A Brain Health Challenge for 2026

Summary

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Podcast Summary: All Of It

Episode: A Brain Health Challenge for 2026

Air Date: January 6, 2026
Host: Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Guest: Dana Smith (New York Times reporter, brain health & aging)

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Overview

This episode of All Of It centers on practical brain health, using the launch of the New York Times' “Five Day Brain Health Challenge” as a springboard. Host Alison Stewart speaks with Dana Smith, who curates the challenge, about actionable strategies, myths, and the science of caring for the brain at any age. Listeners and callers share their journeys, pose questions, and seek real-world advice.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Framing the Challenge: Why Brain Health Now?

• Dana Smith explains that while headlines about dementia can be frightening, dementia is not inevitable.

  “One of the most encouraging things I’ve heard from researchers…is that there’s a lot you can do to reduce your risk of dementia and protect your brain health.”
  — Dana Smith [01:24]

• Message: Like physical health, brain health is under your influence.

The Five Core Pillars of Brain Health

Smith outlines the “Five Day Brain Health Challenge”:

1. Sleep: Foundational for brain maintenance and memory.
2. Diet: Focusing on the “MIND diet,” a Mediterranean-style approach with brain-boosting tweaks.
3. Exercise: Universally championed by experts as the #1 activity for brain resilience.
4. Cognitive Challenge: Mental exercises or novelty-based activities to stimulate the brain.
5. Blood Pressure: Not glamorous but essential; hypertension is a major dementia risk.

“These are really small tweaks…you don’t have to throw out all your favorite foods and just eat raw kale.”
— Dana Smith [09:14]

Addressing Myths & Misconceptions

• Myth 1: Nothing can be done for brain health.
  • Not true: Sleep, exercise, and nutrition matter as much for the brain as for the body.
• Myth 2: Supplements are necessary.
  • Diet is generally more effective; e.g., eat salmon instead of just taking Omega-3s.
• Myth 3: Sleep doesn’t matter that much.
  • Strong science shows deep, regular sleep is vital.

“This kind of rise and grind mentality...has hurt a lot of us.”
— Dana Smith [04:03]

Fun Brain Science Facts

• The brain is constantly changing, even in adulthood; “it’s never too late” to improve brain health.
• Loss of smell may be an early sign of dementia.

“A loss of smell can be an early sign of dementia… I certainly didn’t know that until I was reporting on the dementia beat.”
— Dana Smith [06:00]

• The brain is an “energy hog”—uses 20% of the body’s energy despite being just 2% of mass.

Brain Health in Action: Callers’ Stories & Q&A

Cognitive Wellness Post-TBI [07:01]

• Gary, 20 years post-traumatic brain injury, credits exercise, nutrition, and meditation for ongoing resilience.
• Smith underscores exercise’s direct effect on neurogenesis and neuroplasticity:

  “Exercise is probably the best thing you can do for your brain. It really does actually help new neurons grow.”
  — Dana Smith [07:40]

Memorable Aging & New Challenges [10:33]

• Nancy (age 70) recounts starring in a play, relearning memorization techniques, and how “hard but rewarding” it was.
• Linkage: Novelty and complexity (e.g., theater, new crafts) uniquely stimulate and benefit the brain.

Alcohol & Brain Health [11:33]

• Frances asks if alcohol impacts brain regeneration.
• Smith: “Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Alcohol really is not great for our brains… less is definitely more.” [12:02]

Nutrition: Walnuts, Olive Oil, & Berries [07:40, 09:14, 13:05]

• Walnuts and blueberries emphasized for their antioxidant properties.
• Olive oil is preferred (over coconut oil) for brain-healthy unsaturated fats and omega-3s.

Hydration [08:46]

• Not studied deeply in Smith’s reporting, but: “Please drink water for the health of all of your cells.” [08:50]

Exercise: What Kind and How Much? [14:11]

• All forms of movement count; mix walking (“5,000–7,000 steps per day”), resistance training, and activities that elevate heart rate.

