Understanding what drives — or deters — older adults from engaging in brain-healthy habits is essential for improving long-term cognitive well-being. The AARP Staying Sharp program identifies six pillars of brain health that can be remembered with the acronym “Be More”:
-
Be social
-
Engage your brain
-
Manage stress
-
Ongoing exercise
-
Restorative sleep
-
Eat right
In 2025, AARP conducted a survey to explore how older adults engage these six pillars. The survey also examined the barriers to engagement, along with the likelihood that individuals would engage more often if guidance were provided. In addition, the survey explored the awareness that hearing loss is a risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia and what, if anything, would encourage participants to get their hearing checked or hearing problems addressed.
The results of the survey were published in Motivators and Barriers to Engaging in Brain-Healthy Behaviors: Adults Ages 50-Plus, a report that outlines how most older adults engage in four of the six brain-healthy behaviors at least three days per week, but that also reveals that many adults encounter at least one barrier to engaging in these six pillars.
So what does the study actually tell us? Let’s dig into the key takeaways.
Brain-Healthy Behaviors: Engagement and Barriers
Compared to the other pillars, including stress management and exercise in a typical week appears to be somewhat challenging for American adults 50-plus.
The number of adults 50-plus who engage with each pillar at least three times per week include:
American adults ages 65-plus engage in some brain-healthy behaviors more often than adults 50–64.
Significantly more adults 65-plus socialize (75% vs. 62% of adults aged 50–64), engage in mentally-stimulating activities (73% vs. 59%), eat healthy (70% vs. 56%), and manage their stress three or more days per week (56% vs. 44%).
Many American adults 50-plus cite at least one barrier to engaging in brain-health behaviors.
More than half of older adults experience at least one barrier to getting the recommended amount of sleep (65%) and exercise (62%) along with healthy eating (61%) and socializing (52%). About one-third cite at least one barrier to engaging in mentally stimulating activities and managing stress (36% each).
The top barriers to each pillar include:
-
Getting restorative sleep: falling or staying asleep (38%), racing thoughts (32%) and health reasons (16%)
-
Healthy eating: cost (30%), it’s hard (22%) and time (14%)
-
Adequate exercise: mobility (19%), dislike it (17%) and low priority (16%)
-
Socializing: having few friends (22%), prefer to be alone (20%) and live too far away from others (16%)
-
Engaging in mental activities: knowledge (14%), low priority (11%) and time (7%)
-
Stress management: too much stress (10%), no time (9%) and no support (9%)
Most American adults 50-plus say they would be likely to include brain-healthy behaviors in their daily routine if they had how-to instructions.
At least three-quarters said step-by-step instructions on ways to incorporate healthy activities would make them at least somewhat likely to include them in their daily life. Broken down by pillar, the number of older adults who say they would be extremely likely, very likely or somewhat likely to include that pillar in their daily life if they had step-by-step instructions is:
-
7–9 hours of restful sleep: 82%
-
Healthy eating: 81%
-
Mentally stimulating activities: 81%
-
Stress management: 78%
-
150 minutes of weekly exercise: 77%
-
Socialize with friends or family: 75%
American adults 50-plus recognize the impact that certain activities have on brain health, especially restful sleep and stress management.
Pillar by pillar, the number of adults who recognize that each activity has a significant impact on brain health includes:
-
Getting enough sleep each night: 82%
-
Managing stress: 78%
-
Engaging in mentally stimulating activities: 75%
-
Eating healthy, well-balanced meals: 74%
-
Getting enough weekly exercise: 65%
-
Socializing with friends and family: 63%
There are significant differences between American women and men when it comes to the impact of certain activities on brain health.
Women are much more likely than men to understand that managing stress (83% of women vs. 72% of men), engaging in mentally stimulating activities (80% vs. 70%), eating healthy and nutritious meals (80% vs. 67%), and socializing (70% vs. 56%) have a significant impact on brain health.
Hearing Health
Many American adults 50-plus have some difficulty hearing.
Just over one in 10 (13%) adults 50-plus have treated their hearing loss. However, nearly half (47%) say they have a hearing concern that has not been addressed. Excluding adults with excellent hearing, nearly eight in 10 (79%) adults who express a hearing concern have left it unaddressed — despite the growing availability of solutions, including many startup participants in the AgeTech Collaborative.
Knowing hearing loss is a risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia would encourage American adults 50-plus to address a hearing loss.
More than seven in 10 adults 50-plus said they would be greatly or somewhat encouraged to get a hearing test or get hearing aids, if appropriate (72% and 73%, respectively). Some adults have already had a hearing test (9%) or already have a hearing aid (7%).
Implications
Knowing what’s good for the brain and doing what’s good for the brain are sometimes at odds with each other.
American adults 50-plus are aware that six different healthy behaviors have a significant impact on the brain. Most adults engage in most of these six behaviors at least three days per week. Exercise, however, has the lowest level of engagement, pointing to a struggle to routinely include enough.
The good news is that there is a high likelihood that someone would be encouraged to engage in brain-healthy activities more often if they had how-to guidance to help. This information represents an opportunity for AgeTech innovators to raise awareness of their solutions and exactly how people can access and use them.
AgeTech Collaborative participants can log into the AgeTech Collaborative Library to read the report in full.
#ResearchandResources