As a neuroscientist, here are 7 ways to trick your brain into doing difficult things:

1. Shrink the task to just two minutes.
Your brain resists big commitments. So don't make one.
- "Work out" → do one exercise.
- "Clean the house" → pick up three items. 2. Prepare before you start.
Don't begin the task - just begin the setup.
Put on gym clothes. Open the laptop. Clear the desk.

Physical movement bypasses mental resistance. Momentum kicks in before you've "started."

Google mapped ONE millimeter of brain tissue - revealing 57,000 cells and 150 million synapses.

Every one of those connections can strengthen, weaken, or rebuild based on your daily choices.

Here are 6 evidence-based ways to reshape your brain through neuroplasticity: 1. Exercise 30 Minutes, 3x Weekly
Meta-analysis shows 3-4 moderate workouts weekly deliver the strongest BDNF (protein enhancing neuroplasticity) boost for memory and learning.

Moderate means you can talk but not sing - but consistency beats intensity every time. So make it fun.

Tired of being tired?

As a neuroscientist, here’s 10 proven fixes to help you rest better at night:
1. Keep a consistent schedule.
Same 30-minute window = 36% less insomnia. 2. Get morning light.

Just 10 minutes of bright sunlight within an hour of waking can shift your body clock by 30 minutes and boost your natural melatonin by 35%.

Researchers @TheLancet identified 12 lifestyle choices that impact your dementia risk.

Here what to do to reduce your risk: 👇
1. Protect your ears
Mild hearing loss doubles risk of dementia 2. Control your blood pressure (<130 mmHg) - intensive mid-life treatment lowered dementia risk by ~15%.

New research reveals sleep loss triggers the same metabolic dysfunction seen in Alzheimer's.

Here's the mechanism – and the fixes that work: Your brain cells have jobs: neurons form memories, astrocytes clean waste, microglia fight inflammation.

But sleep loss creates an energy crisis - ATP (your bodies energy currency) production crashes while demand soars. Cells abandon their jobs and switch to pure survival mode.

A massive genetic study in @Nature just identified why chronic pain hits some people harder than others.

They discovered the first neuronal “pain transporter” - and it could unlock entirely new ways to treat pain. 🧵 Chronic pain affects 1 in 5 adults worldwide and is the leading cause of disability globally.

Current treatments often fail because we don’t fully understand the molecular mechanisms that control pain sensitivity in different people.

Researchers just developed a machine learning-optimised diet that reduces dementia risk by 36% - stronger than any existing dietary pattern.

The MODERN diet analysed 185,012 people over 10 years - here's what they found 🧵 The study used UK Biobank data with 1,987 participants developing dementia over 10 years (mean age at onset: 74.6 years).

Machine learning identified 8 key food groups from 25 that showed associations with dementia risk.

Five neuroscience breakthroughs this week:
1. New drug eases depression in days
2. Exercise shaves ~1 year off brain age
3. Magnetic pulses may help in Alzheimer's
4. Ketamine’s effect unchanged by naltrexone
5. Alzheimer's blood test (NfL) needs separate male/female standards 1. Exercise study: Your brain can get younger
After a year of supervised exercise (2.5 hours/week), people's brains looked nearly 1 year younger than expected.

Chronic ruminators have faster memory decline AND higher Alzheimer's proteins (amyloid/tau).

That 3am cringe compilation in your head?
It's not just stealing sleep.

But before you spiral about spiralling - here's how it damages your brain (and what actually helps) 🧵 In this paper, scientists studied 360 older adults and found ruminators had:
1. Faster memory decline &
2. Higher brain amyloid and tau levels

They even replicated these findings in another independent cohort.

Multiple sclerosis patients see psychiatrists at triple the normal rate 12 years before symptoms
🧵👇 MS normally strikes out of nowhere - vision loss, mobility problems, sudden relapses.

But scientists wondered: is that dramatic first symptom really the beginning?

Frequent pornography use linked to altered brain connectivity and impaired cognitive performance.

Scientists compared college students who watch hours of porn weekly with light viewers.

