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Train Your Brain
The most capable computer can’t touch the human brain when it comes to speed,
sophistication and capabilities. You spend time babying your desktop or laptop
machine – installing software upgrades, defragmenting the drive, and rooting out
viruses. But what have you done for your brain lately?
This article lays
out simple steps you can take to keep the supercomputer between your ears
running at peak efficiency and minimize the changes that occur with age.
Your Aging Brain
We’ve all known an older person who suffered
from some form of dementia. Such diseases affect just a minority of elders –
between 5 percent and 8 percent of people over 65.
But everyone’s mental
skills decline with age, even those of healthy people who don’t have dementia.
Cognitive abilities such as being able to quickly compare figures and even
verbal skills take a dive as much as 15 years before death, according to a 2008
study published by the American Academy of Neurology.
You’re not off the
hook if you’re only 30-something. Although it’s more common in older people,
difficulty in recalling well-known details – the “tip of the tongue” phenomenon
– can start as early as the fourth decade.
Between age 30 and 90, the
brain loses from 15 percent to 25 percent of its tissue, researchers say, and
that causes a decline in memory, the ability to learn, and other cognitive
processes.
Factors besides aging can also wreak havoc on your mind. One
of the worst dangers is smoking. In 2000, London researchers reported that
smokers age 65 and over were four times more likely than nonsmokers or former
smokers to show significant intellectual decline.
A study published in
2007 in the journal Neurology found that current smokers were 50 percent more
likely to develop dementia. Causes may include smoking-induced vascular disease,
which reduces blood supply to the brain, and oxidative stress caused by harmful
molecules known as free radicals.
Free radicals are waste products
produced by normal metabolic reactions as well as exposure to pollution
(including tobacco smoke), sunlight and radiation. They damage the body’s cells
and its DNA. As we age, our bodies lose the ability to neutralize free radicals,
which may be responsible for the mental decline and other degenerative diseases
associated with aging.
Despite age and environmental assaults, there’s a
lot you can do to maintain your brain.
Move The Body, Boost The
Brain
You know the benefits physical activity has for your heart, lungs
and waistline. Now scientists know it’s one of the best things you can do for
your mind.
Study after study confirms that regular exercise benefits
brain function and helps prevent or offset age-related losses.
Some key
findings:
- Older exercisers performed mental tasks more quickly and accurately than
their sedentary peers in a 2006 study. Exercise apparently enhances executive
control functions such as planning, scheduling, task coordination and
multitasking.
- Brain scans show physical differences in three areas between fit and unfit
people over age 55. After age 30 brain tissues begin to shrink. But fitness
slows the decline in brain density, according to a 2003 study published in the
Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences. Older women get even greater cognitive
benefit than men.
- Formerly sedentary people age 60 and over who walked briskly for 45 minutes
three times a week saw measurable improvement in their mental abilities.
- Exercisers enhanced their cognitive speed and ability to focus on sounds and
sights, according to a 2008 review of 11 studies. The benefits may be due to
improved blood flow to the brain, which increases its metabolism and stimulates
neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) and new synapses (connections between brain
cells).
- Programs that combine cardio and strength training yield more significant
results on brain function than one or the other by itself.
- Sessions of more than 30 minutes of exercise at a time generate the best
results.
Eat Colorful Foods
Mom was right when she nagged
you to eat your vegetables.
The most nutritious ones are full of plant
chemicals – antioxidants and other goodies – that help your brain and body
repair the damage caused by everyday life.
Older people who eat an
average of four servings of vegetables each day enjoy a significantly slower
rate of mental decline than those who consume less than one serving a day.
Generally speaking, the more intensely colored a plant, the more
protective substances it contains. Some of the best choices include:
- Dark green, leafy vegetables
- Orange, yellow and red vegetables
- Cruciferous veggies such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts
- Deeply colored fruits and berries such as strawberries and blueberries
It also looks as though folate (folic acid), a B vitamin abundant in
leafy green veggies and citrus fruits, protects the brain.
