Machine-learning MRI analysis revealed that positive lifestyle habits can significantly slow brain aging, even in people living with chronic pain. The more healthy behaviors a person had, the younger and more resilient their brain appeared.

Source:

University of Florida

Summary:

New research shows that your brain’s “true age” can shift dramatically depending on how you live, with optimism, restorative sleep, stress management, and strong social support acting like powerful anti-aging tools. Using advanced MRI-based brain-age estimates, scientists found that people with multiple healthy lifestyle factors had brains up to eight years younger than expected — even among those living with chronic pain.

FULL STORY

Your birth certificate may show 65, but your brain might be functioning as if it were ten years younger -- or older -- depending on the experiences and habits that shape your daily life.

A team at the University of Florida reports that optimism, regular high-quality sleep, strong social ties and similar positive influences are closely connected to healthier brain profiles. Their findings indicate that lifestyle choices and stress management can meaningfully affect the rate of brain aging, even among individuals who live with chronic pain.

"These are things that people have some level of control over," said Jared Tanner, Ph.D., a research associate professor of clinical and health psychology at the University of Florida and one of the study's leaders. "You can learn how to perceive stress differently. Poor sleep is very treatable. Optimism can be practiced."

Measuring Brain Age With MRI and Machine Learning

The study tracked 128 adults in midlife and older adulthood, most of whom had chronic musculoskeletal pain related to or at risk of knee osteoarthritis. Over a period of two years, researchers used MRI scans processed through a machine learning model to estimate each participant's "brain age" and compare it to their chronological age. The difference between the two, known as the brain age gap, offered a single measure of whole-brain health.

Certain hardships, including chronic pain, lower income, limited education and social disadvantages, were linked to brains that appeared older. However, those associations decreased over time. Instead, protective behaviors such as restorative sleep, healthy body weight, effective stress management, avoiding tobacco and maintaining supportive relationships showed a stronger and more lasting connection to younger appearing brains.

Protective Habits Linked to Slower Brain Aging

Participants who reported the highest number of protective factors began the study with brains that looked eight years younger than their actual age, and their brain aging continued to progress more slowly throughout the two-year follow-up.

"The message is consistent across our studies, health promoting behaviors are not only associated with lower pain and better physical functioning, they appear to actually bolster health in an additive fashion at a meaningful level," said Kimberly Sibille, Ph.D., an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at UF and senior author of the report.

Sibille, Tanner and collaborators across UF and other institutions published their results on in the journal Brain Communications.

Why Brain Age Matters for Long-Term Health

Researchers have known for years that aging brains are more susceptible to cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Earlier studies often examined isolated brain regions, but pain, stress and major life events tend to influence widespread neural networks. The brain age gap -- the difference between someone's actual age and how old their brain appears on imaging -- provides a single measurement that reflects these broader effects.

Although the research centered on people experiencing chronic pain, the authors note that habits such as lowering stress, strengthening social support and maintaining healthy sleep patterns are likely to benefit brain aging in a wide range of individuals.

"Literally for every additional healthy promoting factor there is some evidence of neurobiological benefit," Sibille said. "Our findings support the growing body of evidence that Lifestyle is medicine."

Journal Reference:

1. Jared J Tanner, Angela Mickle, Udell Holmes, Brittany Addison, Kenia Rangel, Cynthia Garvan, Roland Staud, Song Lai, David Redden, Burel R Goodin, Catherine C Price, Roger B Fillingim, Kimberly T Sibille. More than chronic pain: behavioural and psychosocial protective factors predict lower brain age in adults with/at risk of knee osteoarthritis over two years. Brain Communications, 2025; 7 (5) DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcaf344