Brain Awareness Month Wrap-Up: 5 Things We Hope You'll Carry Into July

Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month is ending. Tomorrow we cross into July, and the world's attention will pivot to other things.

For caregivers, the work continues. The medications still need to be sorted. The doctor's appointments still need to be scheduled. The sundowning still arrives every afternoon. The long days of summer stretch ahead.

Before we leave June behind, here are five things from this month that we hope you'll carry into the second half of the year.

1. The five pillars of brain health work — for both of you

We spent time this month on the science of brain health: movement, sleep, nutrition, social connection, and cognitive engagement. These pillars matter for the person you care for. They matter equally for you.

The single most important thing you can do for the person with dementia is take care of the person doing the caring. Your sleep. Your meals. Your movement. Your social life. Your cognitive engagement outside of caregiving tasks.

Pick one pillar to strengthen in July. Just one. Watch how it ripples through everything else.

2. Different dementias deserve different care

If you took one piece of pillar information from this month, we hope it was this: not all dementia is Alzheimer's, and what type your loved one has changes everything about how you care.

If you're still operating without a clear diagnosis — just "dementia" — make this the season you push for clarity. Ask the doctor specifically what type. Ask for imaging if it hasn't been done. Ask for a neurologist or geriatrician referral if you've only seen a primary care doctor.

The more clearly you can name what you're caring for, the more precisely you can care.

3. Burnout doesn't announce itself — recognize the signs

We walked through the seven warning signs of caregiver burnout this month. If even one or two stood out, please take that seriously.

The cost of unaddressed burnout — to your health, your relationships, your ability to continue caregiving — is far higher than the cost of acting now.

This week, pick one small action: a doctor's appointment, a call to a therapist, a conversation with a sibling about respite, an hour of help you've been refusing to ask for. Don't wait for crisis.

4. Summer is a hard season — plan for it

Summer sundowning is real. Heat dysregulation, late sunsets, dehydration, and disrupted routines all compound through July and August in ways that make autumn-and-spring strategies inadequate.

Take the next week to plan:

1. Cool the indoor environment to 72–76°F afternoon and evening.
2. Move walks and stimulating activities to morning.
3. Hydrate aggressively from morning onward.
4. Begin the 4 p.m. wind-down — dim lights, soft music, predictable rhythm.
5. Make the bedroom dark and cool by 7 p.m.

These are not luxuries. They are stabilizers.

5. Connection does not require recognition

Of everything we wrote this month, this is the one we hope reaches you most:

Your loved one knows you, even when they can no longer name you. They feel safe in your presence, even when they cannot articulate who you are. They settle when you walk in, in ways they do not settle for strangers.

The love you are giving is reaching them.

This is not a feel-good message. It is what the research consistently shows about emotional perception and felt safety in dementia: these capacities remain long after the surface ones fade.

You are not loving someone who has already left. You are loving someone who is still there, in a form that requires you to recognize them through different doors than the ones you've used before.

What comes next

Tomorrow's article — our final June piece — looks forward into July and beyond. We'll talk about what's coming up on the calendar, what the second half of the year tends to look like for caregivers, and how to set yourself up for it.

For today, we want to thank you. For reading. For doing the work. For caring about getting it right.

This month, the world remembered briefly that dementia caregivers exist. You, on the other hand, will continue tomorrow exactly as you did yesterday — quiet, steady, devoted.

We are honored to walk alongside you.

→ Browse 8,000+ printable activities for the rest of the year — free at CarePrints.