AI Is Changing Your Brain, Here's How.
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How many days do you think it takes to start losing a skill you’ve had for decades?
For me, the answer was three.
A few weeks ago, I got into a self-driving car for the first time and let it take me around my town. It was smooth. It was relaxing. And honestly, it was a little bit magical. I sat there with my hands barely on the wheel, watching the car make its own decisions.
Three days later, I got behind the wheel of my own car again. This time with no assistance. Just me. And something felt off. It was slightly difficult to manage the heavy traffic on a busy highway. My sense of the road felt a little rusty.
It had only been three days, and I could already feel the difference.
That small moment stuck with me. Because as a neurologist who has spent forty years studying the brain, I knew exactly what was happening. My brain had not lost the skill of driving. But the parts of my brain responsible for it had quietly relaxed, because for three days they simply did not have to work that hard.
Negative Neuroplasticity: The Part Nobody Talks About
This is what I call negative neuroplasticity.
Your brain is not fixed. It is not a piece of hardware that stays the same your whole life. Your brain is living tissue, and it changes its shape, its structure, and its strength based on how you use it every single day.
Think of your brain like a muscle. If you work your biceps and triceps, they grow. If you stop using them, they shrink. Your brain grows and shrinks in the same way, in response to your lifestyle and your environment. The parts you use and challenge often get stronger. That is positive neuroplasticity. The parts you stop using quietly fade and shrink. That is negative neuroplasticity.
And we have seen this before, long before AI arrived.
When calculators became common, our collective ability to do math in our heads got weaker. When GPS became common, our sense of direction got weaker too. So here is the honest question all of us need to ask: if AI can now write our emails, solve our problems, remember our facts, and even drive our cars, what happens to the parts of our brains that used to do all of that work?
What the Research Is Starting to Show
There is new research beginning to answer that question, and the results are worth paying attention to.
In one study, researchers had people write essays in one of three ways: completely on their own, using a search engine, or using ChatGPT. The whole time, machines measured their brain activity. The group that used ChatGPT showed the weakest brain engagement of the three. And afterward, many of them could barely remember what they had just written, because in a very real sense, they had not actually written it themselves.
We are seeing the same pattern in medicine.
In one study, experienced doctors used an AI tool to help them spot polyps during colonoscopies. After they grew used to working alongside the AI, their detection rate without it actually dropped, compared to how they performed before they ever used the tool. These were skilled physicians, quietly losing a bit of their edge, simply because the tool had been doing that part of the thinking for them.
To me, this all makes perfect sense. The activity in the parts of our brain that we stop using and challenging gradually fades away.
This Is Not About Fearing AI
I want to be very clear about something, because this is not a message about fearing AI or rejecting it.
I use AI every single day. I think of it almost like one of my staff members. I let it handle the tedious, minor parts of my work, the things that do not require my judgment or my creativity. But I still do the hard thinking myself. The writing. The decisions. The real work. Because I know that “use it or lose it” applies to my brain just as much as it applies to my muscles.
Here is the strange thing. We already understand this instinct perfectly well when it comes to our bodies. We just have not caught up yet when it comes to our brains.
Think about how life used to require constant movement. People walked to work. They rolled their windows up with their own hands. They pushed in a clutch and changed gears with their own feet, over and over, every time they drove. All of that built-in movement quietly kept our bodies strong, without anyone ever thinking of it as exercise.
Today, machines do almost all of that work for us. We press a button, and the window rolls up. We slide into an automatic car and never touch a gear again. And what did we do as a society, once daily life stopped giving us that movement for free? We built gyms. We started going to Zumba classes, yoga classes, and Pilates. We began taking long walks on purpose, specifically to give our muscles the workout that daily life no longer provided automatically.
This is exactly the position we are now in with our brains.
AI is quietly becoming the automatic window button and the automatic transmission for our minds. It removes the friction, and it feels wonderful in the moment. But if we are not careful, we are quietly losing the mental exercise that daily life used to give us for free, when we had to remember phone numbers, do math, navigate our own cities, and write our own thoughts from a blank page.
