I am definitely hoping that all this good living I am doing today is going to pay off down the road. Not only should we rely on diet and physical exercise but brain exercise is worthwhile as well. I have read on numerous occasions that the more we challenge our brains the more chance we have to stave off dementia. Things like word puzzles, challenging reading, using your non-dominant hand to do everyday tasks (eg., open your front door with the key in your left hand if you are right-handed), and more things of this nature. Good luck and keep your brain young!

I have also heard of tapes you can buy that say they can help you keep your brain young by doing certain exercises.  I think they are more like mind games.  I see my mother-n-law getting more and more forgetfull all the time and it worries me.  Right now I have to write everything down or else I somehow forget.  I still have a good memory thank goodness.  I don't know which is worse, loosing your mind or your  body.

Today I was talking to a friend and I totally could not come up with the word "narrate" when I was telling about a book I read.  Snowflower and the Fan.  A great book by the way.  It was so frustrating and I felt like a complete idiot.  I think I need to start exercising my brain and quick.  I just get like that sometimes, unable to locate a word when I need it.

I have seen a couple of relatives succumb to dementia and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I would much rather lose the use of my body than my mind. Look at people like Stephen Hawking, he has no use of his body but has an incredible mind.

I am going to try to keep both going for as long as I possibly can. I will feed both my body and my mind good food, exercise both, and enjoy myself as much as possible along the way...... oh yeah, and hope for the best!

A good friends mom has alzheimers and it is horrible to see my friend and what she has to go through when she sees her mom.  Her mom doesn't remember her.  It is hard on the family as well when a family member can't remember all those thinigs that keeps a family together.  You don't realize it until you have to go through it.

I see what it can do to a family when a parent looses their memory.  It really affects the entire family dynamics.  It must be horrible when a parent can't remeber who you are and the things that make up your family tapestry. 

It makes sense that we can train our brains. We basically train our brains all of our lives. Exercise is great for our brains. I've heard that exercise has a lot of effects on our nervous systems. Some scientists strongly recommend exercise to stimulate our nervous system and perform at higher levels.

I am young and I have seen what time can do to your brain. My grandma had demetia and alzheimers before she died, it was one of the worst things I had to witness. In order for me not to succum to that I need to excercise my brain everyday, so I wont forget things. I replay everything in my mind that happened that day or even a memory, I replay it through my mind, andI try to remember every little detail. Its hard and tiring, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end.

Have you tried any of the tapes?  I may have to buy a few and check them out.  I hear a woman on the precor doing one, I need to ask if it is making a difference.  I loose my mind daily with my children, but that is an entirely different topic!

I do notice that I function better when I'm well rested and am maintaining a healthy diet. I've also heard that exercise does a lot to our nervous system so I do think that we can engage in healthy habits to have better "brain health". Everything interconnects.

 

I also found this book about Neurobics? Supposed to improve our brain health. heh.

This is my regular regime:

Speed Reading Excercise:

Great way to continue to increase your reading speed. I feel as my speed increases, I'm able to process more info, and quicker. 

I do this once a week (but make it a point to read frequently during the week.)

Meditation:

3 or 4 times a week depending on how the week is going. I don't have long sessions at all, I usually just take 15 to 20 minutes to myself to clear my mind and regain focus.

 
My "Idea Book" / Journal:

I keep this on me at all times. 

The Idea part of the book, is where I keep notes about things I should look into, random ideas and businesses opportunities, sometimes even "To Do" lists. If an Idea is good enough, then once every other month, I pull one idea out of the book, and try to flush it out further into a business plan, proposal, or pitch.

The journal part of the book is more like a diary of my thought processes, I only update it once a week, (if I did it daily, I think I'd give it up too quick, and it's not supposed to serve as a diary really.) It's a great way to learn from your experiences, and you can identify connections, that where not evident before.

 

There's a  whole bunch of other things I do on occassion too, but this is my bread an butter.

 

This is kinda funny.  My father is an attorney and said the law just came naturally to him.  But the funny part of the story is that he cannot remember anything outside the law.  When he reads a book, he forgets what happens by the end of it and has to revisit it sometimes.  He just lacks the ability to remember things about my sisters and my childhood.  We laugh, but it is kinda scary.

Basically, your brain works in a "use it or lose it" fashion. Things are not technically "stored" in our brains, like we all imagine them. Brain functioning and thinking is all done through connections made between nerve cells in our brain, so the less you make specific connections, the weaker they get and the harder they are to repeat. So to keep your brain, and thus memory, in shape, you have to exercise it. In our younger years, we really have no choice, as we have school and repetition and memory that is expected of us. As adults post-school, there is only a certain amount of what we'll call "higher level thinking" that is required of us. For that reason, we all lose a little bit of that strength in connectivity. If you want to keep sharp, I wouldn't succumb to any tapes or programs, etc. Take a class, or read a book, or learn something new. The word games/puzzles/etc are great too. But basically, you just have to keep your brain stimulated. However, eating healthy, exercise, and getting enough sleep certainly dont hurt ;) 

Was just reading an article that suggested walking is very good for your brain.  It seems that studies show that doing it longterm seems to reduce the anount of memory-protecting brain tissue you lose with age.  But you are right when you say that to preserve brainpower, we must stimulate memory cells.  We need to work both sides of our brain-cross train it if you may.  I know that as I get older, I feel my brain is working less effficiently.