  “Any type of movement that is getting your heart rate up and challenging your muscles is good. There’s no one best type of exercise.”
  — Dana Smith [14:11]

Sleep: Does it Need to Be Uninterrupted? [15:02]

• Long, continuous sleep periods are best for cognitive cleansing via the glymphatic system.
• Short naps may not offer the same deep brain benefits as 7–8 hours of nighttime sleep.

Sports: Tennis & Social Play [16:20]

• Tennis (and dance) have added brain benefits due to social, physical, and cognitive engagement.

  “Socializing is incredibly good for our brain... Probably there's some agility as well, but it's...a mental game.”
  — Dana Smith [16:43]

Games & Novelty [17:49]

• Crossword and puzzle benefits diminish with repetition; novelty and challenge are keys.
  • Try new types of games, crafts, lectures, and activities.

Blood Pressure: The Unsexy But Critical Factor [20:25]

• Smith’s final advice: “Go get your blood pressure checked.” High blood pressure is a major, modifiable risk for dementia.

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Noteworthy Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Your brain is an energy hog.” — Dana Smith [07:40]
• “It’s never too early and never too late to improve your brain health.” — Dana Smith [06:35]
• “If you do the same thing over and over again, the benefit starts to drop a little bit… Novelty is incredibly important.” — Dana Smith [17:49]
• “Any amount of alcohol is not good for your brain…less is definitely more.” — Dana Smith [12:02]
• “Eat a handful of walnuts and blueberries…really, I think the most important thing is go get your blood pressure checked.” — Dana Smith [20:25]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:31: Introduction, brain health challenge overview
• 02:13: Smith outlines the five pillars of the challenge
• 03:16: Invitation for listeners’ stories and questions
• 04:03: Myths and misconceptions
• 06:00: Fun brain facts
• 07:40: Science of exercise, neurogenesis
• 09:14: Simple diet habit suggestions
• 10:33: Caller (Nancy) on memory and novelty in later life
• 12:02: Alcohol and brain health
• 14:11: What counts as “enough” and “the right kind” of exercise
• 15:02: Sleep, naps, and memory
• 16:20: Tennis and social benefits of sports
• 17:49: Cognitive challenge, games, and novelty
• 20:25: Final takeaway: walnuts, blueberries, blood pressure

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Takeaway Actions

• Focus on sleep, diet, exercise, cognitive stimulation, and blood pressure.
• Embrace small changes—add berries, swap in olive oil, walk more, diversify your mental challenges.
• Monitor blood pressure as a critical, often-overlooked factor.
• Remember: It’s never too late or too early to start caring for your brain!

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Transcript

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[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. It's the first full week of 2026, and a new project from the New York Times aims to help people resolve to start taking their brain health seriously. We're talking about the organic gray matter between your ears and making sure that we're keeping one of our most important organs as healthy as possible, particularly as we get older or you have a brain injury like yours truly. The five day program is called the five Day Brain Health Challenge, with the tag A Sharper, more resilient mind starts here. It's been put together by Dana Smith, a New York Times reporter focusing on brain health and aging. Dana, welcome to all of it.

[Dana Smith]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Alison Stewart]

So you report on aging and brain health from a public health perspective. What were your sources telling you about brain health?

[Dana Smith]

I think there's a lot of scary headlines about brain health these days. You know, there's reports that the number of people with dementia is gonna double over the next couple of decades. But one thing that really stood out to me in talking with neurologists and other brain health experts is dementia is not a guarantee. I think a lot of us have dementia in our family. I certainly do, and it can be really a really scary prospect. And I think one of the most encouraging things I've heard from researchers and doctors over the last couple years is that there's a lot that you can do to reduce your risk of dementia and protect your brain health. And so that was really the main message that we wanted to get across with this challenge is that, um, yeah, your, your brain health, just like your physical health, is a lot more in control than people might think.

[Alison Stewart]

It's a five part challenge. We'll get into each portion in some detail, but can you give us an outline of the key pillars?

