Mental Weightlifting

Mental illnesses such as depression, dementia and alzheimers disease are growing at an alarming rate. Many people are terrified of these diseases, probably because they fear there is nothing they can do to avoid them. While your genes and environmental factors such as aluminium might be a factor (I certainly don't risk it by cooking in aluminium) fortunately there is plenty you can do to look after your mental health. The secret is to feed, exercise and rest your brain. Hmm sounds like your your physical health doesn't it! Just like your body, your brain follows the law of "Use It or Lose It!"

Our brain produces a chemical called Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). This chemical reinforces what we learn by strengthening the new connections in our brain. Babies have lots of BDNF, which activates the nucleus basalis and keeps it on, allowing them to download and store everthing they experience. As adults we can only activate this part of our brain, and learn something new, if it's important, surprising, novel, or when we pay close attention.

Imagine the scenario of someone who has worked in the same job for 30 years. Chances are they would get pretty good at it and could largely do it on auto-pilot. They don't need to learn anything new, and essentially they lose the ability to learn. Fortunately this can be reversed, even in old age, with specific mental exercises such as:

Keep Learning

• Learning a new language in midlife is an excellent way to maintain your brains adaptability
• Learn to paint or draw.
• Learn about a topic new to you.

Exercise Your Musical Side

• Play and listen to music, sing and dance. Processing music in our brains involves memory, learning and emotions.
• Learn to play a (new) musical instrument.

Puzzles and Games

• Crossword puzzles
• Sudoku
• Solitare
• Board games like chess and checkers.

Memory Games

• Simon
• Memory
• In researching this topic I came across the website lumosity.com, which looks to have lots of great brain exercises.

Like physical exercises, mental exercises work best with intensity and repitition. So concentrate hard and do them daily.

Of course don't forget that your diet, physical evercise, and what you watch, read, play, and listen to can also positively or negatively affect your brain's health.

Some basic points are:

• Eat a mainly raw vegetable based diet
• Get enough sunshine to keep your vitamin D levels at its optimum (about 15 minutes per day should be enough). I'm reading so much good stuff about vitamin D at the moment expect to see an article devoted to it soon!
• Reduce your sugar intact.
• Regular physical exercise releases BDNF in rats so there is a good chance it will in you too.
• Severely restrict your amount of time watching tv and computer screens. TV hijacks the attention systems and turns off the critical thinking parts of your brain. (Explains why people can watch Big Brother doesn't it!)

And remember to get lots of rest. While we are resting that our brain is processing what we learnt that day and makes sense of it all. Sort of like defragging your brain.(Sorry for getting all geeky)

Finally, make sure you reward yourself for a job well done. Rewards promote the release dopamine in your brain and assists your motivation and helps rewiring your brain.