Five Simple ways to protect your brain

Five Simple ways to protect your brain. If you recently turned a landmark age and immediately forgot your PIN number, don’t panic—you can counteract age-related changes in the brain (which begin at about age 30) with a surprisingly simple regimen of activities guaranteed to nurture and fortify your mental muscle. Here are five easy ways to keep your brain quick and sharp, so you never draw a blank at the ATM again.

1. Exercise

Exercise is known to stave off or delay dementia, but it can actually reverse brain aging too. A team from the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois recently reviewed dozens of past studies and found that aerobic exercise boosts not only speed and sharpness of thought but also the volume of brain tissue. As little as 50 minutes of brisk walking 3 times a week was found to have this brain-expanding effect.

Tip: For an added boost, walk in the park: University of Michigan researchers found that volunteers whose course took them through a tree-filled setting performed 20% better on memory and attention tests than those who walked downtown.

2. Brush and Floss

Oral health is clearly linked to brain health, according to a team of British psychiatrists and dentists. After studying thousands of subjects ages 20 to 59, they found that gingivitis and periodontal disease were associated with worse cognitive function throughout adult life—not just in later years.

Tip: Follow your dentist's advice—floss daily and brush your teeth for 2 minutes at least once a day.

3. Eat Blueberries

New research shows that the dark-hued fruits may help sharpen your thought processes. After researchers from the National Institute on Aging and Tufts University injected male rats with kainic acid to simulate the oxidative stress that occurs with aging, rats that had been fed a diet containing 2% blueberry extract did better navigating a maze than rats that didn't get the compound. In another study, the same researchers found that rats that ate blueberries showed increased cell growth in the hippocampus region of the brain. The researchers theorize that anthocyanin—the dark blue pigment found in blueberries—is responsible for these cognitive changes; it contains chemicals that may cross the blood-brain barrier and lodge in regions that govern learning and memory.

Tip: Stock up on blueberries when they're on sale, and sprinkle them over your cereal or yogurt or blend them into your smoothie. Off-season, buy them frozen; they're every bit as nutritious as fresh.

4. Do Puzzles

Amazingly, you'll knock a decade off your cognitive age. In a University of Alabama study of nearly 3,000 older men and women, those who participated in 10 60- to 75-minute sessions of brain-boosting exercise sharpened their mental abilities so much that their brains performed like those of people more than 10 years younger.

Tip: Start small—whip out a booklet of basic puzzles when you're riding to work on the train or waiting in a long checkout line. As your skills improve, graduate to more challenging brainteasers.

5. Meditate

More than just a great stress reliever, meditation can also enhance your brain’s gray matter. Participants in a new study from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston appear to have experienced growth in the cortex, an area of the brain that controls memory, language, and sensory processing. In addition, meditators in a University of Kentucky study performed better than their nonmeditating counterparts on a series of mental acuity tests.

Tip: Make the practice a regular habit—the participants in a recent study meditated an average of 40 minutes a day. But you can start with 15 on your lunch break or before you leave for work. Sit upright, close your eyes, and focus on whatever you're experiencing in the present moment, whether it's birds chirping in the distance or just the sound of your own breathing. ( yahoo.com )

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