Dr. Kaplan’s Brain Health

Dr. Kaplan’s Brain Health Think Faster and Remember More with Dr. Kaplans Brain Health

Your brain has a clock, and light helps set it.Circadian rhythms are the roughly 24-hour cycles that help coordinate whe...
09/04/2026

Your brain has a clock, and light helps set it.

Circadian rhythms are the roughly 24-hour cycles that help coordinate when your brain and body are prepared for wakefulness, rest and sleep.

Light is one of the strongest signals to this internal clock. Morning and daytime light help reinforce alertness and daytime timing, while darkness in the evening helps prepare the body for sleep.

Why does that matter for the brain?

A well-aligned circadian rhythm supports more consistent, restorative sleep, and quality sleep plays an important role in memory, attention and overall cognitive function.

That doesn’t mean ordinary daylight is the same as the tailored light intervention we highlighted in yesterday’s Neuroscience Frontier study. But the underlying biology helps explain why researchers are so interested in the relationship between light, sleep, circadian rhythms and cognition.

Sometimes supporting your brain starts with something very basic, helping it know when it’s day, and when it’s time to rest.

Could light become part of the future of cognitive care?A new randomized, placebo-controlled study explores that questio...
09/03/2026

Could light become part of the future of cognitive care?

A new randomized, placebo-controlled study explores that question in 61 adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

For 24 weeks, participants received either a home-based tailored light intervention designed to strengthen circadian signaling or a placebo-light condition.

The group receiving the tailored light intervention showed greater improvement on a standardized memory test called the ADAS-Cog, which is commonly used in studies of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease to measure areas such as memory, language, attention and other thinking abilities.

Researchers are now asking whether supporting the body's natural light-dark rhythm could also support memory, sleep and cognition.

The active-light group also showed improvements in several measures related to sleep and nighttime wakefulness,

Why might light matter?

Light reaching the eyes does more than help us see. It also sends information to the brain's internal clock, helping coordinate daily rhythms of wakefulness and sleep.

This was a small study, and it did not show that light prevents Alzheimer’s disease or reverses MCI. The intervention used a specially tailored circadian-effective light, not red-light therapy, near-infrared light therapy or simply a brighter household lamp.

But the findings offer an intriguing signal, and another reason scientists are looking closely at the connection between light, sleep, ciracadian rhythms and brain health.

Sometimes something as familiar as light turns out to have biology we are only beginning to understand.

Study: Li W, et al. Journal of Applied Gerontology. 2026

To make one action possible, the brain must also quiet the alternatives.Deep within the brain, the basal ganglia help se...
09/01/2026

To make one action possible, the brain must also quiet the alternatives.

Deep within the brain, the basal ganglia help select the movement or behavior that fits the moment while helping suppress competing actions.

The basal ganglia are not one structure. They are a group of paired structures working together. In this simplified coronal view:

Yellow—caudate nuclei
Blue—putamina
Orange—globus pallidi
Turquoise—subthalamic nuclei
Lower navy bands—substantia nigra

The lavender structures are the thalami, closely connected partners, but not part of the basal ganglia.

The upper navy shapes represent the lateral ventricles.

Working through interconnected loops with the cortex and thalamus, these circuits contribute to action selection,movement, motivation, reward-based learning and the development of habits and skills.

With repetition and reinforcement, frequently practiced behavoirs can become more automatic. That efficiency allows familiar actions, like typing, driving or following a morning routine, to require less conscious effort.

Dopamine helps these circuits learn from outcomes, influencing which actions are more likely to be selected again. This places the basal ganglia at a fascinating intersection of movement, motivation and habit.

Change is not instant, but with practice, the brain can make a healthy action easier to choose again.

What is one healthy behavior that has become almost automatic for you?

09/01/2026

Change doesn't happen overnight, but the brain continues responding to what we do consistently.🧠

NutriCog® is a patented, standardized botanical blend of Haritaki (Terminalia chebula) and Boswellia serrata included in Dr. Kaplan's Brain Health at the same 300 mg daily dose sudied in clinical research.

In a 120-day randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 100 adults ages 40-65 with subjective memory concerns, researchers reported improvements across several measures of cognition compared with placebo:

By Day 15: improvements appeared in recognition and resistance to proactive interference.
By Day 60: learning rate,total learning and delayed recall had improved.
By Day 90: immediate recall had also improved.
By Day 120: researchers also reported improvements in measures of visual learning, processing speed and accuracy, along with higher serum BDNF.

What makes these findings especially interesting is the progression over time, with different measures of memory, learning and cognitive performance emerging at different points throughout the 120-day study.

We include NutriCog because there is human clinical research behind it, and because we believe ingredients should earn their place in a formula through evidence.

Study: Salter D, et al. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2025

To read more about NutriCog go to: https://drkaplans.com/blogs/news/nutricog%C2%AE-the-science-behind-a-novel-botanical-blend-for-memory-learning-cognitive-performance

08/30/2026

There's a little brain science behind setting yourself up for tomorrow. 🧠 🌿

Your brain is constantly keeping track of what needs to happen next, remember the water bottle, grab a snack for later, choose what to wear, get out the door on time.

