Brain Grade: B+

Your Grade: B+

Your brain grade is a summary of your overall cognitive health today. Based on your lifestyle choices, we have compiled a complete brain health report with personalized analysis and suggestions for improvement from our neuroscientists.

Diet analysis

• You're drinking an amount of coffee or tea that is beneficial to brain health. Neuroscientist's Tip: Keep drinking coffee or tea in moderation. Coffee and tea are some of the leading sources of antioxidants. It’s good that you’re drinking some each day. Drinking up to four cups of coffee or tea daily can help ensure you’re getting antioxidants at levels that are beneficial to cognitive function.

• You're eating enough fish or shellfish to have a positive effect on your brain. Neuroscientist's Tip: Keep eating fish. You’re eating 2 servings a week of fish, shellfish, flaxseed oil, walnuts, or cooked soybeans and that means your brain is getting a good amount of the omega-3 fatty acids that are critical for communication between brain cells. DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is a particularly important omega-3 fatty acid that is a component of the structure of brain cells.

• You're not eating enough foods high in antioxidants. Improve this. Neuroscientist's Tip: Eat more foods with lots of antioxidants. You’re getting some antioxidant rich foods in your diet, but you could be getting even more! Adding certain types of antioxidant-rich berries, beans, and vegetables to your meal plan will help you boost your brain health.

• You picked chocolate, a good choice for brain health. Neuroscientist's Tip: Chocolate can be good for the brain! Dark chocolate is a good dessert choice for your brain. Dark chocolate contain high levels of antioxidants, which have been shown to be helpful in maintaining cognition. The higher the percentage of cocoa in the chocolate, the healthier it is.

• You avoid excess alcohol consumption; that's good for your brain. Neuroscientist's Tip: Continue to avoid excessive alcohol consumption. Avoiding excessive alcohol consumption is increasing your brain grade. Keep it up.

Exercise analysis

• You're getting regular aerobic exercise that can improve your brain health. Neuroscientist's Tip: Maintain your aerobic exercise routine. Your aerobic is helping keep your brain fit, as well as your body. Aerobic exercise leads to the growth and development of brain cells, and may even stimulate the production of new brain cells. Lack of aerobic exercise is associated with declines in cognition, and may increase the risk of dementia.

• You're not getting regular strength training. Improve this. Neuroscientist's Tip: Do more strengthening exercise. Strength training is an important part of overall fitness and a key to keep your brain healthy. Adding some strength training to your exercise regimen will increase your brain grade. Strong muscles improve balance and reduce frailty, making it less likely that you will experience a serious injury that could restrict your movements and throw your brain-healthy lifestyle out of balance.

Health analysis

• Stressfuls events have been a part of your life in the past year. Improve this. Neuroscientist's Tip: Keep your brain healthy to help deal with stress. You indicated that you have had some very stressful events in the past year. Stressful life events have been associated with problems of cognition. Keeping your brain healthy in other areas can help you prepare for and recover from these stressors.

• You're not getting enough sleep. Improve this. Neuroscientist's Tip: Get more sleep. Getting enough sleep is critical for proper brain function. The brain consolidates learning and memory during sleep. Maintaining regular sleeping habits is critical for cognitive function and brain health in general. While the ideal amount of sleep differs by individual, most need between 6-8 hours for optimal cognitive performance.

• You abstain from smoking. Neuroscientist's Tip: Continue to abstain from smoking. Smoking can be detrimental to your cognitive function in a variety of ways, and has been linked to an increased incidence of cognitive decline. By not smoking, you're keeping your brain, and body as a whole, in much better shape.

Lifestyle analysis

• Your brain health can be positively affected by your strong social network. Neuroscientist's Tip: Connect with your social network. Your social network is improving your brain grade. Having a close and active social network has been shown to be associated with a reduced risk of cognitive problems in aging.

• You're doing cognitively stimulating activities that are good for your brain. Neuroscientist's Tip: Keep doing cognitively stimulating activities. While there has been little rigorous study of the benefits of particular leisure time activities, many scientists believe that engaging in cognitively stimulating activities is good for keeping the brain sharp.

• You're improving your brain health by taking on new challenges. Learn more. Neuroscientist's Tip: Continue to challenge yourself. Continue to challenge yourself. Taking on new challenges is an important part of keeping your brain functioning its best. Brain plasticity, the ability for the brain to reorganize itself, is spurred on by new challenges.

• Training your brain isn't part of your weekly routine. Improve this. Neuroscientist's Tip: Start training your brain. Doing some cognitive training will improve your brain grade. Studies have shown that doing cognitive training exercises can improve attention, memory, and fluid intelligence. These types of exercises have also been shown to have benefits for driving performance and health-related quality of life.

Cognition analysis

• You have few problems with cognition, but should still take care of your brain.