02/09/2021
Weekly wellness!
This week I am turning my attention to how we can best protect our memory health now for our future and retirement. We think about our pensions but we need to think about our brains too – they have a much more limited capacity to regenerate, unlike our skin, bones and muscles so we really should be taking as much care now as possible.
Stress is a significant factor that can lead to depleted memory function as the brain responds to perceived threat and this leads to an imbalance of neuro chemicals. One of the factors involved is the heightened activity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) which increases the release of cortisol and over the longer term this can increase our risk of dementia, due to damage that the excess cortisol creates in the sensitive neurons in the hippocampus. This is an area of ongoing research in the medical profession, however what is clear is that complementary and alternative therapies such as the practice of yoga, mindfulness, breathing techniques and mediation are proven to ease agitated parts of the mind, calming the nervous system and reducing excessive production of cortisol.
Another good reason to start that daily yoga time – even if just whilst the kettle is boiling!
Another way that we can protect our stress levels is creating a regular practise of venting our thoughts onto paper in a brain dump/journal activity – perhaps daily – taking just a few moments to journal all of the key thoughts that are swirling around and bothering us. Just jot them down as they arise, trying not to edit or filter the thoughts. This process is best done with pen and paper as opposed to a screen version. Once you are in the habit of journaling thoughts it is an incredibly powerful way to reduce stressful thoughts and order and prioritise what is important to act on and what is not. If it is helpful, you can always write on a single sheet and shred once you have finished – that can be cathartic too!
Finally, we can look at our diet – what we eat does impact our neuro chemistry and brain fitness. Some useful top tips are listed below, you will notice they tend to align with other health benefits for cardiovascular and blood sugar health and so all good reasons to think about making some dietary modifications. Vitamin B, especially B12 and B6, Folic acid and zinc are the key nutrients that you want to look for:
Water – drinking at least 1.2 litres per day – in addition to that coffee and tea, our brains are 80% water and a dehydrated brain gives us brain fog very quickly as well as depletes our energy
Oily/fatty fish such as salmon, trout, herring, anchovies, caviar for Omega 3, B6 and B12
Dark leafy green vegetables for lots of folic acid and B6
Lentils, beans, seeds and nuts – good for B6, B12 also great for folic acid, zinc
Extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil – great for Omega 3
Limit refined sugar as much as possible – try maple syrup, honey or coconut nectar
Berries are brilliant with lots of antioxidants too – especially blackberries which are so plentiful at the moment, cherries, goji berries
Try and reduce highly processed foods
As always, I hope that you found this useful, please share and keep ideas and feedback coming to me.
