Tag Archives: brain

If you’ve been feeling stressed and anxious…

08 Thursday Nov 2018

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…you may need a dose of tyrosine. That’s an amino acid that helps increase the brain’s production of dopamine – the neurotransmitter associated with producing a feeling of calm. And eating just a quarter cup of tyrosine-rich foods can soothe your nerves in as little as 30 minutes – and last at least 2 hours. Foods loaded with tyrosine include edamame, pumpkin seeds and almonds.

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Want to boost your brainpower?

01 Thursday Nov 2018

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Take a brisk 30-minute walk every day. The reason? Because the connectivity between brain circuits diminishes as we age – which tends to slow our thinking and muddle our memories. But researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that exercise helps revive those flagging circuits – and helps keep your thinking sharp.

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To exercise your brain, listen to a story.

21 Friday Sep 2018

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Whether it’s a podcast, audio book, or a friend or relative. According to researchers at UC Berkeley, listening to, following, and understanding a narrative uses an abundance of cognitive functions… including brain regions that govern spatial reasoning, visual imagery, social interaction, and emotional responses.
So if you want a neural workout – just say to someone, “Tell me a story…”

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If you’re feeling anxious, swing by a playground and hop on a swing.

11 Tuesday Sep 2018

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Or if you have a porch swing, rocking chair or hammock, that’ll do the trick, too. Then spend 2 minutes swinging, rocking or swaying. The repetitive motion puts the nervous system into a more relaxed state and calms the amygdala… the brain region linked to stress and anxiety. And swinging is so powerful, the University of Miami says it can reduce the output of stress hormones by 25% for 2 hours. Just from 2 minutes of swinging, rocking or swaying.

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Hard of hearing?

15 Wednesday Aug 2018

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If it seems like everybody you talk to these days is mumbling, you might want to get your hearing checked. And not JUST so you can stop saying, “Huh? What did you say?” It can also help your brain. Because researchers at Johns Hopkins found that having good hearing helps keep your brain stimulated, which reduces your risk of Alzheimer’s by 20%.

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To boost your memory, talk with your hands!

21 Thursday Jun 2018

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Dr. Jeff Brown is the author of The Winner’s Brain. He says gesturing improves your ability to recall a conversation. In fact, it’s especially effective to “air write” something you want to remember – like the milk you need to pick up, or a phone number. The hand movements encode your memories in a different way than verbal cues – improving your recall.

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Challenge your brain!

16 Monday Apr 2018

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Here’s a great tip from the book “ASAP Science”: On how to tap into your own brain. Within 3 hours of waking up, plan to do your most mentally challenging work of the day. That’s because our memory is sharpest around mid-morning, before our brain gets burned out from working and thinking all day. In fact, a study found that we forget almost THREE TIMES more facts in the afternoon, compared to mid-morning!

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Will wet hair in cold weather make you sick?

26 Monday Feb 2018

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Going outside with wet hair in cold weather won’t make you sick, but it IS likely to give you a headache! As you know, being cold doesn’t give you a cold – because viruses cause colds, not temperature. But when our head gets abnormally chilly, changes are triggered in the sinuses and eye cavities, to prevent damage to the brain from excessive cooling. And those changes can lead to head pain. So there’s your reason NOT to go outside in cold weather with a wet head.

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To feel less anxious – get more exercise!

23 Friday Feb 2018

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According to a new study from Princeton University, exercise appears to change the chemistry of the brain by triggering production of GABA, a neurotransmitter that helps minimize anxiety.
In fact, the researchers found that people who ran or jogged regularly had a lower reaction to stressful situations than non-exercisers… Even if their last run was more than 24 hours ago.

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Use your brainpower!

15 Thursday Feb 2018

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You know playing games, anything from Scrabble to chess, can boost brainpower. Well, neurologist Dr. Kenneth Kosik, who wrote “Outsmarting Alzheimer’s,” says games of skill strengthen memory, and sharpen our ability to strategize and predict what an opponent may do. And that’s the type of strenuous brain exercise that can keep a brain healthy by growing new cells and neural pathways.

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