Of all the diseases associated with aging there’s one perhaps more devastating than all the others. It’s the decline in cognitive function called dementia and specifically Alzheimer’s.(1)
The Mayo Clinic says about Alzheimer’s:
“While dementia is a general term, Alzheimer's disease is a specific brain disease. It is marked by symptoms of dementia that gradually get worse over time. Alzheimer's disease first affects the part of the brain associated with learning, so early symptoms often include changes in memory, thinking and reasoning skills.”
And The National Institute on Aging tells us how this brain disease was discovered:
“Dr. [Alois] Alzheimer noticed changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness. Her symptoms included memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behavior. After she died, he examined her brain and found many abnormal clumps (now called amyloid plaques) and tangled bundles of fibers (now called neurofibrillary, or tau, tangles).
These plaques and tangles in the brain are still considered some of the main features of Alzheimer’s disease. Another feature is the loss of connections between nerve cells (neurons) in the brain.” —What Is Alzheimer’s Disease? National Institute on Aging
Many dread the loss of independence from declining mental capacity even more than they dread declining physical ability.
Without question, our brain is our single greatest asset because our health and vitality actually begin in the brain,. The brain is the control tower that directs the operations of our entire body.
Brain health is every bit as important as the health of any other part of the body. All healthcare should take a head-first approach yet it’s so often the very last place we look, if at all.
Once the brain begins to deteriorate, there is evidence it can be slowed or halted. A doctor who specializes in holistic healing approaches to cognitive function may be able to help you.
For a long and quality life, zero in on two major focuses for your brain health. The first is to slow the rate of brain cell death. And the second is to grow new brain cells to replace those that are dying.
Factors leading to loss of brain tissue include the following. Do what you can to reverse these if you have them.
oxidative stress
chronic inflammation
mitochondrial dysfunction(2)
hormone deficiency/imbalance
impaired microcirculation to the brain and
accumulation of toxic protein aggregates (amyloid-beta and tau as mentioned above in the National Institute of Aging quote on Alzheimer’s; these build up around the brain’s synapses and prevent the vital flow of neurotransmitters).
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are critical for brain health. Get your omega-3s.
Nutrition plays a critical role in mental health. This is because the brain relies on both macro- and micronutrients for development and function.
Optimal brain development and function particularly requires omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs). If the brain isn’t getting these fatty acids, any of a number of mental health conditions over the lifespan have been proven to occur.
This list includes:
developmental disorders and mental retardation in childhood
depression
bipolar disorder
schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder
an unbalanced response to stress
hostility and aggression in adulthood and
cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in late adulthood.
Omega-3s are important components of the membranes that surround every cell in the body. Some research shows that people who consume more omega-3s from foods like fish, fish oil, flaxseed and omega-3 specific dietary supplements have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and cognitive function decline.
There are three main types of omega-3 fatty acids:
alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and
docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
ALA is found mainly in plant oils like flaxseed, soybean, and canola.
DHA and EPA are mainly found in fish and other seafood.
ALA is an essential fatty acid meaning your body can’t manufacture it so you need to get it from food.
The body can convert some ALA into EPA and then to DHA but only in very small amounts. So getting EPA and DHA from foods and dietary supplements is the only practical way to increase omega-3 fatty acids in brain and body.
Along with encouraging brain health, omega-3s provide calories the body converts to energy. They have many beneficial functions in the heart, blood vessels, lungs, immune and endocrine systems (the network of hormone-producing glands).
Exercise, especially walking, is vital for brain health.
Walking encourages the brain to release endorphins—a neurochemical that boosts mental health, decreases sensitivity to stress and pain, and sometimes induces a state of euphoria.
Getting the body moving can help lower the incidence of depression while it improves overall cognitive function.
Walking releases the protein Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) for healthy neuron survival and cognitive function. Science Daily explains that Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) is a protein "essential for neuronal development and survival, synaptic plasticity, and cognitive function.”
Impaired release of BDNF is associated with neuro-degenerative disorders like Alzheimer's Disease.
A January 2018 study found that walking for thirty minutes at a moderate rate increased the production of BDNF in the brains of post-stroke patients. Indications are that walking somewhat briskly may be key to maintaining a healthy brain and mind.
Walking clears up cognitive haze. When one group of people age 55 to 80 were studied, they significantly improved their brains’ signaling communication simply by walking regularly.
"As we get older, communication pathways within the brain begin to bog down. But in the study, the brains of couch-potato adults who enrolled in a year-long walking program showed significant improvement in cognitive functioning and communication signaling at the end of the study period.” —Michael Gollust, ShareCare dot com
Walking increases blood flow to the brain and improves creativity. A 2014 Stanford University study found that walking increased a person's creative output by an average of 60 percent.
We can exercise the brain itself.
We can directly help keep the brain sharp and bright with certain pastimes and exercises.
Even at an older age, learn to play a musical instrument. Researchers find that learning to play a musical instrument can enhance verbal memory, spatial reasoning and literacy skills. Musical instruments make you use both sides of your brain and this strengthens memory power. In addition, the fine motor skills you must use to play an instrument stimulate brain activity.
Learn to speak a foreign language or rediscover more advanced mathematics like algebra.
