BRAIN HEALTH - KEEPING YOUR MIND SHARP

As the old saying goes, you really do need to "use it or lose it" when it comes to your brain. Fortunately, that can be as easy as taking a walk or getting a good night's sleep.

Exercise Your Options

A growing body of evidence suggests that regular exercise especially aerobic exercise can have a positive impact on certain mental functions like memory and recall, concentration, decision-making and complex problem solving. A recent investigation showed that women who main-tain a fit lifestyle as they age are more likely to have better clarity and acu-ity than their sedentary counterparts.

According to researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana, exercise may slow the loss of brain tissue that naturally occurs starting in our 30s. The UI team examined MRI scans from 59 older adults, half of whom were assigned to an aerobic training group and half of whom were assigned to a toning and stretching control group. The neural tissue of those who par-ticipated in aerobic fitness was significantly denser than the participants in the control group. Apparently exercise doesn't just help protect brain cells from deterioration, it may also enhance them. A recent meta-analysis by the University of Illinois' Beckman Institute found that aerobic exercise boosts both the speed and sharpness of thought and the volume of brain tissue. As little as 50 minutes of brisk walking three times a week was found to have this brain-expanding effect.

Exercise may also improve your ability to think clearly. In a meta-analy-sis of 18 studies, the UI investigators discovered that inactive older adults who began an aerobic exercise routine performed significantly better than control group members on cognitive tests that measure skills such as plan-ning and paying attention. One explanation for this improvement may be that exercise boosts the brain protein BDNF, a protein that supports the function and survival of neurons, and may thus help prevent neurodegen-eration associated with age.

A preliminary animal study featured in the Journal of Applied Physiol-ogy gave further evidence that exercise restores healthy BDNF levels. The researchers discovered that physical activity significantly slowed down the loss of new nerve cells in middle-aged mice. In fact, the production of neural stem cells improved approximately 200 percent compared to mid-dle-aged mice that did not exercise. The research team concluded that exercise reverses the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus. This occurs because exercise restores BDNF, which promotes production and maturation of new stem cells.

Exercises that improve cognition include walking, jogging, cycling, danc-ing, elliptical cross-training and swimming. Adding music to your work-out may further enhance the mental benefits of aerobic exercise. Accord-ing to a study of 33 patients in a cardiac rehabilitation program at Ohio State University, those who listened to music during a 30 minute workout scored better on verbal fluency tests than those who exercised in silence. This suggests that the combination of music and exercise may stimulate and increase cognitive arousal while helping to organize cognitive output.

If walking is your exercise of choice, try a brisk walk in a park. University of Michigan researchers found that volunteers whose course took them through a tree-filled setting performed 20 percent better on memory and attention tests than those who walked downtown.

Sleep Yourself Smart

People who do not sleep well at night tend to be more forgetful than people who sleep soundly. According to one theory, sleep is important for memory because the brain replays information learned during the day, and in so doing, strengthens the neuronal connections that store this information. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined the pattern of brain activity in sleeping rats and found neuronal discharges between the hippocampus and the somatosensory cortex. This "cross-talk" between the hippocampus and cortex may be what cements our memories.

Getting a good night's sleep also helps ensure adequate ATP (Adenosine-5'-triphosphate) levels. When we are awake and active, we break down ATP to produce energy. Over time, adenosine (a component of ATP) builds up in the forebrain and may be a trigger for sleepiness. During sleep, many of the body's cells are less active and use less ATP, so adenosine levels fall again, setting the stage for wakefulness.

Decompress Stress

Chronic stress has been linked to memory loss in several studies. Sci-entists have discovered that neurons are damaged by cortisol, a hormone released during highly stressful situations. Animal studies suggest that long-term stress can also change the actual structure of the brain. One of these studies found that, after laboratory rats were tightly restrained for six hours a day for 21 days without food or water, the animals' hippocampi shrank by three percent.

People, especially as they age, are highly susceptible to stress. In one study, a group of healthy adults received daily low-dose treatments of the stress hor-mone cortisol over the course of four consecutive days about the amount that would be released under everyday stress. Another group received high doses over the same period of time. Cognitive testing was done periodically during the study and again six days after the treatment. The people who had received the higher cortisol dose had a significant (and fortunately revers-ible) decrease in verbal declarative memory. In another cross-sectional study of older Americans, those with high levels of cortisol in their saliva signal-ing above-normal stress levels also had poor cognitive performance.

Cortisol released during times of stress travels into the brain and binds to the receptors inside many neurons. Through a cascade of reactions, this causes neurons to admit more calcium through channels in their mem-brane. In the short-term, cortisol presumably helps the brain cope with a life-threatening situation. However, if neurons become over-loaded with calcium they fire too frequently and die.

