--- title: Heart Health Is Linked to Brain Health: Study description: New research shows having good heart health is important for cognitive function. canonical: https://time.com/4261651/heart-health-brain/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-16T20:00:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:57:53.412Z article:section: Health og:title: Heart Health Is Linked to Brain Health: Study og:description: New research shows having good heart health is important for cognitive function. og:url: https://time.com/4261651/heart-health-brain/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4eb9e8e4e1c0d452/6988604c8e06017e23461fdb/brain-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock health brain og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Heart Health Is Linked to Brain Health: Study twitter:description: New research shows having good heart health is important for cognitive function. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4eb9e8e4e1c0d452/6988604c8e06017e23461fdb/brain-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Heart Health Is Linked to Brain Health: Study by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 16, 2016 8:00 PM CUT  Illustration by Sydney Rae Hass for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 16, 2016 8:00 PM CUT Having a healthy heart can help preserve brain processing and cognitive function over time, according to a new study published in the _Journal of the American Heart Association._ Researchers looked at whether meeting certain markers of a healthy heart—including not smoking, maintaining a healthy body weight, being physically active, having a good diet and keeping blood pressure and cholesterol in check—had an impact on people’s cognitive abilities. In the study, more than 1,000 men and women over age 40 had brain tests that assessed their memory and brain processing abilities, like how fast they could do a focus-intensive task. Six years later, the people were tested again. The researchers found that having more of the healthy heart factors was linked to better brain processing years later. It was also associated with less decline in functions like memory and executive functions like time management and focus. “Achieving these ideal factors is really important not just for cardiovascular health but also for brain health,” says study author Hannah Gardener, an epidemiologist at University of Miami. “Some people may be more motivated by preserving their cognitive health. So I think it’s important to emphasize that striving to achieve ideal levels on these seven factors may also help preserve cognitive health later in life.” But you don’t have to be perfect, Gardener says none of the people in the study achieved the targets for all six of the health factors, suggesting that even improvements in some areas, if not all, can benefit the brain. “People shouldn’t feel discouraged if one or two feels out of reach,” she says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4261651/heart-health-brain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4261651/heart-health-brain/"},"headline":"Heart Health Is Linked to Brain Health: Study","datePublished":"2016-03-16T20:00:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:57:53.412Z","description":"New research shows having good heart health is important for cognitive function","url":"https://time.com/4261651/heart-health-brain/","keywords":["Heart Disease","diet","Exercise","Brain","Smoking","Weight loss","Blood Pressure","memory","brain health","heart","physical activity","heart health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4eb9e8e4e1c0d452/6988604c8e06017e23461fdb/brain-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4eb9e8e4e1c0d452/6988604c8e06017e23461fdb/brain-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock health brain","caption":"TIME.com stock health brain","creditText":"Illustration by Sydney Rae Hass for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/heart-disease/","name":"Heart Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4261651/heart-health-brain/","name":"Heart Health Is Linked to Brain Health: Study"}}]}] ```