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Please discuss everything with your doctor first.
Build Your Brain
In the last decade researchers have made an astonishing discovery: the
brain is much more "plastic" than they ever anticipated where plastic refers not
to chemical polymers but to the fact that you can literally rebuild and rewire
the brain at any time of your life.
You can build new synaptic connections. You can
activate any one of billions of unused connections.
Do you know what this means? Your wife may think you're a moron and your
boss may think that you're boneheaded, but, in reality, you've potentially got a
supercharged Cray sitting right on top of your neck. Furthermore, even if you've
lived a questionably healthy lifestyle for a few decades, you can actually
rebuild your brain.
The key, though, is how you live and what you do from this moment on. Most
of us already know how we can slowly destroy our brain: a Western lifestyle has
taught us everything we need to know. Instead, I am going to teach you
here how to do the opposite: maintain and transform your brain in ways
that no one thought possible until just recently:
Exercise. Nothing beats exercise for rebuilding the brain. It
increases learning, memory, processing speed, creativity. For more
details, read here about to Rebuild Your Brain Through Exercise.
Growth Hormone(and IGF-1). It is
now recognized that Growth Hormone, and IGF-1 which is increased whenever your body
releases Growth Hormone, directly and positively effects the brain and "mental agility"
as one set of researchers put it. [5]
Really Human Growth Hormone's capabilites goes beyond this and it is now recognized
as directly improving learning
and memory. [6] Yes, you can rebuild your brain
even in middle age and beyond if you squeeze out this precious hormone through
sleep
and a form of exercise known as Interval Training.
Exercise Your Brain.
"With a reasonable amount of effort,
you can improve your memory 30 to 40 percent". Who said that?
Dr. Barry Gordon, founder of the memory clinic at John Hopkins. [1] The key is mental workouts that push your brain in a variety of auditory,
visual and learning modes. Scientist have actually developed a computer
program, called Brain Fitness 2.0 from Posit Science, that does just this.
And a study showed that it actually improved memory. The catch is that the
program is expensive: around $300 when I called in April of 2008. A
cheaper alternative is to get the book Keep Your Brain Alive. It's a
compendium of "tricks" and exercises that you can do to improve your neuronal
connections. It has no studies to directly back up the exercises, but it
is written by a Ph. D. professor of neurobiology and based on the latest
research. (See my
Favorites link.) So forget the memory
tricks: exercise your brain!
Cut Calories. A
2009 study in seniors showed cutting calories by 30%
improved memory significantly. [7] This is more evidence that reducing insulin
and inflammation are the keys to a healthy brain, because reducing calories led,
of course, to signficant reductions in both blood glucose and insulin levels.
Testosterone. In the male
testosterone is also critical for mental sharpness
and cognition, so protect your testosterone!
Testosterone can also improve your memory, brain,
cognition and learning. Yes, testosterone is intimately linked to
cerebral function. Several studies have shown that, in particular, visual
spacial skills are tied to testosterone levels. And hypogonadal (low
testosterone) men have been shown in several studies to have lower verbal
skills. [4]
In other words, anything you can do to boost your testosterone will help
your cognition. I recommend this link on
How to Boost Your Testosterone
for ideas.
REFERENCES:
1) Newsweek, 2/10/07, p.68-72]
2) The Jour of Gerontology
6) Cardiovasc Res,Apr 2002,54(1):25-35
3) Arch Neurol,2001,58:498-504
4)
Saving Your Brain, Jeff Victoroff, p. 135
5) Rev Endocr Metab Disord,Dec 2006,7(4):225-35
6) Cardiovasc Res,Apr 2002,54(1):25-35
7) PNAS, 2009, 106:1255–126, "Correction for Caloric restriction improves memory
in elderly humans", appeared in issue 4, January 27, 2009 of Proc Natl Acad Sci
USA and first published January 26, 2009
9) Achieving Optimal Memory, Aaron Nelson, Ph. D, p.48, McGraw-Hill, 2005
10) Achieving Optimal Memory, Aaron Nelson, Ph. D, p.152, McGraw-Hill, 2005
11)
Ann Intern Med,2006,(144):73–81; Am J Epidemiol,2005,161:639–651; Arch Int
Med,2001,161:1703–1708; J Am Med Assoc,2004,(292):1454–1461
12) British Journal of Sports Medicine, 1997, 31:240-245, "Exercise enhances
creativity independently of mood"
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