Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Yesterday I posted a study that showed how over the past five year the United States has seen a startling rise in the number of people who suffer from mental disease.  Results published from VOA News  at Google News include people we know and love.

Today I was thinking about these 5 million Americans who suffer Alzheimer's disease, but also about mind-bending research that shows how to keep your brain alive and well in these 2 areas of Alzheimer's concern... memory loss and confusion.

Since most Alzheimer's victims are older than 65, and report these 2 early warning symptoms, it’s critical to start ahead of that time to offset effects of aging on the brain. And we can!

More and more people are engaging new ways to keep the brain fit in the two trouble areas mentioned in this disturbing study.

For instance – the opposite of memory loss is focus and retrieval of facts. Both are possible when you try a few mental tricks to outsource your memory for more productivity, but start now and the healthy habit will age well with you.

The second sign, confusion,  is offset by a focus on simple retrieval tricks. For instance when you read or hear an interesting idea – apply it in some way that day to improve focus. If you read a poem you like – write another one that relates to you. Hear any great music lately? Then buy the CD to play while you relax.  Read an interesting article? Call a friend and share that story and you retain 90 percent more of the facts you read.

Dr. Marilyn Albert at Harvard University, for instance,  found that 4 factors determine who will retain their mental acumen – and even develop more far beyond their golden years.

1. Constant learning – which increases the number of dendrite brain cell connections and grows intelligence.

2. Regular exercise – which will improve a person’s blood flow and oxygen to the brain.

3. Lung function -which ensure there is enough oxygen in the blood to supply the brain’s need for 21% of the body’s entire oxygen supply.

4. Self worth – which provides a sense that you have a calling or purpose in life and that what you do on a daily basis will make a difference.

Certainly some parts of an aging brain may dim as we go. For instance, the basal ganglia slows down so an older person’s reflexes tend to slow with it. And memory problems can surface when parts of the hippocampus fade.

Good news is that we can develop brain based strategies and even take prescribed drugs with neurotrophic factors that will rejuvenate brain cells – long before those signs of memory loss and confusion ever appear.

What do you think?