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WomensHealthFriday, September 17, 2010
Here are 12 everyday tips to boost your brainpower
by: JOEL WEBER
Of all things we gain with agewealth, wisdom, childrena sharper
mind isnt one of them. Instead of being a steel trap like it
used to be, its probably starting to resemble a colander. Life
keeps pouring in, but you retain less and less of it.
But researchers are discoveringthat there are ways to forestall
the decline. The secret? Stop taking your gray matter for
granted, says P. Murali Doraiswamy, M.D., chief of biological
psychiatry at Duke Universitys medical school. You can add 10
or more years to your brains useful life just by paying some
attention to it, he says. Here are 12 everyday tips to boost y
our
brainpowerand then get more health, fitness, and beauty secrets
in our new book,Age Erasers for Women!
1. Dance, Dance, Dance!
"Few activities stimulate as wide a variety of brain systems as
dancing does," says Daniel Amen, MD, author of Magnificent
Mind at Any Age. "Dancing requires everything from coordination
and organization to planning and judgment." Ditto for martial
arts. "Both require you to position different parts of your body
simultaneously and in synchronicityand with dance, you've got
to move along to music," says John Ratey, M.D., author of Spark:
The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain .
"That's a lot of mental stimulation."
2. Visit the Gym
According to a 2007 Columbia University study, working out at
the gym may help you sprout new cells in the dentate gyrus, an
area of the brain vital to memory. Researchers measured blood
volume in the brains of adults who worked out four times a
week for four months and found that all that activity sparks the
production of more neurons.
3. Crack Some Eggs
The ideal breakfast is an egg, according to Larry McCleary,
M.D., author of The Brain Trust Program. The incredible edible
contains B vitamins, which enable nerve cells to burn glucose,
your brain's major energy source; antioxidants, which protect
neurons against damage; and omega-3 fatty acids, which keep
nerve cells firing at optimal speed. Similarly, McCleary says
that the best brain foods are those that would rot if the power
went out. Pick fresh fruits, veggies, and lean proteins and
avoid
the dreaded duo, trans fats ("they diminish brain cells' ability
to communicate with each other") and high-fructose corn syrup("it
can shrink the brain by damaging cells").
4. Keep On Moving On
Multitasking is like Kryptonite to gray matter. When you have a
crammed to-do list, rather than layer projects, take on one
task
at a time and change them up every hour. Can't finish something
in 60 minutes? Schedule another slot for it later in the day.
"Switching from one project to the next will engage different
areas of the brain, keeping you mentally alert," says Gary
Small,
M.D., director of the UCLA Center on Aging and the Semel
Institute Memory Research Center and the author of The
Longevity
Bible.
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