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Tag Archives: brain health

One of the best ways to keep our brain sharp as we age…

25 Thursday Mar 2021

Posted by ConnieSellecca in Intelligence for Your Life

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age-related memory decline, brain health, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, exercise, friends, hobbies, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, keep your brain sharp, memory, volunteering, work

…may be a busy schedule of work, exercise, friends, hobbies, and volunteering. 

University of Texas researchers studied over 300 people over age 50. And those with the busiest schedules and social lives had better memories, sharper reasoning, faster problem-solving, and a greater vocabulary at every age. Because keeping busy regularly exposes us to new situations and people, and helps us learn new things. All of which have been shown to improve brain function, and help stave off age-related memory decline.

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Keep your mind sharp as you age!

20 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by ConnieSellecca in Intelligence for Your Life

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balance, brain, brain health, catch, coloring, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, focus, hand-eye coordination, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, memory, play an instrument, play catch, playing catch, puzzles, sing, sing-along, singing, timing, vision

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I’m all about brain health – and keeping our minds sharp as we age. And although doing puzzles, coloring, and playing an instrument are proven ways to keep neural connections firing, there are other things we can do in our daily lives that help.

Like, learning the words to your new favorite song. That exercises the parts of the brain responsible for focus and memory. Plus, the concentration required to pick out the lyrics releases brain chemicals that stimulate neuro-plasticity, which is the brain’s ability to form new neural connections throughout life.

Another way to improve brain health: Play catch. A study in the journal Nature Neuroscience found that catching and throwing require us to coordinate physical things like vision, balance, and timing, along with more abstract concepts, like spatial relations and anticipating future movements. And that means, practicing hand-eye coordination helps our body beef up the mental circuits that transmit data from one place to another.

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Walking, jogging and running boosts brain health.

05 Wednesday Aug 2020

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boost blood flow, boost blood flow to the brain, boost brain health, brain health, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, exercise, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, jogging, New Mexico Highlands University, running, walking

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And not because of calories burned, or exercise intensity. It’s because of your FEET!

According to New Mexico Highlands University, each impact of the foot creates pressure waves in the arteries, boosting the blood supply, and optimizing brain function. Walking significantly boosts blood flow to the brain… and running does even more. But exercises like biking don’t have the same effect on the brain’s blood supply. So while all types of exercise are good for overall health, ones where your feet strike the ground may be best for your brain.

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10-minute phone call brain boost!

12 Friday Jun 2020

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brain, brain boost, brain booster, brain health, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, memory, mood boost, phone call, problem solver, serotonin

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You don’t need to do crossword puzzles or play an instrument to get a brain boost. We can strengthen our neural connections with a 10-minute phone call with a friend. That’s long enough to start releasing the brain chemical, serotonin, which improves our mood and awakens our creative thinking. That’s because, during a conversation, we’re thinking about multiple things – what our friend is saying, what we’re going to say next, and predicting how our friend will respond. That involves both brain hemispheres, making our mind more flexible, and slows down brain aging.
To make it even better?
Have that 10-minute conversation while you’re walking. Talking while exercising lights up even more brain areas, making you a better problem solver, while improving overall cognitive health by increasing blood and oxygen flow to the brain.

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Here’s the latest on Alzheimer’s and dementia prevention:

30 Monday Mar 2020

Posted by ConnieSellecca in Intelligence for Your Life

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Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer's prevention, brain health, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, dementia, dementia prevention, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, read, read the newspaper, reading, University of Texas

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Did you know you’ll improve your mental power simply by reading the newspaper? That’s because reading increases blood flow to the brain, and strengthens the connections between brain cells. Dr. Sandra Chapman is director of the Center for Brain Health at the University of Texas. She says talking about what you read is even better. Because interpreting a story strengthens the frontal lobe of the brain, which is one of the first areas to decline with age.

And a new study in Psychological Science finds learning new, active skills, like quilting, a new language, or playing a musical instrument, or traveling in a foreign country are more effective at keeping your mind sharp. That’s compared to doing something like crosswords and other word and number puzzles. It’s because social, engaging activities like traveling and detail-work, like tiny stitches and new vocabulary words, promote active learning and continuous stimulation of our brain functions.

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Take a walk for brain health!

24 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by ConnieSellecca in Intelligence for Your Life

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brain, brain health, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, exercise, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, memory, take a walk

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To keep your brain from aging – all you need is a 10-minute walk. The brain-enhancing benefits of exercise don’t come from a grueling workout. You just need to elevate your pulse above normal for 10 minutes at a time. Ideally, you want 120 minutes of exercise a week. Get that, and in a year, you’ll have a bigger hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory.

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Here’s the BEST way to cook your potatoes!

07 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by ConnieSellecca in Intelligence for Your Life

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Agricultural Research Service, best way to cook potatoes, brain health, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, heart function, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, potassium, potato, Potatoes, regulate blood pressure

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If you’d like to make your mashed potatoes healthier, cook them whole! Research from the Agricultural Research Service in Madison, Wisconsin found that slicing potatoes before boiling them cuts their mineral content in half. Including potassium, which helps conduct impulses between nerves, muscles and brain, helps regulate blood pressure, and is vital for proper heart function.

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I’ve got a couple of quick tricks to help age-proof your brain.

24 Tuesday May 2016

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body, brain, brain health, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, funny, gray matter, healthy, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, joke, laugh, laughing, mall, mind, shop, shopping, Stanford University, store

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•First: Go shopping! Several studies show that shopping gets your mind and body moving – both of which benefit the brain.

•The second way to age-proof your brain: Watch something funny. According to research at Stanford University, hearing a joke engages most of the major regions of your brain. And the more you use your gray matter, the healthier it stays over time.

Here are 3 quick brain boosters!

08 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by ConnieSellecca in Intelligence for Your Life

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brain, brain boosters, brain health, cognitive, Connie Sellecca, conniesellecca, doodle, Dr. Cynthia Green, draw, drawing, intelligence for your life, intelligenceforyourlife, memory, play jacks, think, thinking, watch, Your Best Brain Ever

doodle-WP

These come from brain expert, Dr. Cynthia Green – and her book “Your Best Brain Ever”…

She says, doing certain things for just 10-minutes a day can improve your cognitive performance overall – and your long-term brain health. So try these exercises to help increase your attention span and improve your thinking.

•Wear your watch upside down. It forces your brain to change its routine. It challenges you to process the information in a new way.

•Play Jacks. If you don’t know what jacks are, ask an old person – or Google it. It’s a game that requires fast action between your mind and movements. It forces you to stay focused and think flexibly.

•Doodle. Doing something that develops visual-cognitive skills taps into brain pathways most of us don’t use – because we’re usually reading or writing. So drawing or doodling develops another area of your brain that typically doesn’t get enough action.

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