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The Washington Post reported on a recent study out of the National Institute of Mental Health. The study found that different brain areas are activated when a person moves up or down in social status or sees people who are socially superior or inferior. The brain seemed to activate in a similar manner to winning money.
The scientists indicate that our position in social hierarchies affects motivation as well as physical and mental health. Past research has supported the relationship between social rank and health. For example, persons with a lower social status had a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease and to die early. Psychological effects to include loss of control over one’s environment may be one trigger for the relationship to poor health.
The brain seems to have a hard wiring for hierarchical information and that this information is important to us. Our desire to compete, play to win, and to be motivated are directly linked to brain circuitry.
This most likely explains our civilization’s interest in sports, gaming, and competition. Our own individual struggle to reach our specific potential in areas of school, work, or skill development also fit into this model. It may not be such a stretch to suggest that our drive to personal health, including brain health involves such brain circuitry and that computerized mental exercises that provide explicit feedback on our performance is one tangible example of competitive health behavior.
The NY Times recently reported on a new study that showed it is possible to improve brainpower. The study demonstrated that training the brain in particular cognitive or thinking processes actually help to improve those particular processes. This should make sense as the brain is a dynamic system that will respond to environmental input.
The resistance to such belief lies in the long held and erroneous position that the human brain is a rigid and fixed system that is somehow set by age five! We now know the human brain has “plasticity” and can be shaped across the lifespan. In fact, your brain does not know how old it is, it simply wants to be stimulated.
New research from the University of Michigan supports the power of mental exercise on the ability of the brain to acquire new information. Our ability to learn new information historically has been labeled “fluid intelligence.” This tends to be information we did not acquire in school and that we have no background exposure. In contrast, information acquired in school that is over learned is referred to as “crystallized intelligence.”
Researchers found that new learning (fluid intelligence) increased with increased exposure to the training stimuli. They asserted that fluid intelligence can increase with appropriate training. They are not sure how long the gains will last after training stops, but gains are made with intervals of 8 to 19 days of training for 30 minutes a day.
While research is catching up on what probably is a very practical and basic reality: the human brain, like many of our systems is influenced by environmental input. In the case of the brain the stimuli tends to be information that is processed from the outside world. Repetitive mental exercise will have an outcome and it is reasonable to think that it will be positive with regard to learning. And yes, there will also be a neurostructural and neurochemical change as well.
As part of our ongoing discussion on brain health and the brain health lifestyle I have proposed, it is now time to consider the fattiest part of you……your brain.
Your brain, the most miraculous system ever designed in the history of the universe, weighs between two and four pounds and is made up of 60% fat. As a system of your body, it is indeed your fattiest. It is important to understand the role of the fat and how you may keep the fat nice and robust.
One role for the fat in your brain is to insulate neural tracks of cells to propel the electrical impulse carrying information in a rapid way. Without the fat, the brain cells are not insulated and information processing will slow. Many of us complain about how slow our computer is; imagine how tough it must be to suffer a slowing of our own information processing speed.
Research suggests Omega 3 fatty acids are a good source to build or maintain the healthy fat in our system and brain. Indeed, research suggests consumption of Omega 3s can help to fight off dementia. Foods rich in Omega 3s include fish such as salmon, herring, tuna, and sardines. Unsalted nuts such as walnuts are also rich in Omega 3s. It is suggested that we increase our fish intake to several ounces several times a week.
Another important brain boosting food includes fruits and vegetables because they are rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants help to rid the body of oxygen based toxins known as free radicals thought to create breakdown in muscle and tissue. At least one national governing body indicates we should consume five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
For the New Year consider increasing your intake of fish, fruits and vegetables. Your brain deserves it!
Nearly everyone experiences the inability to recall a name or to struggle trying to find the correct word. These moments are referred to “tip of the tongue” phenomena and can be quite frustrating. The good news is that word finding problems is not necessarily a sign of pathology or disease, and indeed likely represents changes that occur with the normal aging process.
Around the age of 50 our brains begin to change structurally and functionally. We lose brain cells over the lifespan with a disproportionate number of cells lost in the frontal lobes. These are normal changes and the functional change associated with aging is also considered normal. We tend not to freely recall information, our information processing speed slows, and we may struggle with word finding. Once again, these are typically considered normal changes with aging and it is most common to experience such changes around age 50.
I believe that brain exercise, particularly in the cognitive areas listed above, can help to keep these functions relatively sharp and maintained. Passivity certainly will not help the brain and indeed it may exacerbate the changes in our cognitive processes.
