI therapist says that relying on AI makes me smrt!