Habits to help prevent Dementia Learn a new skill

 2. Learn New Skills and Engage in Cognitive Stimulation

Your brain consists of hundreds of billions of nerve cells (neurons), which make hundreds of trillions of connections (synapses) throughout the brain and nervous system. These compose your neural network or nervous system. The nervous system and brain have a remarkable capacity (neuroplasticity) to continue to grow, evolve, and heal even as you age.

Research shows that engaging in physically and mentally stimulating activities is an important element in strengthening cognitive reserve, which is the brain’s resilience and capacity to function even when there is damage to brain cells. Learning new skills and stimulating the brain on a regular basis boosts cognitive pathways between neurons and builds resiliency in brain function.

The resulting benefits of cognitive stimulation seem to offer protection against brain damage caused by insults such as exposure to air pollution and noise pollution, which have been linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

By Jennifer Weinberg written on November 26, 2019, and published online at https://chopra.com

Editor’s Note: The information in this article is intended for your educational use only; it does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Chopra Center's Mind-Body Medical Group, and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition and before undertaking any diet, supplement, fitness, or other health programs.

Habits to help prevent Dementia Physical Exercise

 1. Get Regular Physical Activity

Regular physical activity has a beneficial impact on brain health. Exercise helps activate brain plasticity (the brain’s ability to change its own structure as a result of experiences) and positive growth of connections in the brain while decreasing inflammation. These benefits seem to help preserve memory and brain function in healthy older adults as well as those with early signs of dementia.

An active lifestyle can make a difference whether or not you formally hit the gym. The more you move around as part of your daily life, the better it is for your brain health. In fact, research shows that consistent intermittent activity throughout the day, such as brief high-intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions, is more metabolically beneficial in maintaining and improving brain function than sporadic extended activity. HIIT involves relatively short bursts of vigorous activity that significantly elevate your heart rate, interspersed with rest or low-intensity recovery periods. HIIT can be performed with cyclical exercises such as bicycling, running, swimming, or other whole-body exercises that raise your heart rate.

By Jennifer Weinberg written on November 26, 2019, and published online at https://chopra.com

Editor’s Note: The information in this article is intended for your educational use only; it does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Chopra Center's Mind-Body Medical Group, and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition and before undertaking any diet, supplement, fitness, or other health programs.

7 Habits to Protect Your Brain and Help Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease Overview

The following was written by Jennifer Weinberg written on November 26, 2019, and published online at https://chopra.com. Jennifer has written about 7 habits to fall into and we will cover all of them in detail over the next several posts.

Editor’s Note: The information in this article is intended for your educational use only; it does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Chopra Center's Mind-Body Medical Group, and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition and before undertaking any diet, supplement, fitness, or other health programs.

Science suggests that Alzheimer’s disease develops gradually over time. However, the disease is not an inevitable part of ageing. The underlying problem appears to be neuroinflammation or imbalanced inflammation in the brain that damages nerve cells.

Scientists have been able to identify several modifiable lifestyle-related risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, including hypertension, depression, and high cholesterol. A combination of healthy lifestyle habits can help prevent the development of these risk factors, protect the brain, and reduce your risk of cognitive decline.

Even if you have a genetic predisposition to develop brain disease or are exposed to risk factors outside of your control (such as air pollution), lifestyle medicine offers attainable, actionable recommendations that can help you live a healthier life. The healthier habits you adopt, the lower your risk of cognitive decline.

In fact, research suggests that people who adopted at least four out of five of the following lifestyle behaviours over a six-year period had a 60 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to people who practiced only one or none of these habits. The researchers focused on these five lifestyle factors associated with a lower risk of dementia:

·         Following a healthy diet

·         Getting at least 150 minutes per week of at least moderate physical activity

·         Not smoking

·         Maintaining light to moderate alcohol intake

·         Engaging in cognitively stimulating activities

This research offers hope for building a better brain as you age and preventing dementia. Incorporating a combination of healthy habits into your daily routine can help reduce inflammation and protect your brain health.
Here are seven key habits to protect your brain and overall well-being:

1.    Get regular physical activity.

2.    Learn new skills and engage in cognitive stimulation.

3.    Develop good sleep habits.

4.    Manage and reduce stress.

5.    Cultivate a supportive network of friends.

6.    Eat a balanced, anti-inflammatory diet.

7.    Abstain from smoking.

Let’s look at each of these habits in more detail in the next few posts.

