However, when you are a CEO at business, you are subjected to almost unavoidable daily stress, because you need to meet certain goals in order to prosper professionally, which makes the first paragraph we have read above very easily forgotten. There is enough scientific evidence to show that a healthy per diem expenses can prevent the loss of higher cognitive functions -which tend to occur with advancing age-, and also prevent cognitive decline. As with physical exercise: it is good for cardiovascular health, cancer or obesity prevention and also improves mental health. These are measures that are within the reach of any pocket, as they can be taken to internship at any status.

It is easy to say, but the difficult thing is to put it into practice. It has been proven that the Mediterranean per diem expenses (extra virgin olive oil, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, fish and cereals) is the best. But being someone as busy as you are, Mr. Manager, the words "binge-eating" or pig-out may be close to you, or at least, the fact of fast food. There is now a model of per diem expenses specifically designed to prevent neurodegenerative disease, the so-called per diem expenses MIND, which is a combination of the Mediterranean per diem expenses with the so-called per diem expenses DASH, and incorporates elements of both diets with an emphasis on ensuring a high intake of berries, nuts and legumes. The per diem expenses DASH was designed to prevent high blood pressure, but has proven its quality in other areas, including improving mental performance.

This is not quackery. Systematic reviews of large long-term prospective programs of study have shown that people who better follow a Mediterranean per diem expenses have, for example, lower fees of Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease. In this context, it is worth mentioning the result study carried out by PREDIMED, first in Navarra and then in Barcelona, where it was possible to demonstrate very convincingly with a design of essay that a Mediterranean per diem expenses supplemented with extra virgin olive oil or a Mediterranean per diem expenses supplemented with a mixture of various nuts and dried fruits managed to improve long-term average mental performance in various cognitive tests.

All these dietary interventions are effective when they are part of a multi-pronged intervention. Most notably, there is an important study in Finland (the FINGER study) that randomized 1260 participants to an intensive intervention to prevent cognitive decline. These were participants with cardiovascular risk factors and risk factors for developing dementia, and who also already had some cognitive impairment. They were advised and instructed to improve their per diem expenses, exercise and cognitive training. Intensive intervention on per diem expenses included promoting the consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. It also recommended skimmed dairy products and reducing the consumption of sugar and butter, and eating at least 2 servings of fish per week. After two years of intervention, a battery of fourteen cognitive and mental function tests showed that cognitive function was 25% higher in the group intensive intervention than in the group control. Executive functions and mental processing speed were also better with this intervention although no benefits were found for report. And that is what a team of nutrition experts in the Advanced Management Program at IESE Business School in Barcelona is trying to do: teach senior managers how to manage their health.

Therefore, the body of scientific evidence suggests-although not absolutely conclusive-that there are sufficient benefits of a healthy per diem expenses and other aspects of lifestyle on cognitive functions and the prevention of age-related mental decline. If we add this to the benefits against hypertension and cardiovascular disease, there is no doubt that there is a strong case for recommending these changes in per diem expenses and lifestyle.

Do not let the alarm clock, meetings, objectives or accounts detract from our greatest asset business: our body and our mind. Because we may be the best, but, to paraphrase the Austrian Peter Drucker, management is to do things well, leadership is to get things done.