A healthy lifestyle can help prevent and reduce adverse effects of chronic stress. In fact, there are specific stress-relieving activities and habits you can cultivate to further ease the stresses of modern life:

•     Physical exercise not only strengthens the body, it can reduce the frequency and severity of stress, depression and anxiety. As previously discussed, dozens of scientific studies have demonstrated the relationship between exercise, cognition and mood. Exercise promotes the release of endorphins, enhances relaxation and improves the quality of sleep. These conditions help the body recover more quickly and completely from the stress response.
•     Relaxation through meditation, biofeedback and a variety of other techniques promotes lower blood pressure, slows respiration, reduces metabolism and eases muscle tension. These counteract the effects of stress.
•     Social contacts, friends and family relationships can help create emotional trust, support and relaxation. Even caring for a pet can provide significant emotional comfort that helps reduce stress.
•     Attitudes of confidence, a positive approach to problem solving and attention to emotional balance can help get one out of the stress response cycle.

Head Games

Although a healthy diet, regular exer-cise, plenty of sleep and brain-boosting supplements can help keep you mentally sharp, it is also important to give your brain a regular workout. The brain is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stron-ger it gets. Activities like reading, doing crossword puzzles or playing mentally-challenging games can give your brain the exercise it needs.

Working your brain is so effective that a study of 2,832 seniors (average age 73.6 years old), reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that regular memory-training exercises reduced func-tional decline and improved cognitive ability up to five years. In other words, mental age was "reduced" the equivalent of five years. This supported an earlier study that showed frequent participation in brain-stimulating activities was able to reduce cognitive decline in elderly people.

Crossword puzzles: the classic brain game.

Scientists believe that intellectual enrichment and learning stimulate the brain to increase synaptic density and interconnections, whatever your age or cognitive status. Studies show that stimulating the mind with various activities can even improve memory in Alzheimer's patients.

There are a number of ways to stimulate your mind. Here are a few men-tal exercises to get you started:

Search The Internet: Spend about 20 minutes, a few days a week, search-ing topics on the Internet that you've always wanted to learn more about. According to scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, Internet searching uses neural circuitry that is not activated during reading. MRI results showed almost three times more brain activity in regular Internet searchers than in first-timers, suggesting that repeated time spent online can be a great way to build cognitive strength.

Focus on Your Breath: Close your eyes, and breathe slowly and deeply. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Give your full attention to your breath as you breathe in and again as you breathe out. Doing this for just five minutes each day can improve your mental focus.

Use Your Other Hand: Whenever basic tasks become second nature, our brains fail to get any exercise. One way to give your brain a workout is to use your other hand for common tasks. If you are right-handed, try eat-ing with your left hand. Brush your teeth with your other hand, too. This might sound easy enough, but you will find yourself actually focusing on accomplishing these simple tasks.

Expand Your Vocabulary: Learning new words does not just make you sound smart in social settings, it keeps your mind fit as well. Try learning one new word every day.

Test Your Recall: Make a list it can be grocery items, things to do or anything else that comes to mind and memorize it. An hour or so later, see how many items you can recall. Make items on the list as challenging as possible for the greatest mental stimulation.

Draw A Map From Memory: After returning home from visiting a new place, try to draw a map of the area; repeat this exercise each time you visit a new location.

Create Word Pictures: Visualize the spelling of a word in your head, then try and think of any other words that begin (or end) with the same two letters.

Try An Anagram: Increase your mental flexibility with these word puz-zles. Anagrams rearrange the letters of one word to create another word or phrase. For instance, another word for "teach" is "cheat." Practice ana-grams by writing down your own first name and see how many hidden words you can find.

The One-Minute Conversation: Choose a subject and talk about it for 60 seconds. It can be anything from the weather to your favorite novel. Doing this often will enhance your ability to communicate clearly and concisely.

Be A Human Calculator: Flex your mental calculating skills by thinking of a number and then doubling it. Keep doubling it to see how high you can go. For example: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and so on.

Final Thoughts

Given the proper care, your brain can stay healthy and adapt throughout all the years of your life. Of course, your genes, general health and level of education can affect both your cognitive power and your memory, but the little things you do every day can add up to lifelong intellectual vigor.

The same habits you practice to promote overall health eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep can have a profound impact on your mental health too. Stimulating your mind daily, and adding brain-specific nutrients like citicoline to your diet, can fortify your brain cells and encourage the growth of new neuronal connections, protecting your memory and learning capacity for years to come.