High­lights from Sec­tion 2: The 4 Pil­lars of Brain Main­te­nance

• Thanks to life­long neu­ro­plas­tic­ity and neu­ro­ge­n­e­sis, our lifestyles and actions play a mean­ing­ful role in how our brains phys­i­cally change.
• There is no “gen­eral solu­tion” to brain main­te­nance. A multi-pronged approach cen­tered on nutri­tion, stress man­age­ment, and both phys­i­cal and men­tal exer­cise is rec­om­mended for bet­ter brain health.

In Sec­tion 1, you learned about brain func­tions and neu­ro­plas­tic­ity. As you will dis­cover in the present sec­tion, the idea of brain main­te­nance rests upon these two key con­cepts. Before focus­ing on brain train­ing in Sec­tion 3 we would like to give you now an over­all view of what one can do to main­tain good brain health.

	Why a brain-healthy lifestyle is so important The lat­est sci­en­tific research shows that spe­cific lifestyles and actions can, no mat­ter our age, improve the health and level of func­tion­ing of our brains. Such improve­ment can hap­pen thanks to neu­ro­plas­tic­ity that is, when the rate of cre­ation and sur­vival of new neu­rons in cer­tain parts of the brain is increased, or when the rate of cre­ation and sur­vival of synapses (the con­nec­tions between neu­rons) speeds up, or when a neu­ro­chem­i­cal envi­ron­ment is nur­tured in our brains to sup­port infor­ma­tion processing. Keep read­ing.
	Nutri­tion and sup­ple­ments (DHEA, Ginkgo Biloba, Omega-3): sep­a­rat­ing myth from fact The brain con­sumes con­sid­er­able amount of glu­cose. One of the ear­li­est sign of demen­tia is a decrease in the abil­ity of the brain to use glu­cose effi­ciently. As such a dys­func­tion is at the core of dia­betes, some neu­ro­sci­en­tists refer to Alzheimer’s Dis­ease as Type 3 diabetes. Keep read­ing.
	Stress man­age­ment: exer­cise, relax, social­ize, empower, biofeedback Pro­longed expo­sure to high lev­els of stress can dam­age the brain. As part of a brain-healthy life-style it is essen­tial to man­age stress efficiently. Keep read­ing.
	Phys­i­cal exer­cise: why aer­o­bic exer­cise enhances neu­ro­ge­n­e­sis and neuroplasticity As lit­tle as three hours a week of brisk walk­ing has been shown to halt, and even reverse, the brain atro­phy (shrink­age) that starts in a person’s for­ties, espe­cially in the regions respon­si­ble for mem­ory and higher cog­ni­tion. Exer­cise increases the brain’s vol­ume of gray mat­ter (actual neu­rons) and white mat­ter (con­nec­tions between neurons). Keep read­ing.
	Men­tal stim­u­la­tion: build­ing a Brain/ Cog­ni­tive Reserve with nov­elty, vari­ety and challenge The cog­ni­tive or brain reserve hypoth­e­sis states that it is pos­si­ble to build up the brain’s resilience to neu­ronal dam­age and delay the onset of Alzheimer’s symp­toms. The con­cept of brain reserve stems from the repeated obser­va­tion that the rela­tion­ship between clin­i­cal symp­toms and actual brain pathol­ogy is not direct. Keep read­ing.
	Brain main­te­nance: cog­ni­tive enhance­ment first, Alzheimer’s delay second Brain main­te­nance may play a role in post­pon­ing the emer­gence of dementia-related symp­toms. A sig­nif­i­cant amount of research has been con­ducted on healthy aging in the past two decades. A num­ber of fac­tors have been asso­ci­ated with reduced risks of devel­op­ing Alzheimer’s disease. Keep read­ing.
	Sum­mary: how to live a brain-healthy lifestyle As a gen­eral guide­line, what is good for the body is also good for the brain. Chronic stress reduces and can even inhibit neu­ro­ge­n­e­sis. Phys­i­cal exer­cise has been shown to enhance brain phys­i­ol­ogy in ani­mals and, more recently, in humans. Men­tal Stim­u­la­tion strength­ens the synapses or con­nec­tions between neu­rons, thus improv­ing neu­ron sur­vival and cog­ni­tive functioning. Keep read­ing.

Keep learn­ing by read­ing more arti­cles in the Resources sec­tion, and also please con­sider join­ing our free monthly Brain Fit­ness eNewsletter

This new online resource is based on the con­tent from the book The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness (May 2009, $19.95), by Alvaro Fer­nan­dez and Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg.

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