Those of you who have been reading my blog posts over the years know that my dad’s brain is slowly drifting away after many years of great competence and adventurous living.
Love Your Brain
This change in my dad’s mental status led me to become my own brain health warrior and make changes that I thought would be difficult and it turns out were really easy. Additionally, my research about the brain has led me to a better understanding of how each person who enters our doors here at Family Service Society is the product of the their brain health.
Dr. Daniel Amen of the Amen Clinics has written many books about the neuroplasticity of the brain and overall brain health including The Brain Warrior’s Way and his break out book Change Your Brain Change Your Life. Dr. Amen is an advocate of using nutrition and exercise while optimizing our bodies natural abilities to set our brains up for optimal healing and has had success in treating many mental disorders including depression, ADD, addictions, anxiety and depression, as well as PTSD and memory problems related to Alzheimer’s and dementia.
In my case, I am most interested in avoiding memory problems.
The Cochrane Institute in Wales completed a large study that showed five activities—exercise, not smoking, drinking no more than one 5 oz. glass of wine per day, eating four servings of fruit and vegetables daily (that’s four of each folks) and maintaining a healthy weight for your frame—reduce the risk of developing dementia by 60%. Other responsible organizations have completed studies or are currently doing work that will improve those odds even more.
In the end, there are differences in delivery and specifics based upon an individual’s brain but the bottom line is we can do much to heal our brains through diet and exercise, avoiding negative thoughts and managing stress, and getting adequate sleep.
Knowing we can control these things ourselves and avoid negative physical and mental health outcomes—what’s stopping us? Lack of Love. We must love only those foods and activities that truly love us back. We have to love our brains and our bodies enough to make healthy choices. And we have to understand that every time we make an unhealthy choice, we are choosing the consequences. It’s a little like someone who is deathly allergic to peanuts going ahead and eating peanuts. The peanuts definitely don’t love you back if they are putting you into anaphylactic shock. The same goes for an addict who shoots heroin or the individual who consumes fast food as part of their primary diet—heroin and fast food do not love you back.
It’s time for each of us to embrace what’s good for our brains and in turn we will find it’s great for our bodies. As we become healthier individuals, we build healthier families, and ultimately a healthy and thriving community. It’s time to LOVE your brain.
