6 Reasons to Ask Your Doctor About Brain Health

A conversation about your health isn’t complete if it doesn’t include your brain

Sonya Collins

Published April 09, 2025

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Have you talked to your doctor about your — or a loved one’s — brain health? You may not know this, but a cognitive assessment is a covered benefit for Medicare enrollees age 65 or older.

Only about one in four Medicare beneficiaries takes advantage of that benefit, according to 2023 data from the Understanding America Study. But you don’t have to reach a certain age or have any signs of memory loss to start this important conversation with your doctor. In fact, you should make a point of bringing it up at your next appointment.

“We need to change the script for when we talk about brain health. I think people should be talking to their doctors about brain health throughout the lifespan,” says Jessica Caldwell, a neuropsychologist and Director and E.L. Weigand Chair for the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Prevention and Research Center at Cleveland Clinic in Las Vegas. The point is not to wait until you notice a decline, says Fiorella Perez, M.D., a geriatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. “You want to really be proactive about your brain health from early on.”

Here are six reasons to start a conversation with your doctor about your brain health.

1. If you don’t start the conversation, it might not happen.

At an annual physical, doctors check your blood pressure and pulse. They look in your ears and down your throat. They check your weight and cholesterol, too. Anything abnormal in these areas can point to possible health problems. But none of these abnormalities necessarily lead to a conversation about brain health.

You might have to bring up the topic yourself.

Most health care providers are hesitant to bring up the topic themselves, according to a 2023 report in BMC Primary Care that reviewed 22 studies on discussions about brain health between patients and health care providers. “Some doctors spend only a brief amount of time trying to review a whole lot of medical information, so this kind of discussion opener can be a helpful reminder to doctors that we’ve got to focus on memory [and other brain issues] during the appointment as well,” Caldwell says.

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2. You can take action and plan ahead.

A conversation with your doctor about brain health may help you get ahead of potential problems. For example, when someone has a little bit of memory loss that’s not serious enough to impair daily activities, doctors call that mild cognitive impairment, or MCI. In about 10 to 15 percent of people, MCI can go on to become dementia.

Your odds of slowing down or stalling MCI can improve with lifestyle changes, particularly ongoing exercise.

A 2022 study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease analyzed the results of 12 randomized clinical trials that measured the brain benefits of exercise on adults over age 60 with MCI. Combined, the studies showed that consistent physical activity led to small improvements in attention and executive function — the ability to carry out a task that includes multiple steps or smaller tasks.

And when it comes to getting brain benefits from exercise, forget “no pain, no gain.” Another review of existing research, published in Geriatric Nursing in 2025, found that for older people with MCI, lighter “mind-body” exercises, such as tai chi, brought more cognitive benefits than physically tougher resistance exercises.

3. You can take action at any age.

A good reason to talk to your doctor about your brain health is that, at virtually any phase of your life, you can do things to make your brain healthier or keep it healthy as time goes by.

“A conversation with your doctor might give you the added push you need to start doing these things,” Caldwell says.

It’s really never too early. Research published in The Lancet in 2024 identified numerous lifestyle factors that could help stave off dementia later in life. Besides the usual suspects — a healthy diet and plenty of exercise — young people can also aim to stay sharp for life by preventing or treating vision and hearing loss, getting help for depression, being social and going to college.

And, it’s never too late. In fact, a research analysis from 2023 in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews found that making healthy lifestyle changes even after age 80 can help shore up your thinking skills.

“It’s always a great time,” Caldwell says, “no matter your age, to start that conversation.”

4. Brain health is health.

Brain health is a crucial part of your overall well-being. “Your brain is another organ in your body, just like your heart, just like your kidneys,” says Perez. “Just like you try to prevent bad health outcomes for your heart, you have to do the same for your brain.”

In fact, she adds, all those conditions that we think of as heart risks — high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity — are risks for your brain, too.

“Many people don’t realize that their other health conditions could be affecting their brain health,” Perez says. “If you don’t have good control, for example, of blood pressure or diabetes, these can lead to damage in your brain cells and the arteries in your brain.”

5. Your doctor can tell you what’s normal — and what’s not.

When you have a conversation with your doctor about brain health, you can find out exactly what is and isn’t normal. “You need to ask those questions,” Perez says, “so that your doctor can tell you whether it sounds normal or whether you should investigate further.”

6. Screenings are available.

If your doctor does want to investigate further, a memory screening can give an idea of whether your problems could be dementia-related or stem from something else. These screenings also provide a baseline so that when you follow up, you can compare results and then take the right action.

To download a guide on how to talk to your doctor, click here.