60-SECOND BRAIN HEALTH TIP #31:
Get Teary-Eyed to Transform Your Brain Health
Onions and garlic contain powerful natural substances that protect your brain against damaging plaques linked to brain diseases.
General Ulysses S. Grant once stated, “I will not move my army without onions.” Perhaps he understood the food’s potent medicinal properties. Regular consumption of onions, which is described as two or more times per week, has been associated with lower cholesterol levels and reduced blood pressure (when it is high), both of which help reduce your risk of stroke, among other diseases.64
The beneficial effects may be associated with the sulfur compounds found in onions, as well as vitamin B6 and the mineral chromium; all of these help reduce high levels of homocysteine, a risk factor for stroke and inflammation. Your liver needs the sulfur compounds to eliminate the by-products of inflammation and potentially brain-damaging environmental or food toxins to which you’re exposed. Onions also contain vitamin C, quercetin, and phytochemicals called isothiocyanates, which help to alleviate inflammation.
Onions aren’t the only sulfur-containing foods that can boost your brain health. Garlic’s pungent aroma, potent flavor, and powerful medicinal qualities also make it a great choice for your brain-boosting diet. Garlic may be the original wonder drug. Remains of the plant have been found in caves used by humans 10,000 years ago, and a Sumerian clay tablet dated from 3000 BC contains a chiseled prescription for garlic.65 Supplements of a 2 percent standardized potency of aged garlic extract (AGE) were shown in research published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology to be beneficial in reducing both brain inflammation and amyloid plaques linked to Alzheimer’s disease.66 Another study in the journal Phytotherapy Research found that AGE prevented the deterioration of memory and memory-related tasks in animals.67
Both onions and garlic contain compounds that inhibit lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase (the enzymes that generate inflammatory substances) and reduce inflammation.
How to Benefit
There are very few savory dishes that won’t benefit from the addition of garlic or onions. Cooking or roasting garlic and onions helps to mellow both their flavors and aromas; use raw or roasted to enhance soups, stews, stir-fries, curries, sauces, and pastas. They are staples in many European and Asian cuisines and are popular in North America, as well. The proliferation of garlic-themed restaurants and food shops is a testament to garlic’s diverse and delicious contribution to our diet. Additionally, you may wish to supplement with AGE to obtain the study-proven brain health benefits discussed above. Take a 2 percent standardized potency of AGE. Follow the dosage directions on the package.
Super Health Bonus
Garlic and onions help to regulate cholesterol levels, reducing your risk of heart disease. They are also potent antimicrobials that may help reduce the frequency with which you experience colds or flu.
Brain Books in Action
SUCCESS STORY
NAME: Renee Carter
AGE: 36
OCCUPATION: Office administrator
“Since following this program, my visualization skills, vocabulary, and long-term memory have become clearer. I feel like my digestion has improved, and losing almost 8 pounds has been a very nice ‘side effect.’”
How I Got Here: When Renee Carter became a new mother, she understood that some degree of distraction and forgetfulness would be normal. However, when she found herself forgetting what she was saying midsentence and unable to recall what she had said 20 minutes ago, she became worried. “When I started putting files in the wrong place at work, I knew I needed to see a doctor.”
Just 2 days after sharing her health concerns with her husband, Renee learned about the Boost Your Brain Power in 60 Seconds Health Challenge and decided to give the program a try.
Progress Report: Within a week of starting the plan, Renee’s brain fog lifted and she felt much more energetic and positive about her life. “I was driving to work and a warm, thankful feeling washed over me. I didn’t feel so overwhelmed. I felt calm and focused.”
Gone were the processed, sugary foods she had been eating every day. Instead, Renee enjoyed easy-to-follow, delicious recipes that were budget-friendly, too. “My joints and muscles stopped aching, and I felt the urge to draw, an activity that had once been my passion.”
Renee also noticed that her newfound attitude about exercise made it easier to fit into her schedule. “I’ve started to make time to exercise, and while it’s not as often as I’d like, I’m more accepting of my pace; I’ve learned that placing unrealistic expectations on myself leads to disappointment, irritability, anger, and stress.” Instead, Renee tries to focus on doing what she can, when she can.
Beyond: Given the positive results of her new approach to living, Renee decided to stick with the nutrition and exercise program she started. “I’ve learned that technology, food, family, finances, and lack of exercise all have negative effects that can cause brain function to decline. In learning more about how my brain works, I’ve definitely learned to nurture it better nutritionally and allow it more downtime to reenergize!”
CHAPTER 5
WEEK 3: STRATEGIZE
Adopt These Tips and Tricks to Boost Your Brain and Memory Power
This week I will introduce you to the best brain-supporting strategies to boost your memory and brain health. You’ll discover the best lifestyle changes and additions to make to keep a healthy brain for life. Most of these strategies take a minute or less to implement and provide years of brain power. You learned about the benefits of exercise in Chapter 2, but you’ll learn about many other brain boosters here. Choose a minimum of two tips from this chapter to include in your life, but feel free to add more if you’d like. The more, the better. And as you’ll soon discover, these brain-boosting strategies are simpler than you might think to incorporate into your life.