[Dana Smith]

Absolutely. So I interviewed, you know, a lot of neurologists, you know, dozens of experts for this challenge and really asked people what their top five things for brain health would be and got a smattering of responses. But these were kind of the ones that really rose to the top. So we started yesterday with a quiz just to kind of get readers interested. But the information that was in that day was really about sleep and just how crucial sleep is for brain health. Today we're focused about diet and we're highlighting the mind diet, which is similar to the Mediterranean diet, but with a few key tweaks and just how important nutrition is for brain health. Tomorrow we're going to get into exercise, which frankly was the number one activity that experts mentioned. It is was a unanimous inclusion about how important exercise is for the brain. On Thursday, we're gonna have cognitive challenges. So kind of cognitive exercises or games or ways to stimulate your brain mentally. And then on day five is admittedly maybe not the most interesting or not the sexiest day, but it's blood pressure, and blood pressure is incredibly important for your brain health listeners.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

Have you committed to taking your brain health seriously this year? What does that look like to you? Tell us about your own brain health journey at 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. What's worked for you? What hasn't? How did you build those healthy brain habits? Or maybe you have a quest for our guest. Remember, she's a brain health journalist, not a medical professional. So she can't give you medical advice, but she might be able to explain the science. Some of the. Our number is 212-433-WNYC 212-433-9692. Okay, for folks who started the challenge yesterday, they were presented to see how much they already know about brain health. What are some of the common misconceptions you frequently see in the space?

[Dana Smith]

Oh, that's a great question. You know, I think one is kind of what I mentioned at the top, that people just assume that there's nothing they can do for brain health and that it's, you know, not the same as the rest of your body. And so that is really one thing that we wanted to address that, you know, diet, exercise, sleep are incredibly important for, for mental health, cognitive health, just like for physical health. Another one we see is a lot of people take supplements these days. And while there is some evidence that some supplements like Omega 3s may be helpful, one message that a lot of dietitians and neurologists got across was that really your diet is the best way to get in these important nutrients. So instead of taking an Omega 3 supplement, have a serving of salmon at least once a week. So I think that that was one that really stood out. And let's see, another one. I think that people disregard the importance of sleep. I feel like that has started to change in the last five or ten years. Or so. But this kind of rise and grind mentality I think has hurt a lot of us. And so the importance of sleep is another one that I heard over and over and over again.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

Yeah, there were 12 questions that we were supposed to answer on this quiz. I got nine out of 12. Yeah, I did okay.

[Alison Stewart]

I said I had a PhD.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

A PhD in this quiz. How did you curate the 12 questions? What were you trying to get at with those 12 questions?

[Dana Smith]

We really wanted to include a smattering of kind of what people would experience throughout the week. So there's a couple teasers in there for, you know, the exercise day tomorrow, for the mind diet day. Today we really talk about the importance of walnuts. It turns out walnuts are incredibly good for your brain. They have a lot of great nutrients in them and then also address some of those misconceptions like you mentioned. So things like whether supplements are important enough for brain health. Another part of it was just I have a background in brain research and there's just a lot of kind of fun, nerdy facts that I find really fascinating.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

Oh, give me a couple. Let's go.

[Dana Smith]

One that I think is so interesting is that a loss of smell can be an early sign of dementia, which I think not a lot of people are aware of. I certainly didn't know that until I was reporting on the dementia beat. I think that is really interesting. Things like that. Let's see. Another one that we led with was when your brain stops changing. I think we know I have a baby, I have a daughter, and I know that her brain is changing and growing all the time. But it turns out that our brains never stop changing. While the volume of your brain peaks in childhood and adolescence, and it does start to shrink around our 30s or 40s, your brain actually never stops changing. You can always grow new connections between neurons. There's always changes that can be made in your brain. So I thought that was a fun one to include at the top that. Yeah, it's kind of never too early and never too late to improve your brain health.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

Let's talk to Gary on line one. Hi, Gary. Thank you so much for making the time to call all of it.

