“Healthy eating in midlife helps protect brain health: study”

I worry about headlines about this. Am I still middle aged? Have I crossed the line into geezer-dom? What If I didn’t eat all my vegetables? Does this include Brussels Sprouts?

No matter whether I’m a geezer or not, a study conducted by the University of Eastern Finland, indicated that “Eating right in midlife may prevent dementia later on.” The study went on to report that: “Results indicated those who consistently consumed healthy foods at the average age of 50 had a nearly 90% lower risk of dementia in a 14-year follow-up study compared to those who did not eat healthfully.

Researchers used a healthy diet index based on eating a variety of foods. ‘Healthy’ foods included vegetables, berries/fruits, fish and unsaturated fats from milk products and spreads.

‘Unhealthy’ foods included sausages, eggs, salty fish, sugary drinks, desserts/candy and saturated fats from milk products and spreads.”

All this leads me to believe that the Fins have the same problem I do with ice cream, i.e. if it’s in the house I eat it.

Here’s a link: http://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2014/03/12/healthy-eating-in-midlife-helps-protect-brain-health-study

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_9023038_heart-shape-by-various-vegetables-and-fruits.html'>ifong / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

“Six tips to build resilience and prevent brain-damaging stress”

According to the SharpBrains website, this is one of their top fifteen articles. The six tips are:

1. Get some exer­cise
2. Relax
3. Socialize
4. Take control
5. Have a laugh
6. Think positive

When I look at the “six tips” naked like this, without any context or insights, they don’t sound very important or insightful or even helpful.

That’s why you should click on this link  - http://sharpbrains.com/blog/2013/05/20/six-tips-to-build-resilience-and-prevent-brain-damaging-stress/ - to understand the science, or at least the reasons, or the impact of each of these.

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_7345960_stress-from-job-and-work-problem-concept.html'>kentoh / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

“How Inactivity Changes the Brain” or “This Is Your Brain on the Couch”

The wonderful Ms. Gretchen Reynolds, who writes the Well blog for the NY Times, has just reported on a provocative piece of research for those of us who are worried about our brains, be they damaged, injured or aging just too damn fast.

Her article, entitled How Inactivity Changes the Brain, starts off saying “A number of studies have shown that exercise can remodel the brain by prompting the creation of new brain cells and inducing other changes. Now it appears that inactivity, too, can remodel the brain, according to a notable new report”

And, guess what? In activity doesn’t improve brain performance.

She goes on to write that “The study, which was conducted in rats but likely has implications for people too, the researchers say, found that being sedentary changes the shape of certain neurons in ways that significantly affect not just the brain but the heart as well. The findings may help to explain, in part, why a sedentary lifestyle is so bad for us.”

Interested? Worried? Want to know why your sedentary lifestyle is so bad for you? Go to this link: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/22/how-inactivity-changes-the-brain/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

This following quote from Patrick Mueller, an associate professor of physiology at Wayne State University who oversaw the new study, is now etched into my brain: “In upcoming presentations, Dr. Mueller said, he plans to show slides of the different rat neurons and, echoing the old anti-drug message, point out that In upcoming presentations, Dr. Mueller said, he plans to show slides of the different rat neurons and, echoing the old anti-drug message, point out that “‘this is your brain.’ And this is your brain on the couch.”

If you're particularly active, a science major or like reading dense scientific reports, here's a link to the abstract, entitled Physical (in)activity-dependent structural plasticity in bulbospinal catecholaminergic neurons of rat rostral ventrolateral medulla published in The Journal of Comparative Neurology http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24114875

John

PS - And if you find a way to work the words “bulbospinal catecholaminergic neurons” into a conversation over lunch today, give yourself a gold star.

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_25211017_cartoon-humor-concept-illustration-of-couch-potato-saying-or-proverb.html'>izakowski / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

AARP Says “Get Moving for a Healthy Brain”

Actually, I fibbed. Margery D. Rosen wrote that headline for the cover article of the September issue of AARP Bulletin.

Her first paragraph grabbed my eyeballs (and didn’t let go until I finished reading): “Rarely do neuroscientists, psychologists and physicians agree unequivocally on anything. But they agree on this; Exercise is the best thing you can do for your brain . ‘If we had a pill that could do what exercise does, its sales would put Viagra’s to shame,’ says Laura L. Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity and author of A long Bright Future.” Here's the link:

http://pubs.aarp.org/aarpbulletin/201309_DC/?pg=12&u1=coverleaf&search=the%20secrets%20to%20a%20healthy%20brain#pg12