A recent study suggests that simple healthy habits may help keep the brain younger even in people living with chronic pain.
Researchers used MRI scans to compare “brain age,” a measure of how the brain appears on imaging, with participants’ actual age. People with healthier lifestyle behaviours tended to have brains up to eight years younger than expected, even when chronic pain was present.
Chronic pain is common in middle-aged and older adults and has been linked to accelerated brain aging in past research. In this study, researchers followed more than 100 adults aged 45 to 85 over two years and assessed chronic pain severity alongside lifestyle and psychosocial factors such as tobacco use, body weight, sleep quality, stress levels, and optimism.
The key lifestyle factors associated with a younger brain included maintaining good sleep hygiene, a healthy body weight, avoiding tobacco, managing stress effectively, and maintaining positive social ties. Researchers emphasised that lifestyle and social habits mattered more than pain severity alone and that many of these factors can be modified with support from healthcare providers.
This research highlights the potential importance of everyday lifestyle choices for protecting brain health.
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