[Caller]

Yeah, thanks for having me.

So I am a TBI survivor and.

Now I'm about 20 years post. I've taken a real interest in what I would kind of coined the term as cognitive wellness. Right. So that's all things that's going to either facilitate neurogenesis or neuroplasticity. Main focus is going to be with exercise and Supporting that with nutrition, wellness, and as well as meditation. That's all I have.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

Thanks, Gary, for calling in. Yeah, nutrition is your next big one you have us looking at today. And the first line of it cracked me up. It said, your brain is an energy hog. What makes your brain an energy hog?

[Dana Smith]

So our brain takes up about 2% of our body mass. So it's not, you know, a huge portion of our size, but it takes up a ton of energy. Your brain uses about 20% of the body's energy. And so what you feed your brain or what you feed your body really matters for your brain. It uses up a lot of our glucose and energy that the. That the body produces. So, you know what you. It really matters for brain health. And I loved what Gary said about neuroplasticity. I think this is one of my favorite fun facts that will come up tomorrow in day three around exercise. Exercise is probably the best thing you can do for your brain. And it really does actually help new neurons grow. Connections between brain cells. In the brain, there's these amazing molecules called exokines that are released from. From your muscles and from other organs. And some of them make their way up to the brain. And it really does repair brain cells and helps new connections form between neurons. And there's some research, it's still a little bit up in the air about whether it can help new neurons actually grow in the brain. But it is definitely one of the best things you can do for brain health. And the science behind it is just so fascinating. So I love that Gary mentioned that.

[Alison Stewart]

Can I ask you about nutrition? Does hydration matter?

[Dana Smith]

That's a great question. I definitely wanna say yes, but it wasn't something that came up in my reporting. I can't imagine that it doesn't matter, but it was not officially part of the mind diet. But yes, please drink water for the health of all of your cells.

[Alison Stewart]

What's something simple? Excuse me? What is something simple that folks can implement today to start integrating brain health into their diets?

[Dana Smith]

Yeah, one thing that we really tried to emphasize was that these are really small tweaks that you can make. I think when people hear diet, especially in January, they think of this major overhaul that they have. Have to throw out all of your favorite foods and just eat raw kale. And that is really not what we're trying to do here. You know, we're really encouraging people just to make small tweaks to their diet. So one thing that's really important in the mind diet is berries. Berries have all of These amazing antioxidants that are anti inflammatory in the brain. They're really, really healthy for you. So just add a handful of blueberries to your cereal or your yogurt or your oatmeal in the morning. And that, you know, I think can, can make a small but meaningful effect, hopefully in your brain health.

[Alison Stewart]

We're talking to Dana Smith, New York Times reporter covering aging and brain health. They've just launched a five day brain health challenge with five activities that you can start taking your brain health more seriously. Listeners, what have you done to help your brain? Crosswords, Sudokus? Do you go out in nature? Tell us how your own braille brain health journey began. Our number is 212-433-WNYC2. What's worked for you? What hasn't? Let's take a few more calls. Nancy is calling in from Brooklyn. Hi, Nancy. Thanks for calling in.

[Caller]

Hi.

Great topic. So this fall I'm 70, I'm a very healthy 70. But this fall I went back to the theater after like 40 years of absence. I landed the lead role in a play and suddenly I had to memorize practically every something on every single page, plus monologues. And it was so hard. It was different from when I was 20. I had to work so hard to do this memorization. It would slip out of my head and I have to do it again and again and again. And there were different techniques for memorizing, too, that I found. So I did it. I pulled it off. I had six performances. And I'm so proud of myself. And I realize not everybody, not everybody can play the leading role in a play, but what a fantastic way to get your brain in shape. And I pulled it off.

[Alison Stewart]

Love that you pulled it off. Nancy, thank you so much for calling in and congratulations to you. Let's talk to Frances, who's calling in from the Upper east side.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

She has a question.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi, Francis.

