Boost the Brain, Grow and Build the Gray Matter
Would you like to have good brain health in life? Who wouldn’t?
Did you know that according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the third leading causing of death for women and the sixth leading cause of death for men was Alzheimers and Dementia? This represents over five times as many death’s as occur in road accidents every year.
Fortunately ensuring good brain health is not something that requires a high IQ. There are many easy, simple changes that we can implement in our lifestyles to ensure healthy brain function as we age.
WE ARE WHAT WE EAT
Many would know the old saying, “you are what you eat”, the brain cells are no different. If we want healthy brain cells we need to eat a healthy diet. A good brain diet should include a well balanced diet with good quantities of protein, good fats and carbohydrates spread across three meals.
It is important to space meals properly and utilise good, complex carbohydrates to avoid fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Glucose, is the key energy source for the brain and that mid afternoon brain fade is quite frequently linked to plummeting blood sugar levels based on too long between meals or a diet high in simple carbohydrates.
Good communication within the brain and central nervous system requires the support of neurotransmitters. Dopamine and acetylcholine are two that are very common in controlling attention, memory and learning. We can help our body manufacture these by providing the raw materials in our diet through the use of eggs, soft cheeses, avocado’s and seeds, particularly sesame seeds.
There’s good news that are stomachs aren’t the fattiest part of our body. The brain is around 60-70% fat so building good brain cells requires that we feed a good proportion of the right fats in our diets. Omega 3 fats from seeds, avocados and olive oil break down to provide docosahexaenoic acid or DHA. At the same time great care needs to be taken to reduce or eliminate the number of trans fats, something particularly common in junk and processed foods, from the diet.
STRETCH THE BRAIN TO LEARN AND GROW
Most people will have heard the saying “use it or lose it”? This saying is equally applicable in the case of the brain.
Typically, human mental development begins to decline at or before age 40 as unused parts of the brain begin to stop working. Constant mental challenges and the constant acquisition of new skills appears to slow or prevent this occurring. The best thing is this habit can be cultivated from an early start, with six year old children who were given music lessons enjoying a two to three point advantage on IQ scores when compared to other children.
Scientists have suggested that the neural systems that underlie our working memory, the area that supports our basic intelligence, grow in response to use or exercise. Examples of activities that exercise the brain include maths, games such as bridge or chess, learning a musical instrument or picking up a new language. It has been suggested that this also provides a “protective” function by providing a collection of standby pathways in the event of damage to one neural pathway.
TAKE YOUR BRAIN FOR A WALK
While it has long been known that exercise can increase the hormones associated with mood these same hormones can also improve learning, concentration and reasoning. Walking for half an hour three times per week can provide up to a 15% increase in these functions. While it has been shown that this is most notable in the elderly it is by no means age specific, a similar affect was seen in children who exercise three or four times a week. This alone should end the jocks and nerds rivalry.
The rebalancing of hormones achieved during exercise will also help in lowering the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The hippocampus is the section of the brain involved in learning and memory and co-incidentally the area of the brain most damaged by increased levels of cortisol. Exercise will not just prevent damage but has also offers positive effects having been shown in rats to increase the growth of the hippocampus.
USE PILLOW POWER TO PRESERVE MENTAL FUNCTION
Many people spend most of their lives functioning in a state of mild sleep deficiency. Scientists have suggested that experiencing drowsiness, even during a boring task, is a sign that we are in fact sleep deficient and that those people that fall asleep within five minutes of their head hitting the pillow aren’t in fact lucky, but rather experiencing a severe sleep deficiency.
Sleep is a very important tool in preserving not just our sanity, but also our brain waves; rats that were deprived of sleep died within three weeks.
While sleeping the region of the brain used in learning is stimulated and protein production is increased. Testing memorisation of new skills and knowledge after adequate and correct sleep revealed repeatedly higher retention rates.
A lack of sleep is not something that is easily corrected. There is a myth that the affects of sleep deprivation can be corrected with a marathon sleep session. While this did cover the short term signs of sleep deprivation the effects of long-term sleep deprivation persisted. It has been suggested this is due to two concurrent, but different ways our body tracks sleep debt. The first being based around hours spent awake and the second based around the number of nights of shortened sleep.
Boosting our brain health is a great way to improve our quality of life as we age and it is easy to live a brain friendly lifestyle. If you would like to discuss your brain health with one of naturopaths feel free to contact us on 07 3800 1993 or info@www.passion4health.com.au.
Passion4Health is a wellness clinic located in Browns Plains, Brisbane. At Passion4Health we focus on management and maintenance of optimum health through an integrated lifestyle approach.
Passion4Health provide diet and nutritional advice, massage, lymphatic drainage, iridology and live blood analysis.
Find out how you can reduce chronic disease and maintain optimum health by calling us now on 07 3800 1993.