Dan Quayle was only 44 years old when he uttered the mind lose vs. mind waste snafu but his momentary brain fog was enough to bungled his 1996 presidential dream.
A mind is a terrible thing to lose and if, at times, you feel like you're losing yours, try these six proven anti-aging solutions to put your brain back in gear.
1. Get a One Track Mind
Around the age of 60, the brain starts shrinking. But a smaller brain is not linked to diminished memory or other cognitive abilities. MRI studies do, however, indicate that the aging brain has more difficulty tuning out distractions and that memory problems are caused more by irrelevant information-overloading.
So turn off the TV when reading and avoid the insanity of multi-tasking. Studies on multi-tasking at the University of Michigan indicate that the stop/start juggling act reduces brain power and increase stress hormones that can actually damage memory centers.
2. Keep on Learning
Just like your body's muscles, brain function wastes away without use. Although studies suggest that people whose minds were actively engaged in youth are less likely to suffer from memory problems, it's never too late to grow neutrons. In fact, active minds may just be a learned behavior that was developed in youth and carried on into older age. If you didn't hit the books in high school, now is the time. Take up a new hobby, sign up for class, read a book and exercise your memory with brainteasers and crossword puzzles.
Use music and art to stimulate the cerebral cortex region of the brain where memory, attention and thought are processed.
3. Go on a Brain Diet
Your brain needs nutrition just like vegetables and flowers need fertilizer. Unfortunately, too many people feed their plants better than they feed their own minds and then wonder why they've lost their bloom.
Omega-3 is a brain's best friend but significantly lacking in the typical American diet. Vitamin B's, especially B6, B12 and folic acid, have been show to decrease levels of homocysteine, which has been linked to a risk of dementia. Keep the circuits clear with amino acids found in meat, fowl, eggs, cheese and other proteins. Amino acids are the building blocks of neurotransmitters, which keep you motivated, relaxed, focused and cheerful.
Again, just like plants, over feeding or watering can kill a garden; less is more for humans too.
A reduced calorie diet has been linked to reduced mental decline.
4. Control Your Blood Sugar
Glucose is not the enemy. Like your body, your mind uses energy but brain cells are nutrient hogs and require two times more energy than other cells in your body. Glucose is the energy that powers up your brain. A diet high in grains, legumes, fruits and vegetable will supply healthy glucose while one high in sugar or refined carbohydrates will deplete your energy stores and adversely affect concentration and memory.
Studies show that eating a complex carbohydrate
can improve memory in just one hour.
5. Get the Lead Out
Obviously, moving increases blood flow to the brain. But it also results in the formation of new nerve cells, fuels the body and mind with increased oxygen and reduces stress as it increases the feel good chemical dopamine. Exercise is believed to restore chemicals in the brain that form new stem cells and has been show to increase cells in the hippocampus of mice. Further studies on mice reveal that exercise decreases plaque forming beta-amyloid protein, a precursor to Alzheimer’s. Check with your doctor for guidance in developing an aerobics and weight training program that's right for you.
Just 15 minutes per day three days a week will bring improvement.
6. Take your Antioxidants
Free radicals are a necessary part of the metabolism process but like weathered metal they can cause a mind to rust, figuratively speaking. Rampant in modern society, free radicals, better known as pollutants such as pesticides, solvents and carbon monoxide, are atoms, molecules or ions with unpaired electrons. Free radicals damage our bodies and minds by robbing electrons from our mitochondria, DNA and membranes. Self-sacrificing antioxidants, found in micronutrients, neutralize free radicals by donating their own electrons. All is well until our antioxidant level decrease with age and our brain especially becomes an easy target for oxidative damage.
Your antioxidant arsenal consists of vitamins C and E, coenzyme Q10, lipoic acid and glutathione and supplements should be taken daily.
Get antioxidants at low prices at Vitabase Health Supplements.
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