By Jeanette Leardi for YouBeauty
It may be housed in an immovable shell of bone, but your brain -- that
three-pound fatty mass between your ears -- is the most dynamic organ in your
body. Your thoughts and actions add brain cells to the 100 billion already
there, and create and strengthen the connections among them.
Your brain is constantly inventing and reinventing itself. Knowing how
your lifestyle choices dramatically affect these abilities can help you boost
the power of your brain and keep it supercharged for the rest of your life.
“Your brain is the single-most magnificent, integrated and complicated
miracle ever designed in the history of this or any universe,” says Paul
Nussbaum, Ph.D., clinical neuropsychologist, adjunct professor of neurological
surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the author of
Save Your Brain. “The fact that this miracle sits directly between our ears and
is the ultimate portable and wireless device and literally defines who we are
and what we imagine or choose to do is the reason everyone, beginning at an
early age, needs to learn about this beautiful part of their being.”
What do we need to learn, exactly? Mainly that what we have always
assumed about our brains may actually be wrong.
“Brain fitness is such a new field that people do have many
misconceptions,” says Alvaro Fernandez, CEO of SharpBrains.com and co-author of
The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness. “For example, many people seem to
assume that as long as their brain is working fine, there is no reason to pay
more attention to it. In reality, working on optimizing one’s brain is a bit
like making sure to add gas to your car and change the oil regularly -- it
helps it work better and perform longer.”
Your Brain Is “Plastic”
Imagine that emerging from all your brain cells, or neurons, is a huge
network of wires forming 100 trillion connections. While it may seem that your
adult brain is fully formed and done maturing, the truth is that it's constantly
adapting, making new connections and rerouting old ones. “Brain plasticity, or
neuroplasticity, refers to the brain's capacity to rewire itself through
experience,” says Fernandez. As you learn things, your brain forms new
connections among your existing neurons. It's constantly changing, morphing and
-- if you play your cards right -- improving. Plasticity explains how stroke
patients can relearn skills they've lost due to brain damage. It also explains
how a healthy part of the brain might assume the job of a damaged part.
“Neuroplasticity doesn't stop when we are 18 or 25 or 30,” explains Fernandez.
“Every single day of our lives, no matter our age, we can change our brains for
the better.”
Until very recently, the prevailing wisdom among scientists was that by
adulthood you had all the brain cells you'd ever have and that as you got
older, those cells would gradually die. But there was a scientific sea change
in 1998, when it was discovered that the mature adult brain forms new neurons
in the learning and memory region called the hippocampus. “Neurogenesis
[literally, “the birth of brain cells”] continues during a whole lifetime,”
explains Fernandez.
Your Brain Is Resilient
Neuroplasticity and neurogenesis make your brain resilient against
damage and decline. Remember the image of the huge network of wires? The more
wires you have installed in your brain, the more likely you can cope with any
illness that “burns out” some of the connections.
Nussbaum says that building up resilience creates a jungle of
connections: “Now, if you think of Alzheimer's or another form of dementia as a
weed-whacker, imagine how long it will take to make any kind of impact in
cutting down the jungle.” Fernandez offers another image: “Think about it like
this: The more money you have in the bank to start with, the more money you can
withdraw over time without going bankrupt.”
The concept of resilience, what neuroscientists call “cognitive
reserve,” may explain why there are plenty of older adults (even centenarians)
whose minds are still sharp. Chances are that those same people have remained
mentally active and physically fit, too.
You Are The Architect Of Your
Brain
You can make a difference in how healthy your brain is, and remains.
Nussbaum and Fernandez offer these suggestions for how you can make easy
lifestyle tweaks for lasting mental acuity:
Keep Moving: According
to Nussbaum, your brain demands 25 percent of the blood from each heartbeat and
relies on blood oxygen and nutrients to feed it. To keep your blood pathways
healthy and to promote new neuron growth, both he and Fernandez advise taking a
brisk daily walk (try for at least one mile) and doing aerobic exercise three
times a week. Do whatever stimulates your heart -- and soul: dancing, hiking,
swimming, playing tennis. If you love it, you'll stick with it. And that's the
point.
Eat Right: Healthy
fats insulate your neurons’ connecting wires (in fact, your brain is 60 percent
fat!). Your body can't produce them, so they have to come from your diet.
Nussbaum recommends including in your diet 8 ounces of Omega-3 fish a week
(vegetarians can get their Omega-3s from algae supplements). Antioxidant-rich
foods, such as bright fruits and vegetables, protect cells from free radical
damage that can weaken cognitive function. Aim for six fist-sized servings a
day. Watch your intake of refined sugar; too much could lead to insulin
resistance in the brain, which has been linked to early Alzheimer's.
Embrace The New:
Because brain resilience relies on doing what Nussbaum calls “novel and
complex” activities (the more challenging and mind-broadening, the better),
work on adding to your knowledge and skills. Take a class in that foreign
language you've been dying to learn or lessons in that musical instrument
you've always dreamed of playing. You can also mix things up by doing everyday
things in an unusual way: Take different routes to work, alter tried-and-true
recipes and do tasks with your nondominant hand whenever possible. Do “anything
that gets you out of your daily routines and comfort level,” advises Fernandez.
Chill Out -- Alone And With
Others: Studies have shown that stress increases brain inflammation
that can damage brain cells. Meditation, yoga, prayer, deep breathing and other
mindfulness exercises can help you monitor and reduce your stress. And having
fun with family and friends is a great way to relax and stimulate your brain.
Indeed, research demonstrates that older women who are socially active are less
likely to develop dementia.
Play Brain Games:
Puzzle books and online games (for instance, Fit Brains, which Nussbaum helped
develop) can give your brain a fun workout, and gamelike strategies can help
you sharpen your memory. For maximum brain-boosting results, why not try
creating puzzles of your own for others to solve and have a special Game Night
with family or friends? Everybody wins.
“To anyone reading this,” says Fernandez, “please say ‘Hello!’ to the
several thousand neurons that will be born in your brain today. How will you
take good care of them?”
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/28/strength-training-for-your-brain_n_3157830.html
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