How To Take Care Of Your Brain As You Age
If there is one subject that terrifies us all as we enter our twilight years it has to be the stark reality of memory loss and a gradual decline in brain function.
Its a widely recognised fact these days that either you, or someone you know in your family or social circle is suffering from some form of brain related disorder.
It`s a horrendous prospect for someone to face and we should all be making ourselves aware as much as possible on how to approach and deal with this sensitive topic.
What I`d like to do in this blog post is touch on a few things we can do to help reduce the chances of developing a brain related disease. I will be looking at 3 simple ways on how to take care of your brain as you age, but over time hope to delve into many other avenues regarding this subject on this website, so check back regularly!
Brain Disease Increase
As we get older, its a natural fact that we tend to become more forgetful. However, what many of us aren`t aware of is that we can also expect to see a diminishing IQ.
This ‘Fluid Intelligence’, the ability to wrestle with an abstract concept and produce a useful answer, is falsely correlated with ageing process, meaning that the older we get, the slower we become.
Furthermore, its also acknowledged that as we enter into our senior years, the risk of acquiring various neurological diseases from Alzheimer’s, to Parkinson’s, to Dementia increases significantly.
Over the last few years these types of conditions have risen remarkably throughout the world and particularly the nations of developed countries such as the US and UK.
So is it inevitable that many of us will succumb to one of these horrific diseases? Or maybe there are ways to help slow down and prevent age-related cognitive decline? I`d like to take a positive view in this regard and be optimistic.
We can all potentially do something to help ourselves and not leave things to chance..So read on and let’s take a look at 3 simple things you can do to help maintain and enhance the health of your brain…
Use it or Lose It
The old saying couldn`t be more true! Simply, one of the best ways a deteriorating brain can be prevented is to use it more.
If we challenge our brain more, then the all important neurotransmitters become more engaged. This process encourages increased plasticity within the brain and enables us to keep learning and maintaining the mind-body connection.
One big problem we encounter as we get older is that we tend to stop learning new things, or trying out new experiences.
The brain can become stagnant so to speak and if it is not challenged or stimulated with new things it maybe liable to deteriorate fairly rapidly.
The knock on effect of this will be a reduction in the amount of neurochemicals, like dopamine and norepinephrine being produced.
The end result could be a general loss of interest in day to day activities or trying new things, less motivated and less cognitively nimble overall.
Get Moving
Another aspect to consider and features highly is the ability to be more physically active. The brain is primarily designed for moving the body, think caveman days and the need to hunt and gather, this is the primary way that it learns about its environment.
If you move around more frequently then this in turn will challenge you to learn more motor skills and movement. Adopting a regular exercise routine will encourage the brain to grow and strengthen.
Studies have shown that people who move less as they get older will become more likely to see decreases in fluid intelligence. So taking that into account…let`s all move more!
Good Nutrition
Ah nutrition! Hopefully you saw this coming. It can`t be stated highly enough just how important getting the right kind of nutrition is if you hope to boost your brain power and keep it in proper working order as you age.
The role of consuming quality nutrition is to fuel your brain with all of the goodness it needs to perform optimally. This means that amino acids, which feature in good protein sources are able to repair damage.
In addition, saturated fats help develop and maintain cell function, which are responsible for communication throughout the brain.
Also let`s not forget the vital role vitamins and minerals play in helping synthesize neurochemicals and enhance signals throughout the brain.
Give Up Bad Habits
Moreover, prolonged periods of nutrient deficiency in your youth may end up causing cumulative damage, this can have an adverse effect as you age. Implementing a healthy diet into your life is essential to keep feeding your brain with the best nutrients.
Also trying to avoid alcohol and smoking is one of the best ways of preventing cognitive decline as these types of activities destroy brain cells over time which fail to regenerate as we get older.
Finally, the last suggestion is to find anything containing antioxidants. These superfoods help to protect the brain from damaging free-radicals that can form tumours and cancer related diseases.
Be sure to look after your brain, its the only one you have!
*Hopefully how to take care of your brain as you age was of some benefit and if you know of anybody who might like to read this post then please share below!
I welcome all comments so if you have something to share about brain health please write in the comments section below…
To A Healthy Brain!