Six Ways I Build a Gym for My Own Brain
So, just as we built gyms for our bodies once our environment stopped providing free exercise, we now need to build a gym for our brains. These are small, deliberate exercises we choose on purpose, precisely because daily life no longer forces us to do them.
Here are six exercises I personally do. Not because I read them in a textbook, but because I know they are important for keeping my own brain sharp.
1. I minimize using GPS on purpose: When I am driving somewhere I have been before, I make myself recall the way, even if it takes an extra moment of thinking. That small effort keeps my hippocampus and other memory areas active and engaged.
2. I memorize names: I work to remember the names of all my students and every person I meet, every single day. Holding a name in my mind and pulling it back later sounds almost too simple to matter. But that daily repetition is exactly what keeps my memory strong, the same way a short walk keeps my heart healthy.
3. I protect at least one block of deep, unassisted thinking: No AI, no shortcuts. Just my own mind, working hard on a project from beginning to end.
4. I keep authorship of anything that truly matters. I let AI carry the tedious, minor parts of my work, but the real writing, the real decisions, and the real thinking stay mine.
5. I take up hobbies that challenge my mind: Learning new dance steps is at the top of my list, and this one is for pure joy as much as it is for my brain. I am willing to bet you already have a small wish list in the back of your mind, something you have always wanted to learn from scratch or finally get better at. The science is clear that a new, challenging skill grows your brain in a matter of weeks. So pick the one hobby that sounds the most fun, and enjoy practicing it until you get really good at it.
6. I use AI to challenge me, not replace me: After I write an essay or prepare a presentation, I ask AI to critique my work and push back on it. I also use AI as a tutor when I need to understand something complex. In other words, I use AI to stimulate my brain, not to replace it.
The Brain You Have Is the Result of Your Daily Choices
So here is what I want to leave you with.
AI is not going to make you stupid. But how you use it will absolutely shape whether your brain stays sharp or slowly grows weaker.
Your brain, like your body, becomes what you ask of it every single day. The brain you have, sharp or dull, strong or weak, is the result of your daily choices. Just as the shape of your body is in your hands, so is the shape of your brain.
Dr. Majid Fotuhi is a Harvard- and Johns Hopkins-trained neurologist, bestselling author of The Invincible Brain (USA TODAY Bestseller), and one of the world’s leading experts on brain health and cognitive performance. He has spent more than three decades studying the brain’s capacity for growth and repair. To discover your brain health score and receive a personalized 10-page report, take the free Invincible Brain Assessment at invincible.drfotuhi.com.
📺 Watch on Dr. Fotuhi’s YouTube Channel.
How Ai is slowly destroying your brain health – Dr. Fotuhi
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Your Gut-Brain Connection, and Whether You Need Probiotic Pills
Your gut and your brain talk to each other all day, every day.
When you feel nervous, your stomach gets butterflies. That is your brain talking to your gut. It also works the other way. What happens in your gut can change your mood, your memory, and even the size of your brain.
I am a neurologist and an adjunct professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins. Let me show you how your gut affects your brain, and give you some simple steps to make both stronger.
The two-way highway
Think of your gut as a long tube. Food goes in, your body takes what it needs, and the rest goes out.
The inside of that tube is lined with a thin wall of cells. These cells hold hands very tightly. They let nutrients pass into your blood and keep everything else out.
Around the tube, there are many blood vessels carrying nutrients to your body and your brain. There is also a rich network of nerves. These nerves send messages from your gut up to your brain, and your brain sends messages back down, telling your gut how fast to move and what to release.
Scientists call this two-way highway the gut-brain axis.
The trillions living inside you
Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Together they are called your microbiota.
Some are good for you, some are not. When you are healthy, they live in balance.
The good bacteria love one thing above all: fiber. When they eat fiber, they make molecules called short-chain fatty acids.
