For decades, I've been sharing information about how you can maintain your brain power. The full range of self-care that protects your cognition includes high-quality nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management, having a posse and sense of purpose, and enjoying speed-of-processing games.

You can find a comprehensive overview of the benefits of these habits in my book "The Great Age Reboot."

In addition, I love to share other researchers' findings that expand our knowledge of how to achieve a younger brain age.

That's why I've mentioned the benefits of therapeutic plasma exchange (I do it) multiple times, and it's why I'm delighted to share a recent study in the journal Brain Communications.

Researchers looked at the impact of optimism, restorative sleep, stress management, healthy waist circumference, not smoking, and strong social support on the brain age of people dealing with chronic pain. (Chronic pain is associated with body-wide inflammation that impacts the brain.)

Over a two-year stretch, they used MRI imaging to evaluate brain aging and found that participants ages 45-85 who reported the greatest number of brain-protecting lifestyle habits had a brain that was measurably eight years younger than their chronological age. And that was regardless of how severe their pain was.

That's how powerfully effective those self-care techniques are.