Stay Smart by Protecting Your Brain. Part 2

In my previous blog, Stay Smart By Protecting Your Brain, Part 1, I had discussed how your diet is a key contributor in keeping your brain agile. Here I will talk about how lifestyle choices like exercise, stress, sleep, and mental activity determine how your brain will age over time. According to a study led by the University of Exeter and published in the JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) and presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in 2019, the risk of dementia was 32% lower in people with a high genetic risk if they followed a healthy lifestyle, compared to those who did not. Participants with a high genetic risk and an unfavourable lifestyle were almost three times more likely to develop dementia compared to those with a low genetic risk and favourable lifestyle[1].

Move. Exercise leads to beneficial changes in the adult brain, including the growth of new neurons and increased connections between existing neurons. Physical activity seems to induce this is by increasing production of a protein called brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which promotes neuron growth and survival[2]. Your brain loses 15-25% of its tissue between the ages of thirty and ninety. Most of the loss is in the areas associated with memory and learning. The good news is that studies also show that the more cardio-vascularly fit you are, the less reduction there is in your brain volume. Getting your heart and lungs pumping helps increase blood flow to your brain and encourages your brain to produce natural nerve growth factors. . Even a brisk walk for at least 30 minutes every day is good and helps improve mood, energy, and memory.

New movements grow new brain cells. Learning new movements like learning a new dance form or a new sport swing, is one of the best medicines to lessen the age-related decline in your brain tissue. Dance, especially ballroom dance and other forms that involve cooperation between two partners, one leading and the other following, or both following not just preset steps but having the ability to improvise, cause very rapid decision making that stimulates the growth of new neural pathways in your brain[3].  Similarly, changing dance partners was also seen to be more beneficial than sticking to the same partner.

Keep Calm. The older you are, the calmer your brain needs to be. As you age, your brain’s ability to process stress decreases. A healthy body needs the right balance of circulating stress hormones. If your levels of stress hormones like cortisol are chronically high, they will damage your brain tissue. This can lead to a condition called glucocorticoid neurotoxicity or GCN.

Your brain’s built-in protective mechanism against GCN declines with age. The hippocampus, the area of your brain associated with learning and memory, is the most vulnerable to GCN. Continuous high levels of the stress hormone cortisol not only shrink your brain nerve tissues but also slows down the ability of glucose (the main brain fuel) to enter your brain cells. This means less mental energy which leads to unstable moods and difficulty with impulse control and focusing. High cortisol can also slow information processing by your brain causing a drop in your brain’s neurotransmitters, especially dopamine. People suffering from Alzheimer’s often have higher levels of stress hormones.

Keep calm by moving vigorously as this stimulates your brain to secrete endorphins and other mood boosting hormones that have a natural calming effect. Surround yourself with positive people who perk you up. Think positive and try finding joy in life’s simple pleasures like enjoying the beauty of a sunset or listening to the soothing sound of falling rain.

Sleep. Getting consistent, good quality sleep not only improves overall health but it may also play an important role in preventing cognitive decline. The older you get, the more quality sleep you need. Studies have shown that people who sleep less than the recommended seven to eight hours a night score lower on mental function tests. This may be because learning and memory are consolidated during sleep. Studies have shown an association between poor sleep and a higher risk of accumulating beta- amyloid protein plaque in the brain, which is one of the main indicators of Alzheimer’s disease. Your brain sweeps out excess amyloid proteins during the deep sleep phase which is when your memories are consolidated. When your sleep gets interrupted during this phase, amyloid proteins build up and form plaque on brain tissue. Scientists believe that this is the first stage in the development of Alzheimer’s, and it can occur years before symptoms occur.

Getting enough exercise during the day, including foods which promote sleep, cutting back on caffeine after early afternoon, engaging in deep breathing exercises in the evening are a few simple strategies to help you drift gently into slumberland.

Mental activity. Researchers have found that engaging in mentally stimulating activities, even late in life, may protect against new onset mild cognitive impairment. The study found that people who were 70 or older and were normal cognitively, had a decreased risk of developing mild cognitive impairment if they engaged in computer use, craft activities and playing games[4]. Different areas of your brain store different memories and you have separate storage sites in your brain for short term and long-term memories. Aging can affect some memories but not others. For instance, you might look up someone’s address and quickly forget, having to look it up again. However, you can remember a picnic from your school days quite vividly. Just as physical exercise enhances strength and cardiovascular fitness, mental exercise improves memory and stalls cognitive decline. Here are a few techniques to help jog your memory.

Visualize: Visualization involves forming a mental image to represent information. The mental image may be in the form of pictures or animated scenes. A review in 2018 from the National Institutes of Health states how visualization helps people organize information and make correct decisions [5]. You can practice visualization in your daily life. Before you go grocery shopping for instance, make an image in your mind about what you will buy when you get to the store, making each image as vivid as possible.

Replay. If you are one of those who often forget where you have parked your car for instance, put your mind in replay mode. After you visualize the lot in which you have parked your car, rewind your memory button to recall the steps you took to get to the parking lot.

Association. When you meet someone for the first time and would like to remember the person’s name, the profession or some other detail make associations to help you retrieve it from your memory bank. The more bizarre the association, the easier it will be for you to remember the details.

Preview. Suppose you are visiting a museum and you are required to store your bag containing your laptop in the locker. If you are concerned that you may forget it, preview the process. As you walk into the museum, visualize what you will do to get out of the museum. You will probably walk out of the museum gallery, through the main lobby, into the locker room to retrieve your bag. Rehearse this scene several times in your mind, so that when it needs to happen it will already be imprinted in your memory.

Make a reminder. To help you remember to take something with you when leaving home or work for instance, place a sticky note on a place you must pass by before leaving. Make a ‘to do list’ for the next day and stick it to your fridge before you retire for the night.

Get organized. You are more likely to forget things if your home is cluttered. Have designated places for your wallet, car keys and glasses and other essentials.

Use mnemonic tricks like acronyms or rhymes. When tightening or loosening my coffee grinder, I remember “righty- tighty, lefty-loosey”. To remember fat soluble vitamins, I use the acronym ADEK.  

Understand your own style of learning. People are either visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learners. Visual learners remember best what they see. Signs and memory notebooks help them the most. Auditory learners, learn best what they hear. They benefit by reading out their’ to do lists’ out loud or by recording them.  Kinesthetic learners remember best what they experience. Writing things down or acting them out will help them remember. Knowing your learning style will help your memory. To enhance your memory even further, try using all three learning modes.

Since there is no real cure for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, the best intervention is prevention. By making the requisite changes in lifestyle and diet you can go a long way in protecting your brain from the devastating consequences of dementia or full-blown Alzheimer’s.

If you need help in getting you on track in keeping those grey cells smart and evergreen, reach out to me on www.rimabhealth.com.

[1] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190714142509.htm

[2] doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0120-26

[3] http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/16525/1/The-Best-Means-of-Avoiding-Alzheimers-Is-Dance.html

[4]Mayo Clinic. "Mental activities may protect against mild cognitive impairment." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 January 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170130133315.htm>.

[5]Decision making with visualizations: a cognitive framework across disciplines by Lace M. Padilla, Sarah H. Creem-Regehr, [...], and Jeanine K. Stefanucci