Seven great tips for a healthy mind

The Reader's Digest website, RD.com, offers seven helpful tips for keeping your mind sharp and in shape for a lifetime. Here are its tips:

1. Start moving
Many people think it is easy to keep your mind sharp. They think all you have to do is challenge your brain often. So they do things like crossword puzzles. Or they read a lot of books. Those activities are good, but they are only part of what you need.

Just like exercise helps your body, it also helps your brain. Dr. Donald Stuss is a neuropsychologist. He is also director of the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto. "The best advice I can give to keep your brain healthy and young is aerobic exercise," he said.

Aerobic exercises force you to use more oxygen than usual. These exercises include walking, running and bicycling.

Dr. Mark McDaniel is a professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. He agrees with Dr. Stuss.

But McDaniel adds, "I would suggest a combined program of aerobics and weight training. Studies show the best outcomes for those engaged in both types of exercise."

As we age, our brain cells lose the connections between them. These connections are essential to thought. However, "Exercise may forestall some kinds of mental decline," McDaniel said. It may even restore memory.

2. Feed your brain
Another way to a better brain is through your stomach. You may have heard about antioxidants. Antioxidants are chemicals that are seen as cancer fighters.

Eating foods that contain antioxidants may be good for your brain, too. Many colorful fruits and vegetables are packed with antioxidants. These foods include beans, whole grains, nuts and spices.

More important, though, is overall nutrition. Along with a good workout routine, you should eat right to avoid the diseases. Dr. Carol Greenwood is a geriatric research scientist at the University of Toronto. She said that high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol all make life tough on your brain.

3. Speed it up
The human brain naturally starts slowing down at age 30. It used to be thought of as a natural occurrence. But new studies show that people can train their brains to be faster. You can train your brain to act like it did when you were younger. All that is required is dedicated practice: exercises for the mind.

"Your brain is a learning machine," Dr. Michael Merzenich said. He is a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco.

To keep your brain "young," you can do activities that challenge and excite you. You can play Ping-Pong or contract bridge. You can assemble jigsaw puzzles. Or learn new things like a language, a dance, or a musical instrument. "Anything that closely engages your focus and is strongly rewarding," Merzenich said.

4. Stay calm
While challenging your brain is very important, remaining calm is just as important. Studies show that traumatic stress is bad for your brain cells. Physical exercise is always a great way to get rid of stress. Or, you can try calmer activities like yoga and meditation.

5. Give it a rest
An obvious way to stay calm is to go to sleep. It is also a great way to exercise your brain. Researchers at Harvard Medical School did a study. They looked at the conditions under which people come up with creative solutions. Their study involved how people solved complex math problems. The researchers discovered that a night's rest doubled people's chances of solving problems the next day.

6. Laugh a little
Humor stimulates the parts of our brain that use the chemical dopamine. Dopamine is also known as the "feel good" chemical in our bodies. That puts laughter in the types of activities you want to do again and again. Laughter is pleasurable, perhaps even "addictive," to the brain.

7. Get better with age
You've heard about the wisdom and judgment of older people? Scientists are starting to understand how wisdom works on a neurological level.

Older people are better at solving problems. That's because they have more mental information to draw upon than younger people do. That's why those in their 50s and 60s are wise. They're the ones we turn to for the best advice. They are also the ones we want to run our companies and our country.




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