Okay, you know I don’t have kids. But I’m hoping that everyone got their little (and not-so-little) ones back to school in one piece with wildfires raging and smoke obscuring your vision! Yikes, what a scary and stressful time for much of the state of Oregon. If you’re feeling stressed or depleted in any way, be sure to take care of yourself. We have a Smiling Scientist who keeps up with the American Heart Association, and she provided a great resource on healthy habits to beat stress…you can find it right here!
These 10 healthy habits are very similar to those found in a new book I’m reading, Use Your Brain to Change Your Age by Daniel Amen, M.D. Dr. Amen is a psychiatrist (stick with me, here) that promotes healthy living to change your brain biology and thwart dementia. His brain-healthy tips for a long, healthy life include things like:
Know your BMI, eat five to ten fruits and veggies per day, get eight ours’ sleep every night, quit smoking, tone down the drinking, get a metabolic panel done by your doctor, check your vitamin D, Folic acid and B12 levels, and for me, most importantly, don’t ignore or minimize increased forgetfulness. I’m still reading the book, but I’ll give a full critique when I’m done. Lots of stuff in there seems like common sense, but I’m a sucker for the neurobiology. He’s looked at over 80,000 SPECT scans (single photon emission computed tomography) and seen some very distinct patterns in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients compared to healthy-brained individuals. Not only that, he’s looked at the brains of dehydrated individuals (your brain is largely water), brains of drug addicts, brains of stressed-out people…you get the picture. He’s going to tell you about the most important thing he’s learned from studying brain scans.
Make sure to scroll down to the “Our Favorite Video of the Week” to watch! Have a great week and keep the suggestions and resources coming, we LOVE THEM ALL!