Only 9% of Americans Know How to Maintain Brain Health, Alzheimer’s Association Finds

Key Takeaways:

• According to a new report by the Alzheimer’s Association, 88% of US adults 40 years and older said maintaining brain health as they age is very important, but only 9% said they know “a lot” about how to maintain it.
• Three in four survey respondents said lifestyle habits such as sleep, diet, exercise and mentally stimulating activities are very important for brain health, yet many reported not doing them consistently.

Many Americans want to protect their brain health as they age, but a new Alzheimer’s Association special report suggests most are still unsure what that should look like in everyday life.

The special report, Brain Health in America: Understanding and Supporting Lifelong Cognitive Health, found that adults aged 40 and older place a high value on brain health, yet relatively few feel well-informed about how to maintain it. Among those surveyed, 88% said maintaining brain health as they age is very important, but only 9% said they know “a lot” about ways to support it.

The special report is part of the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2026 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report, which notes that cognitive health is shaped across the lifespan.

Three in four survey respondents said lifestyle behaviors such as sleep, diet, physical activity and mentally stimulating activities play a very important role in maintaining brain health as they age. But belief did not always match behavior. Many said they were not practicing these habits consistently, including around sleep and physical activity.

The report also found that concern about dementia is widespread, but many people are less certain that lifestyle changes can help lower risk. Sixty-eight percent of adults said they are worried about developing Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. But fewer than half, 46%, strongly associated lifestyle behaviors with reducing dementia risk.

The broader report also included several other findings about how Americans view brain health:

• Confidence was much higher than knowledge. While 90% of adults rated their own brain health as good to excellent, only 9% said they know “a lot” about how to maintain it.
• Cognitive exercise drew the most interest. In a brain health program modeled after the US POINTER study, respondents were most likely to say they would engage in cognitive exercise, ahead of health monitoring, nutrition and physical exercise.
• People preferred flexibility. Forty percent said they would prefer self-guided activities at home, and 39% favored a hybrid of self-guided and in-person sessions. Only 8% preferred a fully in-person format.

The special report also highlighted findings from the US POINTER study, a large randomized controlled trial that tested a structured lifestyle program built around exercise, cognitive activity and other brain health habits. Over two years, both the structured and self-guided groups improved, but the structured group showed significantly greater cognitive improvement. According to the report, their cognitive scores were equivalent to those of people up to two years younger.

Although awareness of the US POINTER study and lifestyle brain health research was low, nearly three in four adults said they would be somewhat or very interested in participating in a similar brain health program. Cost was the biggest factor shaping participation, followed by location, personal motivation and insurance coverage.

The report may be most revealing in what it says about where people want guidance to come from. Two in three adults said they would prefer to learn about brain health from a health care provider, and 86% said they want brain health information during routine care. Yet only 14% said they had discussed maintaining brain health with a physician, and only 11% said they had talked with a physician about lowering their risk of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias.

Could Alzheimer’s Disease Be Detected Earlier?

Research has been looking at whether Alzheimer’s-related changes could be picked up earlier through blood-based testing. In 2025, the FDA cleared Fujirebio Diagnostics’ Lumipulse, the first blood test to help evaluate Alzheimer’s disease in adults 55 and older who are already showing signs of cognitive decline. The test offers a less invasive option than PET scans or spinal taps.

Other studies are exploring whether risk signals could show up even earlier. At the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, researchers reported that certain changes in mitochondrial DNA in blood were linked to lower cognitive scores and declines over time in a preliminary study of adults ages 40 to 65. 

In a separate study, an NYU Langone Health-led team analyzed data from nearly 400,000 patients and found that a higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, a routine blood-based immune marker, was associated with increased future risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias before cognitive symptoms appeared. Both lines of research are still investigational.