[Caller]

Hi. Yes, I have a question about if consumer alcohol is like deteriorating the ability to regenerate the brain.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

The question is, does alcohol, does the alcohol help?

[Alison Stewart]

Does alcohol hurt the brain? I guess that's the question.

[Dana Smith]

It's a great question. And unfortunately the answer is yes. I'm not entirely sure of the mechanisms, but there is a lot of research, especially in the last couple years, that alcohol really is not great for our brains. It's not great for our bodies either. For a while there was some, you know, the idea that red wine was maybe good for you and a moderate amount was okay. And now I think the tide has really Turned that, you know, any amount of alcohol is not good for your brain. It's not that all alcohol is, you know, if you have one glass of wine, you know, every week or so, I don't think that's going to have a huge impact. But in general, less is definitely more when it comes to alcohol, and it's certainly not good for your brain, unfortunately.

[Alison Stewart]

Let's talk to Ken in Queens. Ken, thanks for calling, all of it.

[Caller]

Thank you. Happy New Year. Let me start with that. And I'm curious, since today is diet day, you already talked about walnuts. What about coconut oil? I have to worry about my heart with coconut oil, but it's supposed to help my brain.

[Dana Smith]

That's a good question. Coconut oil isn't included in the mind diet. The one that they emphasize and said is olive oil because, again, it has a lot of those antioxidant properties that seems to be really great for brain health and reducing inflammation. I believe it also has some of those omega 3s that are really important for brain health. The omega 3s actually help create the insulating sheaths that go that basically help your brain communicate more efficiently between neurons. So there are these long axons that go from brain cell to brain cell, and the Omega 3s make these kind of insulating sheaths that go around those axons and help the messages communicate more clearly or more efficiently. So we know that olive oil is really great for brain health and that is included in the mind diet. Coconut oil is not. And I don't know if it would have any benefit or if it just is not as good as olive oil. But I know that olive oil is the way to go, particularly with salad dressings and for cooking as well.

[Alison Stewart]

Here is a text which brings me to my next question. Exercise. The text says. What kind of exercise?

[Dana Smith]

Any kind. This, I think, is one of the most encouraging messages that researchers wanted to get across. Any type of movement is good for your brain. So there's research on step counts in just walking, and it looks about 5,000 to 7,000 steps a day seems to be really optimal for brain health. So go for a long walk or two around your neighborhood. Go run errands while you're walking. I think that can make a difference on its own. Some of the researchers I spoke with said that they commute to work by walking. But one quote that I loved was walk with a purpose. Walk with. You're trying to get somewhere so you're not just mosing along. You do want to get your heart rate up and your muscles working. We Know that strength training and resistance training is also great for the brain. I mean, really, any type of movement that is getting your heart rate up and challenging your muscles is good. There's no one best type of exercise, any type of movement is good for you.

[Alison Stewart]

A text question we have for you says, does the sleep have to be consecutive or done in stages, like a two hour nap and then five hours later?

[Dana Smith]

Oh, that's a really good question. The standard recommendation is seven to eight hours of sleep a night. And so I'm gonna stick with the standard recommendation. You know, in general, you want long durations of sleep so that you can cycle through, you know, deep sleep and REM sleep, which are really important for memory consolidation. Sleep at night, those long chunks of sleep is when your brain kind of does its daily housekeeping. And this is why it's so important for brain health long term and how. Why good sleep can actually lower your risk for dementia. So when you go to sleep at night, or if you're a shift worker, you know, a long chunk of sleep during the day, your brain, it's called the glymphatic system, and it kicks into high gear and essentially purges out all of the waste and abnormal proteins that might accumulate in your brain. And that includes amyloid, which is implicated in Alzheimer's disease. And so those long durations of sleep is when your brain kind of does itself cleaning. And that's really, really important. I don't know whether that happens during an hour or two nap. That's a great question that I'm gonna take back to some of my sources.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

Let's talk to Todd in Westchester.

[Alison Stewart]

Hi, Todd, thanks for calling all of it.

