Until recently, most scientists thought that by the time you reached adulthood, you had all the brain cells you’d ever have, and that number would only decrease as you aged. Not so! A little over a decade ago, it was discovered that brains keep forming new neurons in the learning and memory region called the hippocampus. And now researchers are realizing that your habits—for example, eating enough Omega-3s, exercising and de-stressing—play a critical role in how many cells you can make in order to build up your brain’s resilience against memory loss and degeneration.

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