Better Memory Starts With Time

We’ve heard it before: eat well, move often, sleep deeply, and stay socially active. But what if the biggest barrier to protecting your brain isn’t knowledge or motivation — it’s time?

A new study in The Lancet Healthy Longevity finds that “temporal inequity,” or unequal access to free, flexible time, may play a major role in dementia risk. The researchers call for health systems to treat time as a social determinant of brain health, right alongside income, education, and access to care.

What the Study Found

Researchers analyzed how people’s daily schedules affect their ability to engage in brain-healthy behaviors — things like preparing nutritious meals, exercising, or simply resting.

Their conclusion: many people — especially working adults and caregivers — live with “time poverty.” Even those who want to follow dementia-prevention advice often can’t find the hours to do it.

Lead author Dr. Susanne Röhr of the University of Leipzig explains that up to 40 percent of dementia cases could potentially be prevented through lifestyle changes, yet “time inequity” keeps those benefits out of reach for many.

Why Caregivers Are Especially at Risk

Family caregivers often live in permanent time debt — balancing work, home, and care duties while losing personal hours for sleep, social life, or exercise. The new research warns that this hidden strain may increase long-term dementia risk for caregivers themselves.

Instead of adding guilt, the study urges policymakers and employers to recognize time as a resource that needs protecting. Flexible schedules, respite services, and social supports can make a measurable difference.

Practical Steps You Can Take

Even in a packed day, there are small ways to reclaim moments for brain health:

1. Pair habits: Stretch while the coffee brews or walk while on calls.
2. Guard micro-breaks: Five minutes of quiet breathing can reset stress levels.
3. Ask for help: Share caregiving tasks or use brief respite programs.
4. Protect sleep: Quality rest clears toxins through the brain’s glymphatic system.
5. Schedule self-care: Add short, specific blocks of time for yourself — even ten minutes count.

Remember — it’s not about having hours of spare time, but using the few minutes you can find wisely. Small changes, repeated daily, add up to long-term protection.

Real-Life Ways to Free Up Time

Below are realistic, life-tested ways to free up time outside work — especially for adults who already feel stretched thin:

1. Simplify Repetitive Decisions
   Reduce “micro-decisions” that eat up time and mental energy.
   • Rotate between two or three easy meal options on weekdays.
   • Keep a fixed bedtime routine.
   • Have one “uniform” for casual evenings or exercise.
     You’ll spend less time deciding — and more time doing.
2. Automate What You Can
   Use autopay for bills, automatic grocery deliveries, and recurring reminders for tasks like laundry or birthdays.
   Automation removes the mental load of remembering, planning, and scheduling.
3. Declutter Your Space
   Every item you own demands attention — cleaning, organizing, finding, fixing.
   Decluttering even one area (like your kitchen counter or inbox) can save 10–20 minutes a day of wasted searching and distraction.
4. Batch Errands
   Instead of scattering small errands across the week, group them together — one trip for groceries, post office, and dry cleaning.
   This cuts travel time and the mental gear-switching between tasks.
5. Limit Low-Value Screen Time
   Track how long you spend on social media, YouTube, or streaming — then cut it by 25 percent.
   You’ll likely regain hours per week without feeling deprived.
6. Learn to Say “Not Now”
   Not every invitation or request needs a yes.
   A kind, “That sounds great — maybe next time,” preserves time without guilt.
   You can even create a personal “pause rule”: never commit on the spot.
7. Create a “Sunday Reset”
   Spend one hour weekly reviewing the week ahead — meals, appointments, laundry, and to-dos.
   It prevents midweek chaos and gives you more calm, unstructured time during busy evenings.
8. Build Small Habits Into Existing Routines
   Attach new habits to existing ones (e.g., stretch after brushing teeth, pray after morning coffee).
   This avoids finding extra time — you use already existing moments more efficiently.

Building a Fairer Future for Brain Health

The study closes with a call for governments and workplaces to measure and address “temporal inequity.” When society values time as a health resource, people gain real chances to live longer and think clearer.

For caregivers, that means policies that give them back the hours they’ve been sacrificing for years — an essential step toward fairness, well-being, and stronger brains for all.