DestinationSpaVacations Improve Your Brain Health

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Health
Improve Your Brain Health
By
Dec 8, 2009 - 4:54:11 PM

Canyon Ranch (Arizona)
We all worry about our memories once in a while - unexpectedly blanking on a name or a word we know perfectly well is a near-universal experience. But for people who are getting up in years, anxiety about remembering can become a problem in itself: Some people worry so much about their memory that the stress affects their ability to reason and remember - stress is an enemy of good mental functioning.

The first step for someone who's concerned about memory - or whose family or friends are concerned - is to get a thorough cognitive assessment from an expert.

According to behavioral therapists who specialize in cognition, nine times out of 10 - maybe even 19 times out of 20 - people who come in for these assessments are near the top of the normal range for their age, and just finding out that they're doing fine is a relief for many folks. And if their testing is normal, but they have noticed themselves slipping from their previous level of functioning, an expert can them explore the causes of the lapses they have been experiencing. Some of the common factors that have an impact on short-term memory are sleep deprivation, some medications, excessive alcohol use, anxiety, depression, multi-tasking, and, once again, stress.

Building a better brain
For people concerned about cognitive decline, a professional can make recommendations for preventive lifestyle changes and activities that have been shown to strengthen short-term recall, reasoning and speed of processing - the most important functions for continued independence.

If there is a problem, it's worth trying to pinpoint what's causing it, because many of the culprits can be dealt with. For example, some medications, including some widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs, have dementia as a possible side-effect, so substituting a different drug may improve short-term memory, sometimes dramatically.

Taking care of the brain can have major payoffs, even for people with a strong family history of dementia (defined as cognitive decline due to physical changes in the brain).

One of the most striking statistical findings Alzheimer's researchers have uncovered is a striking correlation between advanced education and reduced incidence of Alzheimer's.

It appears that, by using the brain intensively in school, we build cognitive reserve, so that even if the physical changes of Alzheimer's start taking place, there are still plenty of well-connected healthy cells available to take up the slack. The more education people have, the lower their risk of cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's.

There are other things people who are worried about developing Alzheimer's - including those with a family history of the disease - can do to improve their odds. A program for staying healthy includes sticking to an anti-inflammatory diet and program of supplementation - Alzheimer's disease appears to be an inflammatory process - while exercising religiously, learning new physical and mental skills, and using software for specific cognitive training.

Best Activities for Brain Fitness:
- Training with video-game like software from Posit Science that's been shown to improve specific cognitive functions.
- Learning anything: Top choices are languages, physical skills such as crafts and musical instruments.
- Taking courses at a local high school, college, or adult education center. The Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning (Osherfoundation.org) offers programs in many locations around the country.
- Taking educational vacations with Elderhostel (Exploritas.org).
- Playing games, especially in a social setting - the more attention and faster the decision-making process required, the better.
- Ballroom dancing, tennis and table tennis are the type of activities with the most bang for the buck, since they combine aerobic challenge, social interaction, mind-body coordination and fast decision-making.