This article was originally published on November 23, 2021.
If your days consist of inadequate sleep, excessive screen time, and little to no physical activity, then you might be harming your health in more ways than one. Although these factors are commonly known to be detrimental to an individual’s physical and emotional health, they have an impact on your cognitive health, too.
According to the National Institute on Age, cognitive health, or "the ability to think, learn, and remember" well, is crucial in everyday function. Something as basic as communicating with another person, paying attention, or remembering information involves different types of cognitive processes that occur unconsciously. You might think it’s too early to be concerned about your cognition, but research shows that engaging in mentally stimulating activities throughout your life is associated with slower late-life cognitive decline.