Here’s what they found 🧵 Heavy viewers show a tighter sync between reward hubs & impulse-control cortex

Snap choices win, self-restraint loses

A psychopath's brain is strikingly different.

Their total brain volume is ~1.45 % smaller than that of non-psychopathic peers. 🧵👇 The volume loss concentrates in the brain’s impulse-control network.
- Frontal Cortex (Brain's 'impulse assessor')
- Basal Ganglia/Thalamus (The 'brake' itself)

Five neuroscience breakthroughs this week:
1. Pain's emotional circuit decoded
2. Decoding natural Alzheimer's defences
3. Potential cure for Angelman Syndrome
4. Autoimmune brain disease patterns mapped
5. Alzhiemer's - proteins BEYOND Amyloid 1. Pain's emotional circuit decoded
- Scientist found special neurons that process the "this is awful" feeling of pain - separate from the "ouch" sensation
- When silenced: Mice felt less distressed by pain & less anxious, but could still sense pain normally
- Potential therapeutic pathway?

Quality sleep is the foundation of health.

Yet a third of us are chronically underslept.

Here are 10 research-proven methods to transform your nights:
1. Keep a consistent schedule.
Same 30-minute window = 36% less insomnia. 2. Get morning light.

Just 10 minutes of bright sunlight within an hour of waking can shift your body clock by 30 minutes and boost your natural melatonin by 35%.

New study @NatureGenet identifies first genetic risk factor for long COVID.

They compared DNA from 16,000 patients vs 1.9 million controls across 24 countries.

Here are my key takeaways 👇 Key result: FOXP4 gene variant (rs9367106) increases long COVID risk by 60%

Microsoft claims their new AI framework diagnoses 4x better than doctors.

I'm a medical doctor and I actually read the paper. Here's my perspective on why this is both impressive AND misleading ... 🧵 What did they create? Two key innovations:
1. SDBench: A testing environment using 304 real medical mysteries from NEJM where AI starts with just "29yo woman with sore throat" and must decide what to ask/test next

2. MAI-DxO: An AI system that simulates 5 doctors working together as a team

CRISPR just scored its biggest win yet against Huntington's.

The secret? A delivery system called RIDE that sneaks into neurons, makes its edit, then vanishes in 72 hours.

Here's what happened 🧵👇 First - what is Huntington's?

Picture DNA as a sentence. In Huntington's, one word gets repeated too many times: CAG-CAG-CAG-CAG... This repetition builds toxic proteins that kill brain cells.

DeepMind just dropped a 106-page paper unveiling AlphaGenome.

This single model could completely redefine how we discover disease-causing mutations and drug targets.

This is massive. 🧵 The challenge?
>98 % of human variants lie in non-coding DNA which they exert INDIRECT regulatory effects on the proteins your body makes

I'm a doctor & neuroscientist - here's my hot take:

You already know what to do for your health.
Your real problem? Doing it.

So here’s my 10 hacks to create lasting habits:
1. Start tiny: 2 minute walk, 2 minute meditation. Your brain loves easy wins. 2. Link habits together: "After I make coffee, I'll review Spanish flashcards."

Attach new habits to things you already do. Studies show this doubles success rates.

I'm a doctor and neuroscientist.

The development i'm most surprised by: strategically limiting oxygen may be therapeutic.

A new @ScienceTM review showed that low levels of oxygen may be able to treat mitochondrial diseases and enhance stroke recovery.

Let me explain why 👇 In a stunning experiment, mice with a fatal childhood brain disease (Leigh Syndrome) lived 4x longer just by breathing less oxygen.

Instead of dying at 2.5 months, they lived nearly a year - and brain scans showed damage actually reversing.

While everyone was obsessing over CRISPR, a small team just quietly published a paper in Science solving genetic medicine's biggest problem.

They created a system that can fix thousands of different mutations at once. Here's how they did it 🧵 Current gene editing 101: You inherit a disease-causing mutation → CRISPR-Cas9 targets that exact DNA sequence → cleaves both strands → cell repairs it with correct template. Already curing sickle cell. Already reversing genetic blindness. Already changing medicine.