In this section, you’ll learn to:
32.Sleep Your Way to a Super Brain
Get at least 8 hours of sleep to boost your creative juices.
33.Use It or Lose It to Supercharge Your Memory
Challenge your mind to boost connections between brain cells and boost memory.
34.Knock Out Infection with a Natural Antibacterial Punch
Add a natural antibiotic to knock out brain-damaging Helicobacter pylori infections.
35.Take the Road Less Traveled to Build New Brain Connections
Try something new to build new brain connections and boost memory.
36.Beat Stress Before It Affects Your Brain
Soothe stress and boost brain health with seven simple stress-busters.
37.Boost Bacteria to Bolster Your Brain
Give your “second brain” a potent microbial boost to significantly reduce your risk of brain diseases.
38.Embrace the Tiger and Return to the Mountain for Optimal Brain Health
Stop cognitive decline in its tracks with simple tai chi or qigong exercises.
39.Enjoy the Benefits of Ohm Sweet Ohm
Meditate to quell the brain-damaging effects of stress.
40.Stretch and Cycle for a Superb Memory
Stretch your muscles and hop on a bike to boost both short-term and long-term memory.
41.Game Your Way to a Supercharged Memory
Play games and puzzles to boost long- and short-term memory, information retention, and concentration.
42.Walk Your Way to a Bigger, Better Brain
A daily walk can stave off dementia.
43.Practice Mind over Platter Because Portion Size Matters
Kick the overeating habit to significantly reduce memory loss and cognitive impairment.
60-SECOND BRAIN HEALTH TIP #32:
Sleep Your Way to a Super Brain
Get at least 8 hours of sleep to boost your creative juices.
Seriously, you can sleep your way to a healthier brain . . . and that’s a strategy even couch potatoes can appreciate. According to new research at the Univer
sity of Notre Dame and Boston College, getting at least 8 hours of sleep helps your brain to think more creatively. The scientists also found that people who get more sleep are better able to organize memories and reconfigure them in a way that produces new insights and creative ideas. From this study, researchers determined that sleep helps consolidate memories, fixing them in your brain so you can retrieve them later.1
Other research shows that not getting enough sleep on a regular basis is a recipe for memory disaster. According to sleep expert and author of The Promise of Sleep, William C. Dement, MD, PhD, we need at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. Dr. Dement also found that your body keeps track of a sleep debt. If you don’t get sufficient sleep on a regular basis, it is comparable to making ongoing withdrawals from a sleep account. We need to make up the lost hours soon afterward or our sleep account continues to go further and further into debt.
How to Benefit
So how exactly do you reap the rewards of sleep if you’re having trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep, or if you experience restless sleep? Here are some of my favorite sleep-improving strategies.
■Avoid eating for at least 3 hours before bed, as indigestion, bloating, or heartburn can interfere with your ability to fall asleep. Definitely skip the caffeine in the evening or anytime after 3:00 p.m. if you have difficulty sleeping.
■Get into a regular evening relaxation ritual: Dim the lights, stop working, take a bath, or do something relaxing before bedtime. Once you’ve made this a habit, your body will naturally start preparing you for sleep when you begin your routine, and over time, getting a good night’s sleep will become easier.
■Unplug electronic devices and blue light–emitting appliances such as televisions, smartphones, computers, etc., because the blue light can interfere with your sleep cycles. If you need a night light, choose a red bulb; red light doesn’t seem to interfere with the body’s ability to fall into a state of deep sleep.
■Go to sleep at the same time each night. Your body will start to adjust to these patterns, helping you feel sleepy when your bedtime approaches.
■Alan Hirsch, MD, author of Life’s a Smelling Success, found that smelling pure lavender calmed the entire nervous system in only a minute, helping people to feel more relaxed and sleepier. Sniff some lavender essential oil or flowers, or spray lavender water on your pillowcase (water only, because the oil may stain). Be sure to choose organic lavender oil, not fragrance oil, since the latter has no health benefits and frequently contains toxic substances.
Super Health Bonus
Getting more sleep helps you lose weight if you are overweight. That’s because sleep-deprived individuals experience six barriers to weight loss, according to research: They are more likely to experience intense sweet cravings; are less likely to feel full, even after eating a lot of food; are more prone to compulsive overeating; have a tendency toward lean muscle loss; exercise less; and experience an impaired ability to burn carbohydrates. Ensuring adequate time for sleep is a simple way to help balance your weight and experience better health. Additional research shows that sleep deprivation slows the rate at which you burn fat. Researchers at the University of Chicago discovered that well-rested women had faster metabolic rates and ate 15 percent less food than women who didn’t get sufficient sleep. So don’t be surprised if you boost your brain health and lose a few pounds after making an effort to get more sleep.
60-SECOND BRAIN HEALTH TIP #33:
Use It or Lose It to Supercharge Your Memory
Challenge your mind to boost connections between brain cells and boost memory.
