New Delhi, Nov. 15 -- Once, brain health was a medical concern reserved for the elderly or those recovering from trauma. Today, it has moved to the center of public health, colliding with epidemics of burnout, early-onset dementia, and the lingering cognitive haze of covid-19. Scientists now argue that the brain ages decades before symptoms show, and that choices made in adolescence - diet, sleep, screen exposure, even exercise habits - may determine the odds of dementia later in life.

This shift has created a new vocabulary of care: the MIND diet is as familiar in wellness circles as keto, AI-driven neurotrackers are being marketed, and governments from India to the United States are sketching national brain-health blueprints. What was ...