Or seriously apply yourself in using moderately complicated computer software applications.
Whatever your age, practice Tai Chi. This martial art is a gentle, low impact ancient Chinese mind-body exercise. It improves balance, strength, and flexibility and reduces anxiety and adverse responses to stress.
A study published in the Journal of Neuro-Imaging shares that Tai Chi promotes neuroplasticity(5) loosely described as a more resilient brain. It also encourages the two most necessary outcomes of a healthy brain mentioned near the outset of this article:
Tai Chi helps your brain generate new neurons (brain cells).
Tai Chi slows the rate of neuron death.
Meditate to increase brain neuroplasticity. A meditation practice also helps create the growth of new neural connections and neurons.
The following study of meditating subjects showed very positive alterations in their brain pattern function. Researchers scientifically assessed these results using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
The study found meditation has a very positive impact on mental focus. By measuring alterations in amplitude and synchrony of high frequency oscillations in the brain, the researchers found that meditation plays an important role in connectivity in the brain’s widespread circuitry.
“In a recent visit to the United States, the Dalai Lama gave a speech at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Over the past several years, he has helped recruit Tibetan Buddhist monks for and directly encouraged research on the brain and meditation in the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The findings from studies in this unusual sample as well as related research efforts suggest that over the course of meditating for tens of thousands of hours the long-term practitioners had actually altered the structure and function of their brains.” — Richard Davidson and Antoine Lutz in Buddha Brain: Neuroplasticity and Meditation
Treat your brain like a muscle.
When we don’t consistently use any muscle of our body it begins to atrophy. The very same concept applies to the brain.
Neural circuits that aren’t actively engaged in executing certain tasks for an extended period of time begin to degrade. If we don’t use an area of the brain for a period of time, we’ll lose the function that was previously stored there.
Stay engaged in life.
As we advance in age, we happen to have a whole treasure trove of wisdom and knowledge to share. It’s the very time we should be contributing and sharing that knowledge rather than withdrawing from life.
Withholding your gifts, withdrawing and reducing activity leads to atrophy not just of stature and physical health but cognitive function.
Being active physically and mentally, participating in and contributing to life are life and brain health affirming.
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Endnotes for this article:
Alzheimer’s is named after Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915), the German neurologist who first identified it. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive mental deterioration that can occur in middle or old age as a result of generalized degeneration of the brain. It’s the most common cause of premature senility.
dysfunction of the organelles (specialized subunits within a cell that have a specific function) that generate energy for the cell. Mitochondria are found in every cell of the human body except red blood cells and convert the energy of food molecules into the ATP (Adenosine triphosphate). ATP is a complex organic chemical that provides energy to drive many processes in living cells, e.g. muscle contraction, nerve impulse propagation, and chemical synthesis that powers most cell functions.
DHA levels are especially high in the retina of the eye, the brain, and sperm cells.
The hippocampus is composed of the elongated ridges on the floor of each lateral ventricle of the brain, thought to be the center of emotion, memory, and the autonomic nervous system.
Neuroplasticity describes the brain changes that occur in response to everyday experience.
Sources:
“National Institute on Aging.” National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. Accessed 7 January 2024. www dot nia dot nih dot gov slash health slash alzheimers hyphen and hyper dementia slash what hyphen alzheimers hyphen disease
Davidson, Richard J, and Antoine Lutz. “Buddha's Brain: Neuroplasticity and Meditation.” IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 2008, ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov slash pmc slash articles slash PMC2944261
Sinn, Natalie, et al. “Oiling the Brain: a Review of Randomized Controlled Trials of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Psychopathology across the Lifespan.” Nutrients, Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Feb. 2010, ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov slash pmc slash articles slash PMC3257637
“Office of Dietary Supplements - Omega-3 Fatty Acids.” NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ods dot od dot nih dot gov slash factsheets slash Omega3FattyAcids hyphen Consumer slash
Stansfield, Kirstie H, et al. “Dysregulation of BDNF-TrkB Signaling in Developing Hippocampal Neurons by Pb(2+): Implications for an Environmental Basis of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.” Toxicological Sciences : an Official Journal of the Society of Toxicology, Oxford University Press, May 2012, www dot ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov slash pubmed slash 22345308
Morais, Viviane Aparecida Carvalho de, et al. “A Single Session of Moderate Intensity Walking Increases Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in the Chronic Post-Stroke Patients.” Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Jan. 2018, ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov slash pubmed slash 29078742
“Tai Chi May Improve Brain Health and Muscle Recovery.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, psychologytoday dot com slash us slash blog slash urban hyphen survival slash 201804 slash tai hyphen chi hyphen may hyphen improve hyphen brain hyphen health hyphen and hyphen muscle hyphen recovery
Stanford University. “Stanford Study Finds Walking Improves Creativity.” Stanford News, 24 Apr. 2014, news dot stanford dot edu slash 2014 slash 04 slash 24 slash walking hyphen vs hyphen sitting hyphen 042414
Gollust, Michael. “Clear that Brain Fog with this Easy Exercise.” ShareCare dot com. September 2023. sharecare dot com slash exercise hyphen fitness slash walking slash brain hyphen fog hyphen easy hyphen exercise