You have no greater asset than your life story. It must be shared with your next great generation, the little ones in your life.
Sitting across the table from a person struggling to recall his name can be an unsettling experience. Perhaps even more difficult is the realization on the faces of the family members that their father or grandfather is no longer capable of recognizing them and in some ways has forever been disconnected from them. Brain disease such as Alzheimer’s causes daunting experiences. It is at these moments that we can understand the sheer brilliance and, at the same time, the fragility of the human brain. It is your brain, after all, that contains and expresses your identity, enables your connection to others, creates and stores your memories, and most important, tells your life story. This book is written from the deep emotional reality that exists from sitting at that table hundreds of times in my life. It represents my attempt to provide a tangible guide for preserving access to our identity, to our loved ones, to our life story. And while the brain is fragile, it is also the most magnificent system ever designed, capable of more than we can presently know and deserving of a lifetime’s dedication to health.
Watching a person who has been affected by a brain illness or condition is both difficult and enlightening. It is not uncommon to see a person suffering from a devastating brain illness cope with amazing fortitude and courage. At the same time, the signs and symptoms of brain disease can indeed be life-changing for the patient and those family members and friends who surround the patient. In my work, I have helped patients who have lost the ability to speak, to walk, to behave appropriately, to see or hear, and to remember. These are not simply functions lost because of a particular disease or insult to the brain—they represent a loss of part of the person. In the case of memory loss, the literal identity of the person may be lost. It does not get more personal that that! It is also important for me to state that my patients have helped me to understand that all of us can appreciate life and that it is so important to stop our hurried lives and enjoy the moment, to express ourselves to those we love, and to realize that today may be our last.
The human brain is the most brilliant and magnificent system ever designed. Every now and then the brain will express its sheer brilliance, though we tend to view some manifestations of this brilliance as “abnormal” or as a psychiatric disorder. I often use the example of Rain Man, the wonderful movie that stars Dustin Hoffman as a man who suffers from autism with a savant ability to mentally calculate the probability of a certain card being drawn from six decks of cards.
When it comes to the mind, there is nothing that now exists and there will never be anything built that comes close to the complexity of the human brain, and that is based on the little we know about the brain today. We underestimate the power of the human brain on a consistent basis. Despite our tendency to sit in awe of the latest technology or gadget, the most impressive portable and wireless system is the human brain, which is capable of things we cannot even imagine yet.
It is from this context and appreciation of the human brain that a deeper discussion can occur about why and how we care for this part of our being. Your brain contains your identity, your very being, your potential for personal development, and perhaps the innovation or idea that will forever change the lives of millions. Your brain builds over the course of your lifetime your personal life story, the most precious gift you have and one that needs to be shared with others whom you love. There is perhaps no greater untapped resource in the universe than the human brain. Cultures from the beginning of humankind have neglected the brain’s importance and unique distinction. It is time to shift our viewpoint to awaken a wonderful interest in the human brain and a lifestyle that promotes brain health.
Sitting inside our heads is the greatest system in the universe— a real miracle. We need to move beyond a perception of the human brain as an academic or clinical entity to one that is deeply personal. Indeed, we need to embrace this part of our being, the core of who we are, and learn about it. From an understanding of the basics of our brain, we can begin the process of caring for it and promoting its health. Brain health is a two-step process: (1) education on the basics of your brain and (2) making the process a deeply personal one that enables you to understand why you are spending time and energy following a brain health lifestyle.
Brain health recognizes the brain as a dynamic and malleable system that is shaped by environment across the entire life span. It is a way of life that is dedicated to exposing the brain to enriched environments, to the complex and novel, and to building brain reserve over a lifetime. Brain health recognizes the importance of a proactive process, and it does not recognize artificial age thresholds, as your brain does not know or care how old you are, and it does not adhere to the notion of “critical periods of brain development” unless life itself is that period. Brain health champions a proactive and lifelong approach, a lifestyle that will not only help to develop a healthy brain but will maximize your opportunity to delay the onset of neurode-generative disease. Brain health is ultimately your commitment to maintaining access to your story with a deep desire to share that story with the next great generation.
I have spent the past decade studying the literature on brain health, keeping abreast of new developments in the area, and integrating this fragmented information into a practical application. The result, for me, has been a solid foundation for promotion of brain health that includes an understanding of the neurophysiological aspects of neural plasticity and the cognitive construct of “brain reserve.”
There have been a relatively high number of research studies that correlate certain behaviors with reduced risk of dementia, what I refer to as “brain health.” My work has been dedicated to organizing and integrating all of this information so that the field of neuropsychology and brain health can go from theory to real-world application. As you will see in the pages ahead, my intent is to provide you with a tangible and proactive lifestyle that promotes brain health through building brain reserve.