Researchers
at Tufts University found that men over 50 whose diets were richer in folate
showed much less decline in verbal fluency over a three-year period. Another
study conducted in Switzerland showed that three years of folate supplementation
allowed participants to perform like younger people in tests of memory,
information-processing and other skills.
Brain researchers at UCLA and
elsewhere also note that foods high in omega-3 fatty acids – such as salmon and
other oily fish, walnuts, flax seeds and certain vegetables – can improve
learning and memory and help fight mood disorders.
Omega-3s confer
numerous benefits to the rest of the body as well. If fatty fish and nuts aren’t
part of your diet, you can supplement with fish-oil or flax-oil capsules.
What not to eat? Foods high in saturated fats (e.g., fatty beef, butter)
and trans fats (almost all junk foods, highly processed foods and packaged
sweets) are believed to negatively affect the brain.
Finally, don’t
waste your money on DHEA supplements, which some have touted as protective of
the brain. A 2008 study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics
Society found DHEA had no beneficial effect on mental function in healthy older
people.
Try Something New
Studies show that people whose
occupations involve brain work are more likely to retain their mental abilities
than those whose jobs don’t require much thinking. In other words, lifelong
learning helps protect cognitive skills.
When you learn something new –
whether it’s speaking a second language or playing a musical instrument – your
brain creates new connections between neurons (nerve cells) adjacent to each
other and also between distant neurons. It’s like new software being written in
your head.
Research in England and Canada found that the portion of the
brain governing language was larger in those who speak more than one language.
They also note that learning a language seems to improve nonverbal and other
cognitive skills.
Other scientists have created computer-based training
programs specifically geared for your brain (see
www.positscience.com), and
a Japanese doctor has developed a Nintendo game that’s thought to enhance mental
acuity.
But you don’t need to buy a program to engage your little gray
cells. Play bridge, learn to dance, work jigsaw or Sudoku puzzles, or take up a
challenging hobby like growing orchids or gourmet cooking. The only requirements
are that the activity provides mental challenge and is highly rewarding.
Take It Easy
What about relaxation, especially if you’re
already feeling over stimulated and time-stressed?
University of
Washington scientist Jeansok Kim says chronic stress is bad for your brain and
interferes with learning and memory. Other researchers believe excess stress may
harm the area of the brain known as the hippocampus, which is vital to memory.
The cure could be regularly practicing whole-body relaxation,
meditation, deep breathing or repetitive prayer. People who do feel more
optimistic, handle stress better, and have fewer stress symptoms, according to a
2003 study published in Psychosomatic Medicine. Those who take up meditation or
relaxation methods for eight weeks display positive changes in brain activity –
and not just during the 20 minutes devoted to relaxation.
The research
suggests that relaxation methods can encourage positive attitude, improve
people’s response to stress, and reduce insomnia.
And speaking of sleep:
Getting adequate rest is one of the best ways to be good to your brain.
If you have a tough problem that requires a creative solution, sleep on
it. That advice is backed up by Harvard Medical School researchers, who say a
good night’s sleep doubled subjects’ odds of coming up with the answers to tough
mathematics problems. During sleep your brain does a great job of synthesizing
discrete bits of information to discover solutions.
That’s why students
perform better on tests by getting a good night’s rest than by pulling an
all-nighter. Losing a whole night’s sleep impairs judgment as much as being
intoxicated, scientists say. And any amount of sleep deprivation reduces mental
performance.
Naps can help you keep your edge, especially if your sleep
was disrupted the night before. In a study of Japanese men, a 20-minute snooze
in the afternoon enhanced mental performance and alertness. Research conducted
in New York found similar benefits.
For More Information
Find
out more about maintaining a healthy brain at these Web sites.
The Franklin Institute’s “The Human Brain”
www.fi.edu/learn/brain
Eldr magazine’s “Brain Power”
www.eldr.com/article/brain-power
Prevention magazine’s “Brain Games”
www.snipr.com/braingames