Ask Me Anything: Brain health and cognition

Hanae Armitage

When it comes to complex biology, the brain rules. To understand how the brain controls our movements, behavior, thoughts and memories -- and how that changes when things go awry -- we asked Stanford neurologist Sharon Sha to weigh in. For an #AskMeAnything, she spoke about all things neuro -- from how you can sharpen your mental acuity, to what happens when a memory is lost.

Sha, who specializes in caring for patients with cognitive and neurodegenerative disorders, weighed in on a multitude of brain and cognition-related questions, and even shared a peek into what it was like to work with actor Chris Hemsworth (who played Thor in several Marvel Studios "Avengers" films) on a docuseries.

Below is a compilation of the questions and answers hosted on our Instagram account. The following Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity.