There is nothing more frightening than the fear of losing one's mind. Once that goes, nothing else really matters much. No amount of money or even physical well being can possibly make up for the loss of cognitive ability.
Stimulate Your Brain Build new neural pathways in your brain to keep your most important organ revitalized as you age : -
There is some evidence that challenges like playing a musical instrument or learning another language have more benefits than repeatedly doing jigsaw or crossword puzzles as it activates different parts of the brain.
Nurture Your Brain
In fact, listening to or
playing music can help keep the brain healthy, including increasing
mental sharpness and enhanced memory. Listening to soft, relaxing music before turning in for the night can promote better sleep patterns. It has been shown that when we listen to music we enjoy, it tends to have a positive effect on our brains, our psyches, our moods, and our quality of life. Build A Social Network
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| Nourish Your Brain Eat HealthyGet MOVING. When you break a sweat, it pumps blood to your brain. That initiates the growth of new brain cells. Studies show that just 30 minutes a day reduces brain cell loss, not to mention the added bonuses of reduced risk of stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and more. If you can, exercise outdoors as connecting with nature calms the mind in a way only Mother Nature can do. Researchers took a group of subjects 55 or older who were not
regularly exercising at the time. The control group stretched and toned,
while the experimental group walked 40 minutes a day for 3 days a week. By the end of the experiment, the walking group averaged about 15 minutes a miles, which is 4 miles per hour. A nice brisk pace. The main findings were observed in the hippocampus, which is important for memory formation and recall. The control group which stretched and toned had a 1.4% decrease in hippocampus size. But the 3 days a week walking group saw an increase of their hippocampus size by 2%.
Mastering more complicated physical activities, like dance or sports,
has greater benefits than repeating simpler ones, like walking. What the
studies haven't determined is whether the benefits of exercise
disappear when people become sedentary. More than a dozen observational studies have shown that the Mediterranean Diet - high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes; moderate in olive oil and unsaturated fats, cheese and yogurt, and wine; and low in red meat is associated with a reduced risk of dementia. Gray matter in your brain is where the clusters of nerve cells live. It's responsible for much of our brain's functions, including muscle control, memory, vision, hearing, emotions, and decision-making. White matter involves the long nerves that fire messages to other brain cells. The men who followed the Mediterranean diet had significantly higher amounts of both gray and white matter. Although the few randomized controlled trials have been too short to yield meaningful results, the diet's proven heart-healthy effects alone make it worth following. Sleep Well Researchers are piecing together how the brain processes and stores memories. The theory is that sleep helps us "fix" memories in place. Getting enough REM and slow-wave sleep helps us keep our minds sharp. Sleep clears out debris from the brain. In fact, researchers at University of California Berkeley think that sleeping well helps us clear out Alzheimer's-causing plaques from our brains. Not sleeping enough leads to plaque buildup. |