How To Read Books Online For Free:

I am an avid reader, and I usually read a book every one or two days if I can. I have always loved reading, as it allows my imagination to soar. I prefer reading an actual book, but I do use Audiobooks and from time to time I enjoy reading books online. For those who enjoy this type of reading, the following article may be useful.

To enjoy reading books online, you don’t need a tablet or e-reader. Here are five good websites that allow you to read books online for free The following is from an article posted on the Mirror and written by Shefali Fernandes in July 2021.

Books play a quintessential role in everyone’s life by introducing them to a world of imagination, providing knowledge of the outside world, improving their reading, writing, and speaking skills as well as boosting memory and intelligence. Evidence suggests that being immersed in a book-oriented environment is beneficial to educational achievement. People who read a lot often have a better vocabulary than those who don’t. The more you read, the more words you’re introduced to. The importance of books in our life cannot be undermined for they not only help in broadening our horizons but also act as doorways for connecting us with the world around us.

Another reason that highlights the importance of books in our life, is that books help in building our confidence. When we read a book, we get to learn about the struggles and hardships of various characters. Studies show that it only takes about six minutes of reading to slow down a person’s heart rate and reduce muscle tension. When you’re experiencing anxiety, reading a book helps you focus on something other than your stress. Considering a book’s effect on anxiety, it makes sense that reading before bed could improve your sleep.

10 Reasons Why Books are Important:

1.     Books relieve stress.

2.     Books are therapeutic.

3.     Books build confidence.

4.     Books improve your memory.

5.     Books enhance your vocabulary.

6.     Books help in self-improvement.

7.     Books illuminate your imagination.

8.     Books improve your communication.

9.     Books improve concentration and focus.

10.   Books help you form your own unique perspective.

How to Read Books Online For Free:

Project Gutenberg:

Project Gutenberg is one of the most important sources of free ebooks on the web. It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of books in the public domain. No fee or registration to read books online. Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books or eBooks.

Project Gutenberg eBooks require no special apps to read, just the regular Web browsers or eBook readers that are included with computers and mobile devices. There have been reports of sites that charge fees for custom apps, or for the same eBooks that are freely available from Project Gutenberg. Currently, there are over 60 thousand eBooks in the PG catalog.

Website: https://gutenberg.org/  

The Internet Archive:

The Internet Archive provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, movies/videos, moving images, and millions of books. The Internet Archive has been around since 1996, is a member of the American Library Association, and is at the forefront of digital archiving. The Internet Archive operates 33 scanning centers in five countries, digitizing about 1,000 books a day for a total of more than 2 million books, financially supported by libraries and foundations.

The Internet Archive allows the public to upload and download digital material to its data cluster, but the bulk of its data is collected automatically by its web crawlers, which work to preserve as much of the public web as possible. The Archive also oversees one of the world’s largest book digitization projects.

Website: https://archive.org/

Open Library:

Open Library is an online project intended to create “one web page for every book ever published”. Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Malamud. Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, a non-profit organization. It has been funded in part by grants from the California State Library and the Kahle/Austin Foundation.

Open Library provides online digital copies in multiple formats, created from images of many public domains, out-of-print, and in-print books. Open Library is an open project: the software is open, the data are open, the documentation is open, and we welcome your contribution.

Website: https://openlibrary.org/

Smashwords:

The Smashwords Store provides an opportunity to discover new voices in all categories and genres of the written word. Once you register, the site offers useful tools for search, discovery, and personal library management. Most of their books are affordably priced and multi-format. Over 70,000 of our books are priced at free. Smashwords is a free eBook publishing and distribution platform.

We make it fast, free and easy for authors and publishers to distribute eBooks to the world’s largest eBook retailers and library eBook platforms. Authors and publishers retain full control over how their works are published, sampled, priced, and sold. The eBooks on Smashwords can be read online using our online readers, or they can be downloaded to other reading devices such as the iPhone, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, or other e-reading devices.

Website https://www.smashwords.com/

Google Books:

Google Books is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition (OCR), and stored in its digital database. Google Books allows users to view full pages from books in which the search terms appear if the book is out of copyright or if the copyright owner has given permission.

Google Books set out on an audacious journey to bring the world’s books online so that anyone can access them. Searching for a book is exactly like typing a question into Google, but unfortunately, not all books on Google Books are available for free.

Website: https://books.google.co.in