Women Are Twice as Likely to Get Alzheimer’s and Emma Heming Willis Wants to Talk About It

Emma Heming Willis has spent the last few years thinking hard about the brain. Her husband Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023, and that experience, combined with her own history of brain fog and an adult ADHD diagnosis, is what led her and entrepreneur Helen Christoni to launch Make Time Wellness, their supplement company and podcast. Their mission is to get women talking seriously about brain health before they have a reason to.

On The Art of Being Well, they sit down with Dr. Will Cole and break it all down. Here’s what they covered.

Know your risk

The numbers are more important than many people realize.

• 1 in 5 women will develop Alzheimer’s—for men, it’s 1 in 10
• Women make up 2/3 of all Alzheimer’s patients
• Alzheimer’s can be present in the brain 10–30 years before a diagnosis

Christoni compares it to breast cancer. Women have heard that conversation countless times, mammograms and all. But the brain health discussion has no equivalent. That’s the gap Make Time is trying to close.

Watch for these signs

• Repeating yourself in conversation
• Walking into a room and forgetting why
• Difficulty finishing a thought
• Persistent brain fog or feeling consistently “off”

Heming Willis went to her doctor twice before anyone took her seriously. She was told she had “mommy brain.” Months later, still struggling, she pushed harder and eventually got an ADHD diagnosis—which explained a lot. If something feels wrong, don’t let a dismissal be the end of it.

Eat for your brain

The Mediterranean diet is the most research-backed place to start. Think leafy greens, fish, olive oil, nuts, seeds, omega-3s. Christoni’s real tip isn’t just about the food, but about having it ready. Sunday meal prep, even something as simple as roasting a protein and washing some greens, means you’re not grabbing whatever’s closest when you’re hungry and rushed. If that still feels like too much, there’s no shame. She says to ask ChatGPT for a simple weekly plan and keep simplifying until it actually feels doable.

Move—but not as much as you think

Research shows 3,000 steps a day can reduce Alzheimer’s risk by around 25 percent.

But what about that 10K step goal that has been drilled into our heads? Christoni raises this specifically because the 10,000-step benchmark makes a lot of people feel like failures and stop moving entirely. Walking meetings, a loop around the block after dinner, a walking pad under your desk during calls—it all counts and adds up. Add strength training and cardio where you can, but if you’re starting from scratch, stick to the 3,000 goal.

Sleep

This could be the single most important pillar of cognitive health. During sleep, the brain flushes out metabolic waste, and skimping can be neurologically costly.

A few things that help:

• Eat earlier; a small protein snack before bed can prevent the 2–3 a.m. cortisol spike
• Leave your phone out of the bedroom
• Blue-light-blocking glasses and a book beats staring at the ceiling if you wake up in the night
• Heming Willis swears by her Eight Sleep cooling mattress for actually staying asleep

When your days are too full, bedtime becomes your only personal time, so you stay up to claim it. Making space for yourself during the day is part of what makes sleeping at night possible.

Breathe

Christoni caught herself mid-conversation with her shoulders at her ears, barely breathing. Most people are doing a version of this all day without even realizing it.

Shallow breathing limits oxygen to the brain and keeps the nervous system in low-grade stress mode. Deep breathing activates the parasympathetic system, which is the part responsible for rest and recovery. The easiest way to build it in is to pair it with stretching. Breathe into each stretch instead of holding your breath through it. No extra time required.

Supplements worth knowing

Heming Willis and Christoni built Make Time Wellness around what they were already taking:

• Curcumin: anti-inflammatory
• L-theanine: calm focus
• Cognizin choline: memory and mental clarity
• Nootropics: cognitive support

And for sleep they suggest using melatonin and magnesium.

To hear the full scoop on brain health, listen to The Art of Being Wellwherever you get your podcasts.

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