I have championed a brain health lifestyle that is proactive, research based, and built from the lessons learned from animal brain research many years ago as well as current cutting-edge research on the human brain. My brain health lifestyle consists of five critical components that I refer to as “the five slices of the brain health pie.” These include socialization, mental stimulation, physical activity, spirituality, and nutrition. Each is equally important, as they reflect the fact that we are integrated and complex organisms and that we do not function optimally in a fragmented manner. Within each of these five areas, I have outlined research-based activities that have been proven to promote brain health. By including some of these activities across the five slices of brain health on a daily basis, you can begin the process of promoting the health of your brain and potentially delay the onset of neurodegenerative disease!
The purpose of this book is to educate you on the basics of your brain, to create an urgency to treat your brain as the most important part of your being, and to show you how to implement a proactive brain health lifestyle. I will give you the tools you need to encourage brain health and combat progressive neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and related dementias.
Think of this book as an important guide that provides you with a unique approach to brain health that is comprehensive, integrated, and lifestyle oriented. It combines state-of-the-art neuroscience with principles of human behavior and offers practical tips to promote brain health. This book is built on the premise that lifestyle is critical to brain health—that the human animal will not change behavior unless he or she personalizes the message and understands the why behind the what.
The book champions the promotion of brain health across all sectors of society and illustrates its application to the education system, health care system, corporate and business world, religion, home, and ultimately the individual. Indeed, the message of this book is deeply personal and a call to action from the individual to society at large. Brain health unites all of us as humans toward a grand outcome—the ability in our twilight years to share our life stories with the little ones in our lives.
After reading Save Your Brain, you will know more about the human brain than most. More important, you will know what behaviors are critical to promoting your own brain health and how environmental input can literally shape the structure and function of your brain. This knowledge will help you take the steps to change your current lifestyle and adopt the proactive lifestyle for brain health. This is not easy, and it is not a “quick fix” but a lifelong process that will be challenging. If you commit to your brain health, it’s a lifestyle change that is doable. I have found personal satisfaction in my own behavioral change as I work to integrate brain health into my life. I must admit that I have setbacks and frustrations, but that is the price of positive and healthy behavioral change.
These days, larger corporations are becoming more and more aware of brain health and how it affects their employees. I have worked with a company that has been very creative in applying different aspects of the brain health lifestyle with the workforce; it has been fun and informative—brain health promotion should be fun. It is time for you to embrace your brain and take proactive steps outlined in this book to maximize its health, but first let us assess your brain health by taking the following inventory.
As you will learn in the following chapters, your brain is a highly dynamic system that will react to the types of input you feed it. From this perspective, you can appreciate how much control you have regarding the potential health of your brain. You may finally begin to focus on the greatest system ever designed in the history of the universe—your brain! The first step for your brain health lifestyle is to understand its five critical parts:
• Physical Activity
• Mental Stimulation
• Spirituality
• Nutrition
It is helpful to review these parts of your current lifestyle to better understand the positive and negative aspects for your brain health. Take the following assessment and find out your baseline score. It is important to be honest and to understand this is simply a guide to give you an idea of where you are right now. Results are not scientific and are meant to help guide your brain health lifestyle. Do not be alarmed if you give your current lifestyle a low grade. You have not been educated by society about the importance of your brain, and you have not been informed about brain health. That is about to change!
The following survey uses research-based information to help you measure your progress regarding implementation of your own brain health lifestyle. The survey is to be completed prior to starting your brain health program to obtain a baseline score and to be repeated every three months to document your progress. I have included step-by-step directions to calculate different scores for your assessment and what the scores mean to you. Each score is based on a total percentage of 100, with higher scores meaning a better brain health lifestyle and lower scores suggesting work or change is needed in particular parts of your brain health lifestyle. This is not scientific and is meant to provide you with an empirical measure of your brain health lifestyle.
Circle the response that best describes your behavior during the past three months.
Circle the response that best describes your behavior over the past three months.
Circle the response that best describes your behavior during the past three months.
Circle the response that best describes your behavior during the past three months.
Circle the response that best describes your behavior during the past three months.
You may use the following guide to interpret your scores:
100–90: Great job! Maintain your lifestyle approach.
89–80: Good job! Make a few changes to improve your lifestyle.
79–70: Average. Consider making changes in several domains.
69–60: Poor. Significant change is needed in several domains.
59–50: Help! Reassess the importance of your life story and attempt to make one small change in your lifestyle at a time.
Do not be concerned if you score poorly at first. This is probably the first time you have considered your own brain health! You will notice improvement if you remain loyal to your brain health lifestyle!
1. To derive your quarterly brain health score for each domain, add the scores of your circled responses and insert the total score into the formula listed for each one.
2. To derive your quarterly total brain health score, add the total scores for each domain, divide by 140, and then multiply by 100.
3. To derive an annual brain health score by domain, add the four scores of each domain and apply that score to the formula listed for the annual brain health score for that particular domain.
For example, here’s how you would obtain an annual brain health score for the physical domain:
Total score for each quarter ÷ 100 X 100 =_____
4. To derive a grand total for overall brain health for the year: add the five annual brain health scores together, divide by 560, and multiply by 100:
Grand Total = (five annual brain health scores) ÷ 560 =_____ X 100 =_____
