At Any Age, Stay SWEET

A few days ago, listening to WBUR’s On Point discussion on how to keep our brains healthy, one simple phrase stayed with me:

Be SWEET to your brain. 

Neuroscientist Jacob Harth used SWEET as an easy reminder: Sleep, Water, Exercise, Eating and Time. The acronym itself is older and has been used by educator José Bowen in his work on learning and the brain.

The seven pillars we often return to in this blog, movement, nutrition, sleep, avoiding harmful habits, managing chronic conditions, relationships and mindset, point in much the same direction.

I also liked the word itself: sweet. Being sweet, with ourselves, with others and with life, can also be part of how we care for our health and how we choose to age. Caring for our brain through sleep, movement, nutrition and the other habits that support health is important. But so is the way we live our lives: staying open, connected, curious and engaged. These choices may not guarantee a longer life, but they can shape how we experience the years we have.

Brain health is about much more than memory. It includes our ability to think, learn, communicate, connect with others, maintain emotional balance and participate fully in life.

Some of these abilities naturally change with age. We may process information a little more slowly, or wait a few extra seconds for a word to arrive. That does not necessarily mean losing our ability to think, relate and function. Not every change is disease. At the same time, persistent changes deserve attention, and regular medical care remains important.

The same things that support our overall health also support our brain. The difficult part, as we all know, is putting them into practice consistently. Sleep, movement, good food, relationships and taking care of our health all ask something of us, day after day.

And perhaps this is where the two meanings of sweet come together. SWEET reminds us to care for our brain. Being sweet, with ourselves and with others, is about how we choose to move through life.

When I say being sweet, I do not mean sugarcoating life or pretending that everything is easy. I mean choosing to remain open to life even when it is not easy. Closing ourselves off can sometimes feel easier, even safer, especially when the world feels uncertain and technology is changing our lives faster than we can absorb.

Being sweet is a commitment.

For me, it means remaining open. Saying yes a little more often than no. Meeting someone new. Learning something unfamiliar. Taking that trip. Accepting the invitation. Calling a friend. Laughing. Letting the music move me. Allowing love to carry me. Sometimes following the flow instead of trying to control everything.

Perhaps, at any age, this is the real invitation: to seize our life rather than slowly withdraw from it.

There are no guarantees in longevity. But there is always room for choice.

Take good care of your brain.

And be sweet to yourself, to the people you love, to the people you meet and, when you can, to the world around you.