These molecules are a gift from your bacteria back to you. They keep your gut wall strong. They calm inflammation in your gut. They help control blood sugar. And they help the brain, supporting better memory and overall brain function.
What goes wrong with age
Here is the catch. As we age, we lose variety in our gut bacteria. We make fewer of these helpful molecules, and inflammation goes up. Scientists even have a name for it: inflammaging.
Sometimes the bad bacteria start to outnumber the good ones. Beyond aging, the usual causes are long courses of antibiotics, chemotherapy, stress, obesity, a poor diet, and air pollution.
When this happens, the gut wall can become inflamed. The cells stop holding hands so tightly, and some bacteria and toxins slip into the blood. People often call this a leaky gut.
To be clear, leaky gut syndrome is not an official diagnosis. But a gut wall that leaks more than it should can trigger inflammation in the gut.
How gut trouble reaches the brain
That inflammation does not always stay in the gut. It can travel, and it can reach other organs, including your brain.
Gut toxins floating in the blood can damage the protective lining of blood vessels in the brain and reach deep inside it.
So a leaky gut can be harmful for your brain. It can play a part in depression, anxiety, brain fog, memory loss, and over the long run even brain shrinkage and Alzheimer’s disease.
What the research shows
Let me share two studies on the link between diet and brain health.
In the Framingham Heart Study, researchers looked at about 1,900 adults. People who ate a poor diet, rich in sugar, fried food, and trans fats, the so-called inflammatory foods, had smaller brains.
In a study of 581 people who donated their brains for research, scientists found that those who had followed a Mediterranean diet closely had less Alzheimer’s damage. Their brains looked about 18 years younger than the brains of people who did not eat that way.
The message is simple. What you feed your gut can affect your brain, for better or worse.
So should you take probiotics?
Probiotics are the live bacteria themselves. Walk into any pharmacy, and you will see shelves of probiotic pills.
Here is the truth. Scientists still do not know which strains you need, or how much. Most GI medical organizations do not recommend any specific probiotic pill or brand for otherwise healthy people with no gut issues.
So what should you do instead? Use food to feed the good bacteria you already have, and food that brings in more healthy live bacteria. Here is the plan.
Your four-step plan
First, feed your good bacteria with high-fiber foods. Beans, lentils, and chickpeas. Oats and whole grains. Onions, garlic, leeks, and asparagus. Apples, berries, and bananas. Nuts, flaxseed, and chia seeds.
Most adults get only about half the fiber they need. Add one of these foods to every meal, and go slowly so your gut can adjust.
Second, get your probiotics from food, not pills. Plain yogurt with live cultures. Kefir. Sauerkraut and kimchi, the kind you find in the refrigerator. Miso. Start with one small serving a day.
Third, choose good fats. Salmon, sardines, olive oil, avocado, and walnuts are high in omega-3 fatty acids and calm inflammation. Higher omega-3 levels have also been linked to a bigger hippocampus, your memory center, and a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Fourth, cut back on what hurts your gut and can shrink your brain. Fried foods. Fast food. Sweets and pastries. White bread and sugary cereals. They cause blood sugar spikes and inflammation, and they harm both your gut and your brain.
The bottom line
Your gut and your brain are partners. When your gut is healthy, your brain does better.
You do not need expensive pills. Feed your good bacteria with the high-fiber foods they love, add a little fermented food, choose good fats, and skip the junk.
These changes lower inflammation and raise your levels of short-chain fatty acids, those healing molecules for every organ in your body, including your brain.
Make small changes every day. Over time, your gut becomes like a healthy garden, and your brain is better for it. You really can use the gut-brain connection to keep both strong for years to come.
Frequently asked questions
What is the gut-brain axis?
Can my diet really affect my memory?
Is leaky gut a real diagnosis?
Should I take a probiotic pill?
What are short-chain fatty acids?
How much fiber do I need?
Which foods give me probiotics naturally?
Can changing my diet lower my risk of Alzheimer’s?
Do I need omega-3 supplements, or can I get it from food?
How soon will I notice a difference?
