MORE ON BRAIN ANTIAGING

Yesterday I talked about the brain and how puzzles of various types can slow down the aging of the brain. There are a few more suggestions I want you to be aware of.  Below are a few more suggestions I have found.

• Peace and Quiet - Harvard scientists found that people in their 50s who meditated for 40 minutes daily had the same amount of gray matter in one part of the prefrontal cortex as did those in their 20s. This even though the cortex shrinks with age. They said that meditation curbs production of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone that can shrink brain tissue.
• Games - I consider games to be about the same as puzzles. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, say playing games with others can make several parts of the brain bigger while improving thinking skills and memory. Even a game of solitaire pumps up parts of your brain power by protecting brain structures and functions vulnerable to decline.
• Want a snack? Try nachos. According to Japanese scientists say the beans and avocados in nachos contain minerals that can slash memory problems by 80% when eaten regularly. They are said to help the nerves in the brain signal properly so they can communicate clearly with each other.
• Sniff Rosemary. I have an earlier post on this blog about rosemary being helpful to the brain and here it is again. Give your brain an immediate boost with a sniff of this herb. British scientists found that the aroma can enhance prospective memory, which involves remembering time-sensitive tasks ie taking medication, by 75%.

BRAIN AGING

It doesn't come as a surprise that our brains age just like the rest of the body. Scientists say around 40% of us will have some form of memory loss after age 65. There are some things we can do to give us the brain of someone 15 years younger, according to the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.  On a personal note, several years ago when my mother suffered a stroke, my family heard about this. At the hospital after the testing on her brain, the doctors said they couldn't believe her age because her brain looked like the brain of a much younger person. They ask if she worked puzzles. The answer was, yes. She had worked puzzles all her life. Jigsaw puzzles, word find puzzles, crossword puzzles, etc. Puzzles were her favorite pastime. I spent time working puzzles with her throughout my life and puzzles continue to be a favorite activity for me. Do you have some type of brain activity you do on a regular basis? If not, consider puzzles.

WANT TO BOOST YOUR LONGEVITY?

If your answer is yes to the title question, and you normally have a glass of orange juice with your breakfast, try switching to pomegranate juice. This switch can slow, maybe even reverse, the aging of your brain, heart, muscles, and bones. Italian scientists say the phytonutrients in pomegranate juice energize anti-aging genes in every cell of the body.

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ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH AGEs?

We are not talking about your, or my, age. We are talking about AGEs as a sneaky health sapper! AGEs are Advanced Glycation End-products or harmful compounds formed when proteins or fats combine with sugars in the bloodstream. This process, called glycation, can contribute to various health problems associated with aging and disease. AGEs are often implicated in such health problems as Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, kidney disease and atherosclerosis. By lowering your levels of AGEs, you may reduce your chances of depression, heart disease, diabetes, and more. Recent research has also suggested that it may lower risk of breast cancer by 43%. Tomorrow we will post some ways we can work to lower the AGEs in our bodies.

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NUTRITION AFTER 50

According to Dr. Pamela Peeke, author of the NYT bestselling book The Hunger Fix, "After the age of 50, the goal is to prevent disease by maintaining an optimally healthy and active mind and body." She goes on to suggest that as we age our nutritional needs change and we should be including high fiber foods in our diets for a strong body and a sharp mind if we are over 50. As our gastrointestinal systems slow down we need to increase the fiber in our diets. Some of her suggestions for fiber-rich foods are raspberries with 8 grams per cup, whole-wheat pasta with over 6 grams per cup, lentils are high with over 15 grams per cup, green peas have almost 9 grams per cup, etc. Over all she suggests we eat 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day. Read the nutritional labels on foods you buy to check the fiber grams.

 

VIDEO GAMES FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

Today's post really has nothing to do with kitchen medicine, unless of course you play video games in the kitchen! But I thought it was an interesting tidbit to be passed along. According to research at North Carolina State University conducted a few years ago, people aged 63 to 92 who played video games tested higher for social function and lower for depression than non-gamers! So, to all my fellow senior citizens, it is okay to play those video games. Solitaire, Word Games, Bejeweled, etc were recommended.

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EAT BLUEBERRIES AND STRAWBERRIES FOR YOUR MIND

Blueberries are some of the healthiest foods available to us.  But one of the more recent findings on blueberries is how they can also be beneficial to the mind.  Both blueberries and strawberries have been shown in studies to hold off cognitive decline in older people by 2 1/2 years.  Blueberries and strawberries are both high in flavonoids which are natural chemicals that exert powerful effects in our bodies. Researchers found that these two berries reduce cognitive decline in older adults. The results suggest that cognitive aging could be delayed by up to 2.5 years in elderly who ate both blueberries and strawberries.  Why wait until you get old?  Be sure to include these two healthy berries in your diet on a regular basis.

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