More and more research shows that, similar to muscles that get out of shape when they’re not used regularly, your brain needs to be challenged on a regular basis for optimal performance. Each of your brain cells has a long, wire-like structure called an axon that sends out hormones called neurotransmitters to generate an electrical charge between brain cells. Each of these neurotransmitters performs a different function, depending on what type of message the brain cell is trying to send. Some initiate bodily functions, while others stop the same functions.
Between your brain cells there are tiny gaps, known as synapses, across which the neurotransmitters travel to send their messages. These synapses are constantly changing as a result of feedback from your environment. Over time, some synapses grow stronger through learning, while others weaken or disappear if not used. Your brain recognizes which synapses are needed and which ones have not been used for a while. And if you don’t use certain synapses for a period of time, your brain essentially dismantles the connection.
To illustrate your brain’s miraculous ability to constantly fine-tune the connections it keeps or loses, let’s look at language skills. Remember those second languages we learned in high school? I learned French, but perhaps you learned Spanish, German, or another language. When you start learning a new language, your brain sets up all kinds of synapses linked to languages, but over time, if you don’t maintain the new language synapses linked to learning, you may forget what you’ve learned. That doesn’t mean that you can’t learn a new language or other skills at some future time, but it will be easier if you continuously use this particular skill set throughout your life.
In a study shared in Medical News Today, researcher William Greenough discovered a way to quickly increase the number of connections in animal brains by 25 percent. He simply exposed the animals to what he termed an “enriched environment.” He indicates, “What we know from animals suggests that the harder you use your brain, whether it’s thinking or exercising, the more in shape it’s going to be.”2 His research shows that when we expose ourselves to new intellectual challenges, we don’t just have improved mental fitness; our brain actually grows—not in size, but in interconnectedness. It makes it easier for us to make future mental connections.
While there is extensive research to support that educated people have an improved ability to ward off Alzheimer’s disease, education alone is not enough to ensure improved brain function. College graduates who have mentally inactive lives have fewer brain synapses than graduates who stay intellectually active. So a college degree does not guarantee immunity to brain diseases or memory loss. And it’s certainly not necessary to have a high level of formal education to stay educated. Your formal education is much less important than whether you continue to learn new things throughout your life. Your brain is designed for lifelong learning, and your brain health depends on it. For most of us, that means making some effort to ramp up the intellectual challenges we give our brains.
So when it comes to brushing up on a language, there’s no time like the present. And now there’s even more reason to do so. A study from the Rotman Research Institute found that bilingual Alzheimer’s patients started experiencing symptoms of the disease 5 years later than their unilingual counterparts.3 When we think in a different language, we reinforce brain connections that we might not otherwise use.
Another study published in the journal Neurology reviewed the work histories of people with and without Alzheimer’s. The study found that those people who developed the illness had fewer mentally challenging assignments as part of their regular work lives. The researchers found that the more intellectually demanding jobs boosted cognitive reserves and helped to stave off dementia.
How to Benefit
It’s time to dust off those language books, head to a new class, call up a friend to play chess, or simply challenge your mind more on the job. There are not only mental health benefits to pushing yourself intellectually, but there are serious brain health advantages, too. There is no limit to the skills you can acquire. Set some new intellectual goals and begin today to work toward achieving them.
Super Health Bonus
Learning new skills often means meeting new people, and more and more research links improved overall health and happiness with a strong social support system.
60-SECOND BRAIN HEALTH TIP #34:
Knock Out Infection with a Na
tural Antibacterial Punch
Add a natural antibiotic to knock out brain-damaging Helicobacter pylori infections.
When it comes to our brain health, memory, and cognitive function, few people think of infections. Conversely, when we think of the infectious bacteria Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), people who are familiar with the bacteria think of ulcers. But more and more research links this menacing microbe with poor mental function, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s disease.4
Research published in the journal Helicobacter found that H. pylori produces a low-grade inflammatory state within the body, which can be a precursor to many potential illnesses, including brain diseases.5 Additionally, the study showed that the bacteria mimics the body’s own molecular functions and interferes with the absorption of nutrients, particularly vitamin B12, which is necessary for the production of neurotransmitters (including serotonin, dopamine, and acetylcholine) that allow nerve cells to transmit memory signals. Research links a vitamin B12 deficiency to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.6 Vitamin B12 deficiencies are also linked to depression and poor memory.7, 8, 9 For more information about vitamin B12, its role in brain health, and how to restore your B12 levels, check out 60-Second Brain Health Tip #45. It’s equally important to address any underlying H. pylori infection.
How to Benefit
To find out if you have an H. pylori infection, ask your doctor to conduct laboratory testing. A urea breath test determines whether you have a stomach or duodenum infection. A blood antibody test determines whether your immune system has made substances (antibodies) in an effort to fight an H. pylori infection. It indicates whether you currently have or have had an H. pylori infection in the past. A stool antigen test is another laboratory test used to detect past or present H. pylori infections. It determines whether there are immune substances in your intestines that indicate an encounter with H. pylori.10 Ask your doctor to conduct the relevant tests for you.
Boost Your Brain Power in 60 Seconds Page 13