Get started today on your mental exercises and turn to FitBrains as your source for a good brain workout.
More and more we hear and read about the supposed powers of mental exercise. While this seems to make sense it is natural to wonder how and why a “brain workout” is beneficial.
We have learned within the past decade that the human brain has the ability to generate new brain cells (neurogenesis). The hippocampus, a structure that lies deep in the middle of each temporal lobe and serves functions of memory, learning, and spatial representation, is the site of such neurogenesis. Interestingly, this is the exact site of neurogenesis established in rodents in the 1950s. There appears to be something critically important about the hippocampus with regard to new brain cell development.
Similar to rodent brains the human brain reacts to environmental input in generally predictable ways. Damaging, punishing, and negative input can do structural and functional damage to the hippocampus. In contrast, positive, nurturing, and stimulating input can help to foster structural and functional enhancements. As we noted earlier on this blog, the human brain seeks and enjoys mental stimulation and exposure to the “novel and complex.”
A daily brain workout can help to provide the brain (cortex) the stimulation it seeks. Environments that are considered complex and novel by your brain will provide the most benefit particularly when compared to input that is rote and passive. Daily brain workouts that challenge the cortex will also help to build new cellular connections (synapses) that in turn reflect “brain reserve.” Recall, brain reserve is believed to delay the onset of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease.
One of the greatest fears of the baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, is the loss of memory and onset of dementia. A proactive approach to try and delay the onset of such loss and disease is a lifelong brain health lifestyle, part of which includes daily exposure to the novel and complex. The Brain Health Workout makes good sense so get started today!!
Brain reserve refers to a brain that has formed many cellular connections and is rich in brain cell density. The power of brain reserve is that we believe it has the ability to delay the clinical onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Simply put, AD will have to work longer and harder to manifest itself if it invades a brain that has built up reserve.
I often use the example of a brain that looks like a jungle versus one that looks like an island with one palm tree. In this example, the brain that looks like a jungle is the healthy brain because it has tremendous cellular connections like the density of a jungle and therefore brain reserve. If you think of AD as a weed whacker, it will invade the brain and begin to do its damage by destroying brain cells. However, it will take AD a long time to show any impact if it has to destroy a jungle’s worth of brain cell connections. In contrast, AD will manifest quickly after infiltration into the brain if it simply needs to destroy only a relatively few cellular connections (the island with one plam tree).
Brain reserve is developed over the lifespan as one exposes his or her brain to the novel and complex, the enriched environment on a daily basis. A Brain Health Lifestyle that involves Mental Stimulation, Physical Activity, Spirituality, Socialization, and Nutrition can help to build up brain reserve and maintain a healthy brain.
Here is part 2 to the inital brain health blog from Dr. Nussbaum.
Your Brain Health
1. Brain health begins in the womb and needs to be promoted across your lifespan.
2. Engage in the novel and complex not the rote and passive.
3.Consider the following Brain Health Lifestyle to build up your brain reserve:
Five Domains of the Brain Health Lifestyle:Socialization
Do not isolate or segregate as you get older. People who isolate have a higher risk for dementia.
Join groups and social organizations in your community.
Maintain and build your friendship and family network.
Be forgiving.
Develop hobbies.
Do not retire.
Physical Activity
Walk between 7,000 and 12,000 steps daily. Walking several times a week reduces the risk of dementia.
Buy yourself a pedometer to remind yourself to walk and to keep track of your daily steps.
Dance as this is a behavior that reduces the risk of dementia.
Garden and Knitting reduce the risk of dementia.
Aerobic exercise will help the heart and thereby feed the brain with the necessary blood and oxygen. It also promotes cognitive functioning such as memory and is now believed to relate to positive structural changes in the brain.
Use both sides of your body more often: Become ambidextrous.
Mental Stimulation
Learn a second language.
Read and write (use your nondominant hand) on a daily basis: the more complex the better.
Learn sign language as it increases IQ and increased IQ reduces the risk of dementia.
Play board games as board game playing reduces the risk of dementia.
Travel reduces the risk of dementia because it involves a new and complex environment.
Play a musical instrument.
Listen to classic music as it helps to increase learning.
Problem solve.
Spirituality
Pray on a daily basis as it enhances your immune system.
Attend regularly a formal place of worship at it relates to better quality of life and longevity.
