Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t develop overnight—it often builds silently over years, influenced by daily habits that may seem harmless. According to health experts, certain lifestyle choices could be quietly increasing your risk of cognitive decline as you age. From poor sleep to constant multitasking, here are six common habits that may be putting your brain at risk.
Neuroscientist Robert Love recently shared the six worst habits to quit because they can “destroy” your sleep and even “increase the risk of Alzheimer’s” because lack of quality sleep is linked to declining brain health. According to him, TV in the bedroom, eating 2 hours before bed, and checking emails are some of the worst habits to avoid. Read on to learn more.
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1. TV in the bedroom
TVs emit blue light, which interferes with your body’s production of melatonin—the hormone that helps regulate sleep. This can make it harder to fall asleep and reduce overall sleep quality.
Love says having a TV in your bedroom will lead to “poor quality sleep.”
Limiting screen time before bed and removing TVs (and phones) from your sleep space can support brain health as you age.
2. Eating 2 hours before bed
Your body is less efficient at digesting food when you're lying down. Eating too close to bedtime can lead to indigestion, bloating, or acid reflux, making it harder to fall or stay asleep.
“If you eat close to bedtime, this impairs sleep. Digestion takes a lot of energy and blood flow, so if you have a full stomach when you go to bed, your body’s energy is being used to digest food rather than repair your body," he says.
To support better sleep, aim to finish your last meal at least 2–3 hours before going to bed, and keep it light and balanced if you're genuinely hungry.
3. Checking emails
Emails often involve work, stress, or to-do lists that activate your brain and increase anxiety or alertness—exactly the opposite of what you need before winding down.
Love cites the blue light emitted from the phone as something that can impair sleep and reduce melatonin. He also says thinking and reading about work or other emails can cause stress, and stress is the number one thing “impairing sleep in Americans.” He recommends checking them 2 hours before bed and spending the hour before bed reading a book, listening to music, or spending time with loved ones.
4. Multitasking
Constantly switching between tasks can overload your brain, reduce memory retention, and increase cognitive decline over time.
5. Lack of quality sleep
Poor sleep disrupts brain detoxification processes, especially the clearing of beta-amyloid plaques linked to Alzheimer’s.
6. Chronic stress
Ongoing stress increases cortisol levels, which can damage the hippocampus — the brain’s memory center — over time.
