Building brain capital

Sleep Capital: Linking Brain Health to Wellbeing and Economic Productivity Across the Lifespan

INTRODUCTION AND FRAMEWORK

Sleep capital contributes to individual and societal wellbeing, productivity, and economic outcomes and involves a novel aspect of brain capital. It encompasses the quality and quantity of sleep as integral components that influence cognitive abilities, mental and brain health, and physical health, affecting workplace productivity, learning, decision-making, and overall economic performance. Here, we bring a framework to understand the complex relationship between sleep quality, health, wellbeing, and economic productivity. Then we outline the multilevel impact of sleep on cognitive abilities, mental/brain health, and economic indicators, providing evidence for the substantial returns on investment in sleep health initiatives. Moreover, sleep capital is a key factor when considering brain health across the lifespan, especially for the aging population.

DISCUSSION

We propose specific elements and main variables to develop specific indexes of sleep capital to address its impacts on health, wellbeing and productivity.

CONCLUSION

Finally, we suggest policy recommendations, workplace interventions, and individual strategies to promote sleep health and brain capital. Investing in sleep capital is essential for fostering a healthier, happier, fairer and more productive society.

Neuroecological links of the exposome and One Health

This NeuroView assesses the interplay among exposome, One Health, and brain capital in health and disease. Physical and social exposomes affect brain health, and green brain skills are required for environmental health strategies. Ibanez et al. address current gaps and strategies needed in research, policy, and technology, offering a road map for stakeholders.

Life-Course Brain Health as a Determinant of Late-Life Mental Health: American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Expert Panel Recommendations

This position statement of the Expert Panel on Brain Health of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) emphasizes the critical role of life course brain health in shaping mental well-being during the later stages of life. Evidence posits that maintaining optimal brain health earlier in life is crucial for preventing and managing brain aging-related disorders such as dementia/cognitive decline, depression, stroke, and anxiety. We advocate for a holistic approach that integrates medical, psychological, and social frameworks with culturally tailored interventions across the lifespan to promote brain health and overall mental well-being in aging adults across all communities. Furthermore, our statement underscores the significance of prevention, early detection, and intervention in identifying cognitive decline, mood changes, and related mental illness. Action should also be taken to understand and address the needs of communities that traditionally have unequal access to preventive health information and services. By implementing culturally relevant and tailored evidence-based practices and advancing research in geriatric psychiatry, behavioral neurology, and geroscience, we can enhance the quality of life for older adults facing the unique challenges of aging. This position statement emphasizes the intrinsic link between brain health and mental health in aging, urging healthcare professionals, policymakers, and a broader society to prioritize comprehensive strategies that safeguard and promote brain health from birth through later years across all communities. The AAGP Expert Panel has the goal of launching further activities in the coming months and years.

The Latin American Brain Health Institute, a regional initiative to reduce the scale and impact of dementia

Latin American and Caribbean countries face complex challenges to improve brain health and reduce the impact of dementia. Regional hubs devoted to research, capacity building, implementation science, and education are critically needed. The Latin American Brain Health Institute represent an important step to address many of these needs.

Brain health as a global priority

Brain health is an evolving concept that has become increasingly popular within clinical and academic centers, journalism and the general public. It can be defined as the state of brain functioning across cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, behavioural and motor domains, allowing a person to realize their full potential over the life course. Multiple, interconnected determinants play a role in shaping brain health from pre-conception through the end of life. Brain health can be optimized by addressing the following determinants: physical health, healthy environments, safety and security, learning and social connection, and access to quality services. Optimizing brain health improves brain structure and functioning across all domains and benefits health by lowering rates of neurological disorders, mental health conditions, and substance use; improving quality of life for people with lived experience of these conditions; and improving physical health (particularly through improved endocrine and immunological functioning and lower rates of stress-related physical health conditions). Additionally, optimizing brain health can lead to social and economic benefits including increased school retention and academic achievement, lower rates of teenage pregnancies, lower rates of incarceration, lower health care costs and rates of disability, higher productivity, and greater wealth. Optimizing brain health for all is paramount to ensuring human health and well-being globally. It is central to achieving global commitments outlined in the Intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders 2022-2031, WHO's Triple Billion targets, the UN SDGs and the 2021 Geneva Charter for Well-being. Efforts to optimize brain health require multi-stakeholder collaborations and must be integrated across all sectors of society: health and social care; education; legislature and governance; finance and economy; employment; infrastructure, urban planning and housing; and ecology, nature and climate. In return, robust investments in actions that optimize brain health across the life course promise to improve multiple health outcomes and lift development and well-being globally. Multisectoral engagement and collaboration are urgently needed in order to move the brain health agenda forward for all people.

Investing in Late-Life Brain Capital

Within many societies and cultures around the world, older adults are too often undervalued and underappreciated. This exacerbates many key challenges that older adults may face. It also undermines the many positive aspects of late life that are of tremendous value at both an individual and societal level. We propose a new approach to elevate health and well-being in late life by optimizing late-life Brain Capital. This form of capital prioritizes brain skills and brain health in a brain economy, which the challenges and opportunities of the 21st-century demands. This approach incorporates investing in late-life Brain Capital, developing initiatives focused on building late-life Brain Capital.