...
to better understand the positive and negative aspects for your
brain health. Take the following assessment and fi nd out your
baseline score
. It is important to be honest and to understand ... being. Your brain contains your identity,
your very being, your potential for personal development, and
perhaps the innovation or idea that will forever change the...
... in several
domains.
59 50 : Help! Reassess the importance of your life story
and attempt to make one small change in your lifestyle
at a time.
Save Your Brain26
a healthy brain. As the general ... lifestyle!
Calculate and Interpret Your Scores
1. To derive your quarterly brain health score for each
domain, add the scores of your circled responses and insert...
... 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...
... 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...
... 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. Remem...
... 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 ...
taken the time to review your current lifestyle and have taken
the brain health inventory in the Introduction, you should be
empowered by your newfo...
... 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.
• Purchas...
... 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 pro...
... 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, s...
... 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 ... and engaging in formal and informal spirituality
Save Your Brain134
Now, slowly release your fi ngers, extending them, and notice
how the tension leaves your fi ngers...