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Building brain resilience through brain capital

Neuropsychopharmacology (2025)Cite this article

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The environment is increasingly recognized as a critical determinant of brain health. The exposome, the entire collection of an individual’s exposure ranging from the chemical exposure to social factors and lifestyles [1] has been recognized as a key element driving the individual’s allostatic load, steering vulnerability or resilience to brain illness and ultimately building brain reserve. Considering brain health and brain reserve as socioeconomical values is a concept that aligns closely with the emerging Brain-Positive Economic Transition or Brain Economy movement, a translational framework positioning Brain Capital, the combination of brain health and neurocognitive skills, such as emotional regulation, creativity, and executive function, as fundamental to economic and societal advancement [2]. Brain Capital reframes brain health and brain reserve as a strategic economic and financial asset underpinning innovation, resilience, and population well-being. Food quality and deprivation, neurotoxic exposures, chronic psychosocial stress, educational deprivation, and neighborhood insecurity [1], can significantly erode neural development and cognitive function across the lifespan, with profound economic consequences. According to estimates from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Brain Health Atlas, brain disorders account for approximately $5 trillion in health care costs [3], while the McKinsey Health Institute suggests that enriched environments which promote brain health across the lifespan could yield to global economic benefits [4]. The idea of enhancing collective brain reserve at the societal level has already been embraced by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global strategy to build system-level resilience, enabling societies to absorb and transform in response to crises [5]. This vision has also been endorsed by initiatives such as the Yaoundé Declaration, a formal commitment to promote equitable, locally led strategies for brain health across the continent [4].

To advance the Brain Economy movement, two major challenges must be addressed. The first involves the ethical and secure integration of artificial intelligence to analyze large-scale population data and personalized inputs from wearable devices. This is essential for understanding the complex relationship between individual and societal factors that influence brain health. Achieving this goal requires collaboration with the tech industry, global stakeholders, and policymakers to ensure responsible use and prevent misuse of AI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Fernanda Laezza

  2. Sealy Center of Environmental Health & Medicine, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

    Fernanda Laezza

  3. Office of Innovation, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Harris A. Eyre

  4. Department of Psychological Sciences, School of Social Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Harris A. Eyre

  5. Neuro Engineering Initiative, School of Engineering and Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Harris A. Eyre

Authors
  1. Fernanda Laezza
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  2. Harris A. Eyre
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FL and HE conceptualized and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Fernanda Laezza or Harris A. Eyre.

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Competing interests

FL is founder and president of IonTX Inc; HAE is a paid senior advisor with McKinsey and Company, owns stock in Almond Digital Health, and receives speaking fees from Roche.

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Laezza, F., Eyre, H.A. Building brain resilience through brain capital. Neuropsychopharmacol. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-025-02236-7

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