Dr. Majid Fotuhi is a Harvard- and Johns Hopkins-trained neurologist, bestselling author of The Invincible Brain (USA TODAY Bestseller), and one of the world’s leading experts on brain health and cognitive performance. He has spent more than three decades studying the brain’s capacity for growth and repair. To discover your brain health score and receive a personalized 10-page report, take the free Invincible Brain Assessment at invincible.drfotuhi.com.
📺 Watch the full video on Dr. Fotuhi’s YouTube Channel.
What Happens to Your Brain When You Actually Fix Your Gut
Test Your Own Brain Health in Ten Questions
Over about 30 years of clinical research and teaching, mostly at Johns Hopkins and Harvard Medical School, I built a 12-week brain fitness program. I have used it with patients who have attention deficit disorder, with people recovering from persistent concussion symptoms, and with those dealing with age-related memory loss. Around 80% of our patients improved with it.
I am proud of the program, and I want to make it useful to people who will never set foot in my clinic. So I want to give you one of the first tools we use with every patient: the brain health score. It takes a few minutes; you can do it at home, and you can repeat it week after week to watch your progress.
How the score works
There are ten questions. You rate yourself from 1 to 5 on each, which gives you a total out of 50.
A score of 40 or higher means you are in good shape, and your brain is set up to stay healthy now and in the years ahead. A score down around 15 or 20 means there is real work to do. The good news is that this number moves quickly once you start paying attention to it. Most people can raise it within 12 weeks.
One thing before you begin. You are the judge of your own answers, and you will be the same judge next week and the week after. So it does not matter much whether a given answer is a 3 or a 4. What matters is that you use the same standard each time, so the trend you see is honest.
Here are the ten questions.
1. Exercise
The goal is about three hours a week. If you hit that, give yourself a 5. If you are a couch potato, that is a 1. Anywhere in between earns a middle score.
2. Diet
If you eat a Mediterranean-style diet every day, give yourself a 5. If you eat junk food daily and rarely touch fruits and vegetables, that is a 1. Score 2 to 4 for everything in between.
3. Portion size
If your portions are reasonable and you eat about three times a day instead of grazing five or six times, give yourself a 5. If you eat huge portions and keep going until you are stuffed, that is a 1. The aim is to eat enough that you feel satisfied, without feeling full.
4. Omega-3
Omega-3 fatty acids are one of the most important ingredients for building a stronger brain. This is the one supplement I recommend to everyone, and I take it myself and give it to my own family. I suggest an omega-3 that includes DHA and EPA, at around 1000 mg a day. Take it daily and give yourself a 5. Never take it, and that is a 1. A day or two a week is a 2, and so on up the scale.
5. Stress
Your state of mind shapes how healthy your brain is. Here is something I find fascinating: your brain determines your state of mind, and then your state of mind turns around and affects the health of your brain. You have more control over that loop than you might think. If you stay calm and relaxed through the normal stress of a day, give yourself a 5. If every small thing sets you off, that is a 1. If you are generally steady but still get thrown by a missed bus or a hard moment at work, give yourself a 3, and score around there based on how easily you get stressed.
6. Meditation
Meditation raises BDNF in the brain, increases blood flow, and lowers cortisol. It is one of the best things you can do for yourself. I recommend 10 to 15 minutes a day. If a seated meditation is hard for you, do a simple breathing exercise instead: breathe in for a count of seven, hold for seven, breathe out for seven. Do it daily and give yourself a 5. Never do it, and that is a 1.
7. Attitude
You decide how you look at the world. If you are optimistic and generally expect things to work out, give yourself a 5. If you assume nothing will work and worry over every detail, that is a 1. Your daily outlook has a real effect on how healthy your brain is today and how healthy it will be later.
8. Sleep
Seven to eight hours a night is one of the most important things for your brain. If you sleep well most nights, give yourself a 5. If you struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep, that is a 1. Sleep is a big topic on its own, so if it is a real concern for you, read my separate article on how to improve it.