Learn to meditate in order to slow down. Animals exposed to environments that are too stimulating demonstrate slowed brain development.
Learn relaxation procedures with deep breathing and muscle relaxation.
Slow down and do not be afraid to say “no”.
Nutrition
Eat 80% of what you intend to eat at each meal. Reasonable caloric restriction can increase your longevity.
Eat with utensils and you will eat less and also eat healthier foods.
Increase your intake of Omega 3 fatty acids. This includes fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, and herring. Several ounces of salmon weekly reduce the risk of dementia. Walnuts and unsalted nuts are also good for you.
Increase your intake of antioxidants. This includes Vitamins C and E. Colored fruits (grapes, apples, cantaloupe, and berries) and vegetables are good for you. The FDA recommends five servings of fruit and vegetables a day.
Decrease your intake of processed foods and red meats. Lean meat such as chicken breast without skin is relatively okay.
Green leafy vegetables are good for you.
Eat one sit down meal with others a day. This activity provides many brain boosting effects at once (classic music, language, eating with utensils, slowing down, eating healthier foods).
Hello, I am Dr. Paul Nussbaum, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Fit Brains, and I am happy to introduce myself to the Ft Brains’ community. My background is in clinical neuropsychology, and I specialize in brain health and aging across the lifespan. Currently, I maintain an Adjunct Associate Professorship in Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
This is my first posting, and I will be bogging weekly. In the days to come, I plan on covering many subjects in the area of brain health. Today’s blog will be the first part in this series.
Your Brain Health
The single greatest system ever designed in the history of the universe is your brain. Your brain is responsible for your every thought, emotion, and behavior. Unfortunately we humans do not know much about our brains and it is time to change that.
Brain Basics:
1. Your brain weighs 2 to 4 pounds.
2. Your brain is comprised of 60% fat and is the fattiest system in your body.
3. Your brain consumes 25% of the blood from every heartbeat.
4. Your brain has two sides or hemispheres (left hemisphere and right hemisphere).
Left hemisphere helps you with language, detail, and analysis
Right hemisphere helps you with faces, spatial orientation, sounds.
5. Your brain has a Cortex and Subcortex.
Your Cortex is conscious and helps you learn, remember, communicate, Read, write, orient to space, process sensory information, and personality.
Your Subcortex processes subconscious motor or procedural behaviors such as dressing, driving, and typing on your computer.
Your Cortex and Subcortex interact as a beautiful symphony.
6. Your hippocampus is the structure in your brain (sits in the middle of each temporal lobe just under each temple on your skull) that enables you to learn.
New Ideas about Your Brain:
The human brain (like the animal brain) can generate new brain cells. This new brain cell development (neurogenesis) occurs in the hippocampus.
The human brain is now thought to have “neural plasticity” or be a system that is highly dynamic, constantly reorganizing, and malleable. It is shaped by environmental input.
Our brains need exposure to environments that are enriched, complex and novel. Environments that are passive and rote do not help the health of your brain.
Exposure to enriched environments across your lifespan will lead to new brain cell development and increased cellular connections (“Synaptic Density”). Synaptic Density or Brain Reserve may help to delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and related dementias.
Hello and welcome to the first official Fit Brains’ blog! Let me introduce myself. I am Michael Cole, the founder and CEO of Vivity Labs, creator of Fit Brains.
Fit Brains is developing a web experience that will be the first of its kind, appealing to adults of all ages and will elevate the concept and acceptance of brain fitness to the mainstream. We will do this through a unique combination of interactive games, personalization tools and community features. Our team understands that the key ingredient for mass adoption of brain fitness will be the “fun factor”, and is developing scientifically based workouts that are engaging and fun.
Among other topics, the Fit Brains blog will discuss recent brain health news, allowing our readers to stay up-to-date on the latest developments. In addition, guest bloggers who are experts in their respective fields, will contribute to the discussions.
Stay tuned - Fit Brains will be adding a lot of exiciting features in the weeks ahead. I invite you to become an active member and help grow the Fit Brains community. Technorati Profile
The Washington Post reported on a recent study out of the National Institute of Mental Health. The study found that different brain areas are activated when a person moves up or down in social status or sees people who are socially superior or inferior. The brain seemed to activate in a similar manner to winning money.
The NY Times recently reported on a new study that showed it is possible to improve brainpower. The study demonstrated that training the brain in particular cognitive or thinking processes actually help to improve those particular processes. This should make sense as the brain is a dynamic system that will respond to environmental input.
