What You Need to Know Now to Save Your Brain and Prevent Alzheimer’s & Cognitive Decline
Growing up with a father who was a world renowned neurosurgeon, my sister and I knew a lot more than the average person about the brain. For example, I remember my dad forbidding us from doing headers in soccer practice or games. However, it wasn’t until I recently heard a lecture by Dr. Daniel Amen, author of New York Times bestsellers, Change your Brain Change Your Life and Change your Brain Change Your Body, and the founder of the Amen Clinics, which are clinics located around the country that are dedicated to brain health, that I realized how critical it is to take care of your brain from an early age.
Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, in the United States alone, over five million individuals suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease, and this number is expected to increase by eleven million people by the year 2050. Alzheimer’s Disease affects fifty percent (50%) of people over the age of eighty-five. Most importantly, Dr. Amen explains that Alzheimer’s starts thirty years before any symptoms. This is why it is so important to start taking steps now to protect your precious brain.
Some of the symptoms of impaired brain health include: forgetfulness, poor memory, slow reflexes, poor coordination, and difficulty focusing and/or completing complex tasks. However, a nutritious diet and certain behavioral steps can help prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of conditions like Alzheimer’s Disease.
Almost all the cells in the brain are in place by age two or three, and only a few small regions of the brain grow new cells after that point. While the brain typically accounts for less than two percent of a person’s weight, it consumes twenty percent (20%) of the body’s energy at a rate that is ten times faster than the rest of the body per gram of tissue. As a result, the brain requires a constant supply of energy to function, and what you ingest and are exposed to has a direct impact on the brain’s processes.
So what factors accelerate and decelerate brain aging?
Dr. Amen states that the following factors accelerate brain aging: brain injuries, drugs and alcohol, obesity, sleep apnea (which doubles your risk for Alzheimer’s Disease), smoking, excessive caffeine, diabetes, hypertension, toxins, poor diet, stress, depression (also a significant risk factor for Alzheimer’s), lack of exercise, bad decisions, low conscientiousness, an unhealthy peer group, and not knowing your own brain’s vulnerability.
Dr. Amen states that the following factors decelerate brain aging: good decisions, conscientiousness, positive peer group, protecting the brain (avoiding head injuries), clean environment, physical health, healthy weight, eight hours of sleep a night, learning new things, a healthy diet, omega 3 fatty acids, green tea, limiting or eliminating caffeine, exercise, gratitude and stress management.
As Dr. Amen explains, “Genes are not everything. Genes make you more vulnerable to illness, your behavior triggers them. Your behavior either accelerates the aging process or decelerates, and you get to choose.”