This uses something called prospective memory: your ability to remember and carry out an intention in the future. And research suggests that when our attention and cognitive resources are already stretched, keeping track of those future tasks can become more difficult.

That's why a few small acts of preparation can matter.

Choose tomorrow's outfit.
Prepare your lunch.
Fill your water bottle.
Clear away a little clutter.

You're not just checking things off a list. You're removing a few things your brain will have to manage tomorrow.

Less to remember.
Fewer last-minute decisions.
Less rushing.

More room for calm.

Sometimes, de-stressing your brain starts by making tomorrow a little easier today. 💜

08/29/2026

☎️ Could you still remember a phone number?

Memory is not only something we use, it is something we can practice.

When you actively pull information back out of memory, you are using a process called retrieval practice.

Research has found that actively retrieving learned information can improve later recolllection more effectively than simply reviewing it, and this benefit has been observed in both younger and older adults.

This quick game gives your attention and short-term memory a playful challenge.

One round is not a memory assessment or a complete training program, but regularly asking your brain to notice, hold, and retreive information is a meaningful way to keep those skills engaged.

How many numbers did you remember? Share your score out of 10 below! 🧠💡

P. S. How many of you still remember your childhood phone number?

This week’s Brain Food Spotlight comes straight from Dr. Kaplan’s kitchen. 🌿GREEN WITH A ZING• 2 cups fresh spinach• 4 c...
08/28/2026

This week’s Brain Food Spotlight comes straight from Dr. Kaplan’s kitchen. 🌿

GREEN WITH A ZING
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 4 chunks pineapple
• ½ cup coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• Chia seeds for topping
Blend until smooth, sprinkle with chia seeds and enjoy. Add a banana or some yogurt, get creative!

Spinach provides folate and carotenoids, while chia seeds contribute fiber and the plant-based omega-3 fatty acid ALA. Pineapple adds vitamin C and natural sweetness, and a full tablespoon of fresh ginger gives this smoothie its unmistakable kick.

No single smoothie determines brain health. It is the larger pattern of nourishing choices we return to consistently that matters most.

Brain health is built every day, sometimes right in the blender.

Would you try it with the full ginger kick? 🥤

Brain health is built every day, not through one perfect decision, but through the routines we return to consistently.Wh...
08/27/2026

Brain health is built every day, not through one perfect decision, but through the routines we return to consistently.

When Roger first shared his experience with Dr. Kaplan’s Brain Health, he described a subtle but meaningful difference.

“When a thought was on the tip of my tongue before and wouldn’t come to me, now it’s there more often.”

Five months later, Roger returned with an update. He described improved sharpness and recall early on and said that long-term use had clearly been significant for him.

We are grateful to Roger for allowing us to share his experience. His story is personal, and individual responses may vary, but it is a wonderful reminder that meaningful change is often something we recognize over time.

What does supporting your brain every day look like for you?



Image for illustrative purposes. Testimonial from Roger H. Individual experience; results may vary.

What if part of practicing a habit happens before you physically begin?An if–then plan connects a specific cue with a ch...
08/26/2026

What if part of practicing a habit happens before you physically begin?

An if–then plan connects a specific cue with a chosen response:
IF I finish breakfast, THEN I will walk for 10 minutes.

In a 2025 randomized study, 249 adults were assigned to one of four groups: mental imagery, if–then planning, the two strategies combined or a control group. A total of 186 participants completed the post-intervention assessment and 12-week follow-up.

For four weeks, participants in the combined group created personalized plans for physical activity and mentally rehearsed responding to their chosen cues.

They pictured preparing, beginning the activity, moving and experiencing the surrounding sights, sounds and feelings.

By week three, the combined group reported increased habit strength—the sense that the activity was becoming more automatic.

That increase continued through the 12-week follow-up.

The study did not measure brain activity, and overall physical-activity levels did not differ significantly among the groups. The measures were self-reported, so these findings are preliminary.

Still, they suggest that pairing a concrete plan with mental rehearsal may help support the development of a habit.

Imagery does not replace action. It may help you feel more prepared when the moment to act arrives.

Plan it. Picture it. Repeat it.

What would your if–then plan be?



Study: Divine & Astill, British Journal of Health Psychology, 2025

08/21/2026

SURPRISE BRAIN GAME! 🧠✨

How many of these 10 words can you remember after one quick distraction?

This playful challenge borrows a basic idea from word-list learning and recall tasks used in neuropsychology, including the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, or RAVLT: take in a series of words, shift your attention briefly, and then retrieve what you can remember.

Our version is shorter, visual, and created purely for fun and education. It is not the RAVLT, a cognitive screening tool, or a measure of your brain health.

The rules are simple:

Watch each word carefully.
No writing them down.
No rewinding.
Stay focused through our penguin distraction! 🐧

When prompted, pause the video and recall as many words as you can. Then press play for the answers.

Drop your score from 0–10 in the comments—and tell us which word almost got away! 👀

Follow Dr. Kaplan’s Brain Health for more weekly brain games and evidence-based ways to support your brain.

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