Save Your Brain: The 5 Things You Must Do to Keep Your Mind Young and Sharp_6

Adopting a Healthy Brain Lifestyle 59 healthy choices.” You can become a champion of a proactive brain health lifestyle and actually serve as a role model to others, particularly your children and grandchildren. We already know about several basic preventative measures to take every day for brain health, like wearing a helmet when riding a bike, wearing a seatbelt when in the car, and being cautious with activities that have the potential to cause head injuries. But, in addition to these safety tips, research shows that brain health is promoted by a lifestyle that includes stress reduction, consumption of antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, physical exercise, socialization, and exposure to enriched environments with the novel and complex. A conscious choice to review your current lifestyle and begin implementing change within each of these five domains to the brain health lifestyle is critical. Additionally, lifestyle is proactive, energized, and life-long. A lifestyle that promotes health will be effective at any age, but the earlier you get started, the better the outcome. Your goal should be to make the brain health lifestyle a routine in your life. Adoption of a brain-healthy lifestyle can occur on an indi-vidual basis and on a more macro or societal basis. The indi-vidual basis is probably most important and most effi cient, as you have direct control over the change. However, every nation should consider prioritizing brain health and implement poli-cies that reinforce this priority. Now let’s take a closer look at the five critical areas for brain health and what you can do to keep your brain young, fit, and sharp! This page intentionally left blank 4 The Five Critical Brain Health I have a wonderful opportunity to care for and to shape my brain for health. 7 our brain is a highly dynamic and constantly reorganiz-ing system capable of being shaped across your entire life span. Similar to animals, the human brain can generate new brain cells and respond to environmental input. Your goal is to expose your brain to enriched environments, to the novel and complex, and to grow your brain reserve! As we discussed in the previous chapter, stimuli that are considered rote and passive to your brain are most likely not as health promoting. We learned from animal brain research that an enriched environment has three critical components: social-ization, physical activity, and mental stimulation.It makes per-fect sense to consider these same critical factors as important 61 62 Save Your Brain to the human brain, especially in light of research on humans suggesting their role in staving off the ravages of Alzheimer’s. In addition to these three factors, I have included two new ones that are critical to promotion of brain health. The fi rst is spirituality, which reflects the importance of reducing stress in our lives, slowing down, and appreciating the moment. The second is nutrition, which respects the fact that what we eat literally changes the physical and functional aspects of our body and relates directly to our overall health, including brain health. Each of these fi ve factors of my brain health lifestyle is backed up by robust research to support its effectiveness. Most impor-tant, the lifestyle needs to be integrated, comprehensive, and proactive to be most effective for health and brain health. To recap, I have proposed a lifestyle that includes the following five areas critical to brain health: • Socialization • Physical activity • Mental stimulation • Spirituality • Nutrition Each of these factors is necessary to your brain health life-style, and together they form an integrated whole for you. The five factors need to be understood as one lifestyle and not sepa-rate entities. Remember, your goal is to adopt a proactive life-style for brain health that increases your brain reserve through exposure to the complex and novel. As with any lifestyle pro-gram, the journey can be challenging, but your brain health The Five Critical Areas of Brain Health 63 lifestyle is a lifelong journey toward wholeness and will require constant personal review and change. While adopting to any lifestyle change is not easy, the goal of a healthier and more challenged brain is worthwhile. Research-Based Approach: Identifying the Five Critical Areas My healthy brain program is research-based, easily under-stood, and practical, as anyone can consider making changes to incorporate these activities into their own daily life. The other positive aspect of my lifestyle is that anyone can assess each of the five different lifestyle domains and understand which is a strength and which is a weakness, thereby providing a guide as to where the biggest change in behavior may need to occur. My program rests on the cognitive construct of brain reserve and the belief that neural plasticity affords the brain a wonderful opportunity to achieve health. While my brain health lifestyle is developed from a sound understanding of brain and behavior, cognitive science, and clinical research, I realize that a practical way to apply the life-style is in many ways most critical—you’ll find all of the practi-cal strategies to implement this lifestyle in the chapters ahead. The brain health program that I offer you is unique in that it is lifestyle-based, comprehensive, and integrates many differ- ... - tailieumienphi.vn