Friday, 6 January 2012

Prevent decline in your brain

You may have heard the reports today of a study published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) stating that mental decline can start as early as 45.

When you read a bit more about it, you discover that what they are talking about seems to be dementia. They are suggesting that it can start earlier than people had previously thought.

What they are also saying is that people who are healthy tend to keep their cognitive skills more effectively than those who are not.

How to keep your brain working


There have been many other studies that have found the same thing, including one study of Harvard Alumni (several thousand of them), which correlated their cognitive skills with their life style.

Five factors


This study discovered that there were five factors that were linked to a high level of cognitive skills. I’ll be going over them in detail with suggestions next week, but, to get you going, here’s the first and most potent of them all:

Aerobic exercise


Yes, I’m sorry, but this kind of exercise is not only good for your body; it’s good for your brain too.

Why aerobic exercise is good for your brain


Aerobic exercise increases the blood flow to your brain, which increases your brain’s access to nutrients. For your brain, these are glucose and oxygen. Aerobic exercise increases arterial growth and the growth of capillaries in your brain.

But most importantly of all it increases your ability to grow new brain cells, and which of us could not do with a few more of those? It does this by releasing neurotropic factors (what John Ratey, neuroscientist and author of “Spark!: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain”
…. refers to as "brain fertiliser").

Get some exercise now


If you really want to look after your brain, aerobic exercise has 50% more impact than anything else on your brain. So how about resolving to get some ever week as your New Year’s resolution? When you retire and are still mentally sharp as a needle, you’ll thank me for it - and so will your brain.

Next week you’ll find out about the other 4 factors. But you may not want to wait that long. To get more help go here.

More ways to prevent decline:

Friends





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