New Brain Science: What’s Good for Your Heart's Good for Your Brain and Memory

Only in the last decade have scientists reported that we can generate new brain cells and the connections between them.

That’s good news for better memory and for staving off the cognitive decline of aging, dementia and diseases like Alzheimers!

• The good news is that mental stimulation, and the same diet and exercise that protects against heart disease can keep a normal brain spry.

• Exercise and fitness applies to our heart AND to our head -- the more you challenge them the more new nerve pathways you form in your grey matter.

• The Mediterranean diet is not only being recommended for the heart but for the brain's health, and there are exciting new discoveries of nutraceuticals for Alzheimers Disease.

Scientists from Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina are talking about “cell towers” in the brain that can send messages, and “the more cell towers you have, the fewer missed calls” according to Dr. Murali Draiswamy, who is the head of neurological psychiatry there, and has written: The Alzheimers Action Plan.

What Keeps Your Brain In Shape?

Researchers say that you can give your grey matter a good workout with just a few modifications to your daily life:

• You can do “neurobics” by changing the way you do daily things, thereby engaging different parts of the brain's functions.

For instance, you can brush your teeth, key in your phone or do text messages with the “other” hand.

• “Our brains love novelty,” says Dr. Doraiswamy, “and new things do not need to be complicated,” so that becoming more aware of your surroundings and sensing and doing things differently can help.

For instance, by eating without talking or simply with your eyes closed, you change your sensory input.

• Learning a language or a musical instrument provides great stimulation, as do games such as chess and bridge which require socializing and strategy.

Keep Your Cholesterol HIGH for a Better Brain!

• Researchers Are Finding Memory Loss To Be Less In People With High Cholesterol!

If you are getting to be towards the age of 50, you may want to know if you have high cholesterol – the good HDL kind -- and make sure you keep it high. Why?

• British researchers have found that higher "good" HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol is associated with LESS memory loss in people aged 55 and 60.

• And by the age of 60, people with LOW HDL cholesterol had a 53-per cent HIGHER risk of memory loss over those with HIGH HDL levels of cholesterol.

• In the study, total levels of cholesterol and triglycerides – another type of fat found in the blood – had NO association with memory decline or memory loss.

The British study involved about 3,700 men and women of middle age to determine what foreshadows Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia.

• They found a key factor to be LOW HDL cholesterol.

With lower levels of HDL, researchers found declining memory by age 60, and such memory loss often precedes the development of dementia such as Alzheimers in the elderly.

Scientists fear that with an aging population, we are facing a dementia time-bomb.

(Dr. Singh-Manoux, of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research and the University College London.)

• Glutathione Levels Found Better Predictor than Cholesterol for a Heart Attack

• Eat More Eggs to Lower Your High Cholesterol?

• Lowering Cholesterol Without Meds

De-stress, Sleep and Exercise for your Head & Heart

• The stress hormone cortisol depresses the growth of nerve cells and the connection between them. Social interaction, meditation, and exercise can help, as can natural supplements that lower cortisol levels.

• Getting enough sleep is also essential because it is during REM sleep that we consolidate memory. If you do shiftwork or are not getting a good night’s sleep, there are excellent natural and nutritional supplements against anxiety and for better sleep. Natural Discoveries for Better Sleep

• Exercise is very important to enhancing your brain's health. Studies show that even 30 minutes of brisk walking daily can improve blood flow to the head and boost:

1) neural growth factors, and

2) the brain's connectivity, which is considered to have an effect similar to that of “cross-training" for athletes.

Are Your Meds Making You Stupid?

Keep in mind that some widely used medications may block the action of acetylcholine, a chemical that is crucial to memory circuits.

These “anti-cholinergic” medications include:

• pain killers

• muscle relaxants

• older antidepressants e.g. Elavil

• some antihistamines

• anti-spasmodics

• incontinence drugs

Specialists like Dr. Doraiswamy warn that these negative effects on memory can “Cause a constant battle – the urologist puts you on a medication – and the memory doctor takes you off!”

• High cholesterol medications called statins can also have negative effects on memory. Remember that cholesterol is a naturally occurring fat, and that the brain is made of 60% fat, and needs fats to function.

High cholesterol levels are protective of memory!

• Researchers found a link between naturally occurring high cholesterol and modestly better mental function in areas such as:

1) visual organization, 2) memory, 3) attention, and 4) concentration.

(The research team included Professor Penelope Elias and Merrill Elias, who studied data from the Framingham Heart Study)

You may want to consider natural alternative for lowering your blood pressure and high cholesterol if you are having memory problems.

• Doctors Deny Memory Side Effects of Cholesterol Lowering Drugs

• Statins e.g. Lipitor: Not Effective for Healthy Men, Women & People over 70?

• QUIZ: Which are Healthy Fats and which Fats are Deadly?

• Healthy Fats: Omega Oils for Heart Disease Prevention

• Nutrition or Meds for High Blood Pressure?

“My 88–Year Old Father's Playing Bridge Again After Stopping Heart Meds!”

“Our family has recently witnessed the remarkable improvement in our 88-year-old father when an astute specialist in internal medicine pulled him off three of the medications he'd been prescribed by his family doctor (high blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication, and a prescription nasal spray).

In four days his blood sugar dropped from 25 to 7, his dizziness was gone, he stopped falling down at night, and his appetite was back.

After two weeks, his memory improved and he was back playing bridge again!

I have just read Dr. Dennis McCullough's book, "My Mother, Your Mother: Embracing 'Slow Medicine', the Compassionate Approach to Caring for Your Aging Loved Ones".

It is interesting that Dr. McCullough's experience is that elders later in life do better on almost no medication.”

Submitted by M. McMaster

Recommendations for Supplements best for Heart & Brain

While diet, exercise and mental "neurobics" do lower the risk of Alzheimers, dementia and memory loss, some people will need extra help.

There are now nutraceuticals that can slow its progression, and even reverse some of the symptoms of Alzheimers Disease:

Social Ties Improve Memory Most

Strong social ties and contacts appear to protect against memory robbing dementia, according to a Harvard School of Public Health study involving 17,000 people over 6 years.

More important than age, income and health, was having an active social life, including being married. The most socially integrated had only HALF of the memory decline of the least socially integrated people over the age of 50.

Memory loss is a strong risk factor for Alzheimers disease and other form of dementia, but researchers are finding that being in the highest level of social integration offset more than half of this age-related decline in memory.

(K. Ertel, American Journal of Public Health)

What’s Good for Your Heart's Good for Your Brain, Memory, and Slowing Dementia & Alzheimers

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