Save Your Brain: The 5 Things You Must Do to Keep Your Mind Young and Sharp 9 pot

... so critical to you and your life story. A hippocam-pus (see Figure 2 .5) sits in the middle of each of your temporal lobes, which lie under your temples on each side of your head. Your hippocampus, ... the other four types of sensory input: sound, touch, taste, and smell. Your hippocampi represent your vital learning and encod-ing structures, thereby helping you to build your life story and ... dedi-cated to helping you understand how your own brain works and how you really have an important role in being able to shape your own brain for health.Parts of the Brain The study of the human...

... enriched. You expose your brain to these environments frequently across over the course of your life. Each of these two environments provides the oppor-tunity for you to engage in a novel and complex ... Studies suggest the earlier in life you begin to expose yourself to enriched environments, the greater the health ben-efi t to your brain—even well into your late life. This fi nding is supported ... animals by nature. The transition from the rote and passive to the novel and complex requires you to ask for each behavior, is this novel and complex for me? Ask yourself the following questions:...

... respond to environmental input. Your goal is to expose your brain to enriched environments, to the novel and complex, and to grow your brain reserve! As we discussed in the previous chapter, stimuli ... life-style, and together they form an integrated whole for you. The fi ve factors need to be understood as one lifestyle and not sepa-rate entities. Remember, your goal is to adopt a proactive ... of the brain health lifestyle pro-tocol, and they simply continued to live their lives as usual at Farm Pond during the six weeks of the study. The residents in the experiment group and the...

... understanding your own inner talents and passions, you will be able to defi ne what you are “called to do. ” This, in turn, will lead to your sharing your passion with others to benefi t the community ... that you ve taken the time to review your current lifestyle and have taken the brain health inventory in the Introduction, you should be empowered by your newfound knowledge about yourself and ... continue to need novel and complex stimulation, and a conscious effort to defi ne and redefi ne your personal mission in life will help you to have purpose and a reason for getting up and out into the...

... with your non-dominant hand, building puzzles and putting things together with your non-dominant hand, and even kicking and jumping with your non-dominant leg are examples of exercises you ... attempt to walk at lunch, use the steps instead of the elevator or escalator, and try parking far from the front door and then walk briskly to the entrance.• Purchase a pedometer and wear it to ... work. As you know, the pedometer will provide you immediate feedback on the number of steps you take daily. In addition, your cowork-ers will also see your pedometer, and you might be able to get...

... brain health. You already know that the best environment for your brain is to surround yourself with the complex and novel. The whole point of traveling away from home is to leave your familiar ... to and from work and home and essentially do not use your cortex. Your subcortex has the mental maps of your home and neighborhood encoded, and the processing tends to be rote or subconscious. ... many ways to engage and stim-ulate your mind explore different brain-fi tness software to fi nd what works the best for you and your family.• While at home, make it a habit to debate and discuss...

... as you rid yourself of toxic stress.Listen to Your Body’s Stress Indicators. It is important not only to identify the stressors in your life but also to understand and locate what part of your ... through your nose using your stomach muscles and holding the breath for several seconds will result in your feeling some tension in your stomach and chest. Now, slowly release the air using your ... to alleviate the stress from your target site. For example, squeeze your right hand into a fi st as hard as you can. Hold the fi st and pay attention to how uncomfortable the tension is in your...

... shown to be wonder-ful for our general health and for brain health. Remember when you were a child and your parents and grandparents told you to “eat your vegetables”? It turns out they were ... the fi st go and extending your fi ngers is an example of how you can focus on any muscle group in your body to release stress. Tightening and releasing muscles all over your body (head to toe) ... stress in your life, where you experience stress in your body, and how you deal with this stress now. To deal with your stress effectively, consider the tips provided you in this chapter and encourage...