Over the past decade, public discourse around mental health has expanded significantly. Conversations that were once confined to stress, anxiety, and depression have entered mainstream dialogue, encouraging
people to seek help and reducing stigma. Yet a new frontier is emerging beyond mental health: cognitive health, how well our brains function across the lifespan.
Today, an increasing number of people report symptoms such as brain fog, mental fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and declining memory. While often dismissed as the unavoidable by-product of modern life, scientists and clinicians are beginning to view these symptoms as early signals of deeper physiological processes.
Dr Sumiti Saharan, Chief Scientific Officer, Ivory, believes the conversation is on the cusp of a major transition. According to her, society is moving from simply acknowledging mental health symptoms toward actively measuring and optimizing brain function.
She explains that over the past decade there has been a shift in how mental health is discussed, but the next step will be treating cognitive health as something that can be quantified, monitored, and improved over time, rather than only addressed when problems appear.
Research increasingly shows that cognitive decline is not merely an inevitable consequence of ageing. Instead, it is shaped by a complex interplay of lifestyle and biological factors across the lifespan. Chronic stress, sedentary habits, poor sleep quality, ultra-processed diets, and metabolic health all influence how the brain performs.
“Many people experiencing brain fog or persistent fatigue do not realise how deeply these symptoms are linked to lifestyle patterns,” says Saharan. “The brain does not function in isolation; it reflects what is happening throughout the body.”
One of the most significant scientific developments in recent years has been the growing understanding of the gut–brain axis, the biological communication network connecting the gastrointestinal system and the brain.
Max Kushnir, Chief Scientific Officer, Sova, argues that this connection fundamentally reshapes how we interpret burnout and mental exhaustion.
“For decades burnout was framed as a psychological weakness or a failure of resilience,” Kushnir explains. “But science now shows that cognitive health is deeply rooted in the bi-directional communication between the gut and the brain through the vagus nerve.”
When chronic stress disrupts the gut microbiome, he says, it can trigger systemic inflammation that may cross the blood–brain barrier. The result can manifest as reduced mental clarity, fatigue, and burnout, symptoms that are often mistakenly attributed solely to emotional strain rather than biological processes.
Understanding this connection shifts the focus from simply coping with stress to restoring physiological balance.
Kushnir points out that traditional dietary practices may offer important clues. Fermented foods such as homemade curd, chaas, idli, and dosa introduce beneficial microbes into the digestive system, while fibre-rich foods like dals, whole grains, and vegetables help gut bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids that protect neurological health. Ingredients rich in polyphenols such as turmeric, amla, and ginger also support microbial diversity, which in turn influences cognitive performance.
Lifestyle practices play a role as well. Techniques like yoga and pranayama can stimulate the vagus nerve and strengthen communication between the gut and the brain, improving stress regulation and mental clarity.
As personalized nutrition and microbiome testing become more widely accessible, Kushnir believes this “microbiome-first” approach will become central to preventing burnout and sustaining long-term cognitive performance.
Yet diet and lifestyle represent only one part of the evolving cognitive health landscape. A parallel development is taking place in the field of nutraceuticals, where researchers are investigating natural compounds that may support brain function.
Arunkanth Krishnakumar, MBA, PhD, from Zeus Hygia Lifesciences, notes that cognitive health today faces multiple pressures simultaneously: chronic stress, inadequate sleep, metabolic dysfunction, digital overload, and the effects of ageing.
“Brain fog has emerged as one of the most common complaints in cognitive wellness,” he says. “People describe a lack of mental clarity, reduced concentration, and difficulty with memory, often driven by prolonged digital exposure, insufficient rest, hormonal fluctuations, poor nutrition, and chronic stress.”
In response, nutraceutical supplements are gaining attention as a non-pharmaceutical approach to supporting brain function across age groups. According to Krishnakumar, several ingredients backed by scientific research are being explored for their cognitive benefits.
Ashwagandha, for example, is widely studied for its ability to regulate cortisol levels and support stress resilience. Bacopa monnieri, long used in Ayurvedic medicine, is associated with memory enhancement and improved cognitive processing.
More recently, extracts derived from Mangifera indica (mango) have attracted scientific interest. Krishnakumar points to clinical studies suggesting that such extracts may support focus, alertness, and memory while remaining effective at relatively low doses.
Beyond individual ingredients, the broader trend reflects a shift in consumer behaviour. Increasingly, people, particularly younger, well-informed consumers are seeking solutions that combine traditional knowledge with clinical validation.
Krishnakumar describes cognitive fatigue and brain fog as one of the most compelling emerging opportunities in health and wellness, driven by growing epidemiological evidence and rising demand for scientifically backed interventions.
Yet experts agree that the most transformative shift may lie in how cognitive health itself is measured.
Dr. Saharan emphasizes that one of the biggest gaps in healthcare today is the lack of routine, objective cognitive screening. While blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar are regularly monitored, cognitive performance rarely receives the same proactive attention.
At Ivory, she says, efforts are underway to introduce globally validated cognitive assessment tools such as the CANTAB cognitive assessment to clinicians across India. These tools can help neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and physicians track cognitive performance over time, identify early changes, and intervene before more serious decline occurs.
“In the future, cognitive screening should become as routine as checking blood pressure,” Saharan says. “If we want to improve healthspan, not just lifespan, we need to understand how the brain is functioning long before symptoms become severe.”
This broader shift toward preventive brain health is also driving new collaborations between clinicians, researchers, and healthcare innovators.
As part of this effort, Ivory is launching India’s first Cognitive Health and Digital Screening Forum, Cogniverse, on 21 March. The initiative aims to bring together experts from across the country to advance the conversation around early detection, measurement, and intervention in cognitive health.
Taken together, these developments suggest a new framework for understanding how the brain ages. Rather than viewing cognitive decline as an unavoidable consequence of time, emerging science points toward a more dynamic reality, one shaped by lifestyle choices, metabolic health, microbiome diversity, and evidence-based interventions.
In this evolving paradigm, cognitive health becomes not merely a medical concern but a lifelong strategy for maintaining independence, decision-making ability, and quality of life well into older age.
The message from researchers is increasingly clear: safeguarding the brain may begin not just in the mind, but in the gut, in daily habits, and in a healthcare system prepared to measure and protect cognitive function long before it fades.