9. Organization
If you start the day by writing down the three things that must get done, finish them, and handle more as time allows, you are in charge of your day, and that is a 5. If you are always running late and always behind, that is a 1. Staying organized keeps you from feeling overwhelmed, and that protects your brain.
10. Mental challenge
Your brain is a use-it-or-lose-it organ. If you do brain exercises or take on things that genuinely challenge your mind every day, give yourself a 5. If you avoid anything that requires hard thinking, that is a 1.
What your number means
Add up your ten answers.
If you are at 40 or higher, you are in good shape. You do not need to overhaul anything. Keep nudging individual scores up when you can.
If you are below 40, this is your starting line, and it is a useful one. Repeat the same ten questions every week for the next 12 weeks, and set a goal to reach 40 or higher. Watch which numbers are dragging the total down, and put your attention there first. Most people find the climb easier than they expected, because small, steady changes in sleep, diet, movement, and mindset add up fast.
The reason I like this score is that it turns a vague worry about your brain into something you can see and act on. You stop guessing about whether you are doing enough, and you start working from a number that tells you where you stand.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good brain health score?
How often should I score myself?
How long does it take to improve my score?
Does it matter if I score an answer a 3 instead of a 4?
What omega-3 dose do you recommend?
I do not enjoy sitting meditation, Is there an alternative?
My lowest score is sleep, Where do I start?
Can I really change my brain at my age?
What is the lowest possible score, and what does it mean?
Do I need any special equipment or tests to score myself?
Which of the ten should I fix first?
Can I improve more than one area at once?
Is a score of 40 a reason to stop trying?
How is this different from the free assessment on your website?
Is this a diagnosis?
Dr. Majid Fotuhi is a Harvard- and Johns Hopkins-trained neurologist, bestselling author of The Invincible Brain (USA TODAY Bestseller), and one of the world’s leading experts on brain health and cognitive performance. He has spent more than three decades studying the brain’s capacity for growth and repair. To discover your brain health score and receive a personalized 10-page report, take the free Invincible Brain Assessment at invincible.drfotuhi.com.
📺 Watch the full video on Dr. Fotuhi’s YouTube Channel.
Test your Brain Power in 7 Minutes
How HIV Affects the Brain, Even When the Virus Is Controlled
Most people know that HIV attacks the immune system. Fewer know that HIV can also affect the brain. And here is the part that surprises people most. Even when HIV is very well controlled with medication, some people still have trouble with memory, attention, or thinking speed.
I saw this for myself many years ago, during my neurology residency at Johns Hopkins.
The Patient I Never Forgot
A man in his 40s had been admitted to the hospital because of dizziness. When I sat down to talk with him, I noticed something beyond why he was there. He was awake and alert, but his answers came unusually slowly. He had trouble staying focused on our conversation, and he could not remember the names of his own medications. He was not confused or sleepy. His thinking had simply slowed down.
Then I learned that he had HIV, and that it was very well controlled. His viral load was almost zero, and his immune system was quite strong. So I kept asking myself the same question. Why was his thinking so slow? That question stayed with me for years.
ART Changed Everything, but Not for the Brain Alone
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been a lifesaving treatment for people with HIV. It turned a disease that was once fatal into one that many people live with for decades, and controlling the virus is essential.
When it comes to the brain, though, ART is not always the whole story. Even when the virus is under excellent control, some people living with HIV still experience problems with memory, attention, concentration, or slow thinking. Doctors sometimes call this HAND, which stands for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder.
There is an important point to make here, and it changes how we should respond. Not every memory problem in a person living with HIV is caused by the virus.
The Brain Has Many Things Working on It
Think of your brain as a complicated system, with many things capable of putting stress on it. HIV can be one of them. So can aging, high blood pressure, diabetes, and poor sleep. So can depression, stress, alcohol, head injury, and other medical conditions.
When someone with HIV has trouble with memory or thinking, there are often several of these causes working together. That points to a useful idea. Instead of focusing on one cause, it often makes more sense to care for the brain from several directions at the same time.
