A neuroscientist and psychiatrist shares 4 simple habits to protect brain aging

Dr.

Gary Small, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist, follows a few simple habits for healthy brain aging.

Dr.

Gary Small Dr.

Gary Small is a neuroscientist and psychiatrist specializing in Alzheimer's prevention.

He walks every day, listens to audiobooks to fall back asleep, and eats occasional "cheaties." However, he isn't too strict and doesn't want to "torture myself too much." Throughout a long career in researching the brain and Alzheimer's disease , Dr.

Gary Small picked up a few longevity habits of his own.

"When you're in this field for so many years, it's hard to resist following your own advice," Small, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist based in Los Angeles, told Business Insider.

Small, who has a psychiatry practice focusing on memory loss and is a professor of psychiatry at UCLA, said that age is the biggest risk factor in developing Alzheimer's.

"Thanks to modern medicine, we're living longer," he said.

"The rub is that our brains weren't engineered to function well that long." Still, he said lifestyle factors play a significant role in decreasing your risk of cognitive decline.

Particularly, the ones that reduce obesity in midlife decrease your risk for Alzheimer's and dementia in late life.

Small, who is also the director of behavioral health breakthrough therapies such as developing a psychedelic treatment for depression at Hackensack Meridian Health, shared a few of the habits he follows to protect his brain as he ages.

He includes walking and balance training in his workout routine Small and his wife, Gigi Vorgan, frequently take walks together in LA.