[Caller]

Hi. I was wondering, you know, I know you said exercise is good and you just talked about that, but I play tennis a lot. I've heard that racket sports, and specifically tennis can add like eight life. Do you know if tennis has anything to do with the brain as well?

[WNYC Host/Producer]

I'm wondering about that because it might be the puzzling of it.

[Dana Smith]

It's funny you mentioned that. I. One of my colleagues is actually working on a story. I believe that it's about, you know, the best exercise for longevity. And I think that tennis is up there. I remember seeing that during ads for the US Open as well. I think it's probably a good combination of the social aspect of tennis as well. Dance is another one that a lot of neurologists mention as being really great for brain health. So, you know, of course there's the kind of the cardiovascular and the fitness aspect to it. But, you know, if you're playing with a friend or a partner, you're having a social engagement. You're having, you know, a fun leisure activity as well. And socializing is incredibly good for our brain. So I think that social component would make potentially tennis more beneficial than, you know, going for a run by yourself. And probably there's some agility as well, but it's, you know, some footwork and kind of a mental game. So I do think that there is something to tennis being particularly good for your brain. Again, I'm going to emphasize any activity is good. So, you know, if you're not a tennis player, you can still get a brain benefit.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

Let's talk about games. In the next couple of days, we're going to get our project that says play a game. Can you give us a sneak peek of what we can expect?

[Dana Smith]

Absolutely. So we are tapping into New York Times games to serve up some fun games for people to play. Although we're not trying to make any claims whatsoever that New York Times game will prevent dementia. We cannot say that. We will not say that. Just want to make that caveat out there. I think what was most fascinating to me about this day was that a lot of people do crossword puzzles or Sudoku or, you know, are in book clubs or, you know, do knitting handicrafts. You know, there's a lot of different ways that you can mentally challenge and stimulate your brain, and that is really the most important thing. But if you do the same thing over and over again, the benefit starts to drop a little bit. So what you really need to do is something challenging. So something that's hard. You know, it can't be the easy mode of a game. You really want to challenge your brain a little bit, and novelty is incredibly important. So one research I spoke with that if you play wordle every day, it probably isn't giving you the same benefit that it used to. So you want to seek out a new game, a new challenge to really kind of keep yourself on your toes. So the crossword puzzle is great. Going to museums, going to lectures, doing handicrafts, those types of things are really important for your brain. But also try to keep a little bit of novelty in it. Try seeking out something new. So that's what we really want to encourage people to do. On day four, let's talk to Richard in Babylon. Hi, Richard.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

Thanks for calling all of it.

[Caller]

Hi, Allison. It's so nice to talk to you again. I was just relating to your screener that, you know, I had brain surgery in 2019 for meningioma. And I found it interesting when I was listening to your interview, I listened to it twice, your interview with your neurosurgeon. I found it interesting and amusing that you consider, you have your neurosurgeon, I have my neurosurgeon. And, you know, I just wanted to emphasize to people that sometimes the discontinuity between something like you would go to my eye doctor. I went to my ophthalmologist and he was concerned that my visual field was being dropping down over the years. And one particular instance, he, he said, I want you to go have an MRI right now. And we did. And it showed up right away. That was in meningioma, which is very kind of a silent thing. And a lot of people might have this. And he said, you got to get to the emergency right away. And it was like one of those.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

One of those things. I'm so sorry to cut you off, Richard, because we're going to run out of time. I feel you. Thank you so much for calling in. Before you go, we've got about 4, 15, 45 seconds left. What is one thing you want people to do today, Dana?

[Dana Smith]

To help their brain eat a handful of walnuts and blueberries. And I'm gonna scoop myself for day five. But really, I think the most important thing is go get your blood pressure checked. All right.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

It's the five day Brain Health Challenge. It's in the New York Times. Dana Smith, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.

[Dana Smith]

Thanks for having me.

[Alison Stewart]

There's more.

[WNYC Host/Producer]

All of it on the way.

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