Where This Idea Came From
This way of thinking grew out of my own clinical work. For years I treated people who came to me with memory loss and other cognitive difficulties, and I kept noticing the same thing. Rarely did anyone have only one problem. A single person might have poor sleep, high stress, low physical fitness, and a poor diet, along with difficulties in attention and memory, all at the same time.
In 2016, I published a study of a 12-week Brain Fitness Program in 127 older adults with mild cognitive impairment. The program combined cognitive training, biofeedback, and brain coaching built around physical fitness, diet, and stress reduction. After 12 weeks, 84% of the participants showed a statistically significant improvement on cognitive testing. We also looked at brain MRIs in a smaller group who had quantitative scans before and after. Half of them showed either no further shrinkage of the hippocampus or an actual increase in its volume. Those were encouraging findings, and I went on to develop the program for patients with concussion and ADHD as well, with similar results.
That experience led me to the idea at the center of my work. Brain health does not come from doing one thing. It comes from caring for the brain from several directions at once. Over the years, I organized this into what I call the five pillars of brain health: exercise, sleep, nutrition, managing stress with a positive mindset, and brain training through continued learning and challenge. Picture the five as members of a team. You do not have to be perfect at any single one. The goal is to work on all of them together.
A Landmark Study, and Its Limit
This idea was not unique to me. Researchers around the world were asking similar questions. One of the most important studies was a European clinical trial called FINGER, conducted in Finland with more than 1,200 older adults who had an increased risk of cognitive decline. Rather than asking people to do just one thing, the researchers combined several approaches at once: exercise, healthy eating, brain training, and more. After two years, the people in the multi-domain program had better overall cognitive performance than those who received general health advice.
FINGER mattered because it showed that protecting the brain may require more than one strategy at a time. But there is an important limit for our purposes. FINGER did not study people living with HIV, so we cannot assume the same approach will work the same way in this group. It has to be tested.
The Gap I Found in the Research
While preparing a lecture I recently gave at Johns Hopkins on this topic, I looked at the research with a simple question in mind. What happens when we use lifestyle changes to protect thinking in people living with HIV?
The answer surprised me. A 2026 systematic review, commissioned by the World Health Organization and published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, screened almost 6,000 scientific papers. Only five met the strict criteria for the review, and all five tested medications. Not one tested a lifestyle program built on exercise, healthy eating, better sleep, stress management, and brain training.
That is a real gap in the science. We know a great deal about how to control HIV. We know a great deal about the value of lifestyle for brain health in the general population. We know much less about whether a comprehensive brain-health program can help people living with HIV who have cognitive problems. That is the question worth answering now.
Back to the Man at Johns Hopkins
So let me return to the patient I met all those years ago.
I cannot tell you exactly why his thinking was so slow. HIV may have played a part. Other things may have too. Most likely several factors were involved at once. But if I saw him again today, here is what I would say to him. Controlling the virus is essential. Let us also take care of your brain. Let us work on your exercise, look more carefully at your sleep, talk about your nutrition, manage your stress, and keep your brain active.
The brain is not a passive victim of disease. It is an organ that responds to how we live. We have made remarkable progress in treating HIV. I think it is time to ask a new question. How can we help people living with HIV keep their brains healthy for the rest of their lives?
We do not have all the answers yet. But we know enough to start asking, and to start looking. For now, my recommendation is simple. Control the virus. Take care of your body, your sleep, your mind, and your brain, because your brain is your biggest asset, and it is worth protecting, with or without HIV.
Dr. Majid Fotuhi is a Harvard- and Johns Hopkins-trained neurologist, bestselling author of The Invincible Brain (USA TODAY Bestseller), and one of the world’s leading experts on brain health and cognitive performance. He has spent more than three decades studying the brain’s capacity for growth and repair. To discover your brain health score and receive a personalized 10-page report, take the free Invincible Brain Assessment at invincible.drfotuhi.com.
📺 Watch the full video on Dr. Fotuhi’s YouTube Channel.
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