Brain - the most important organ of our body. The brain allows us to appreciate the beauty and ugliness of the world. Brain hides in its bosom consciousness* &to have time to learn and understand, a human must take care* of his brain:
- being socially1,
- intellectually active2,6 (trying to learn7 new things, for example: to draw*),
- Being Physically Active (5) (even in old age*) (exercise*) (running*),
- Getting Enough Sleep* (sleep 7 or more hours per night*),
- Game (Video game3, Quiz, Music4).
- learn poems by heart*, singing.
- Healthy Eating*,8,9,10,11,12,
- being happy 13,
- traveling 14
Nothing speeds brain atrophy more than being immobilized in the same environment; the monotony undermines our dopamine and attentional systems crucial to maintaining brain plasticity (books.google*). Diversity, education and all new support neurogenesis and delay dementia. With a lack of stimulation of the brain, it can begin to stimulate itself (escape from bored): extraordinary deeds, extreme sports. but simultaneously with a low level of self-control, alcoholism, drug addiction. In some cases, it comes down to hallucinations. Hunger and disgusted - a protective reaction of the body for survival. The feeling of boredom - as a protective mechanism to ensure the survival of such an important organ as the brain.
In addition to feelings of boredom, our consciousness suffers from other problems.
Stress - a protective reaction of the organism, adaptation to the surrounding reality. during stress, our body mobilized all the senses and the ability to make quick decisions. A one-time release of cortisol activates immune cells, but prolonged stress eventually exhausts and weakens the body. Excess cortisol leads to problems with sleep, it leads to even more stress and related problems. in the long run stress able to burn our brains, like a constant engine cranking at maximum speed, can quickly destroy it.
Stress triggers a physiological reaction that spreads throughout the body. The adrenal gland produces the stress hormone: cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine. It is good for a healthy body and for a short time, but bad for long-term impact. Adrenalin overtax the heart and arteries, increasing blood pressure, cortisol has a negative impact on the endothelium. All this leads to atherosclerosis, the appearance of cholesterol plaque and as a consequence of angina or a heart attack. Stress also can change the intestinal flora, promotes the deposition of fat, through increased appetite. Chronic stress lowers the immune, shortens the length of telomeres. Chronic stress affects the size, structure, and functionality of the brain at the genetic level. Over time, chronic stress increases the number of neural connections in the field of "fear", taking away resources from areas responsible for learning and memory. And the hormone cortisol produced by the adrenal glands attacks the prefrontal shares of worsening concentration, functions, reasoning, decision-making and social interaction.
Along with stress, the causes of which lie more or less on the surface, there is less aggressive, but the hidden enemy - the sense of anxiety. Anxiety is difficult to separate from the others. The cause of the sense of anxiety can be a subliminal or conscious - lack of confidence or the upcoming challenge. In any case, from the sense of anxiety can only get rid of the cause uproarious in a relaxed atmosphere, give it enough time.
Depression occurs during the inability “find a place in the world” i.e. comprehension of the meaninglessness of all. This comprehension comes when people cannot associate the actions with the result. A 2008 study found that the benefits of depression medications have also been exaggerated in published literature. As with talk therapy, researchers concluded these meds still work better than nothing at all, thanks to the placebo effect. Exercises boosts the levels of feel-good hormones, called endorphins, in your body. It doesn't address the underlying chemical changes that lead to depression, but it can still be helpful.
Here are some psychological tricks to get rid of problem.
1) All starts with recognizing to self in the existence of the problem.
2) Replace your exaggeratedly negative thoughts with more realistic statements.
3) Ways to cope with the problem is parse it into simple components. For example, if you see a very nice house or a beautiful car, you start thinking - "I want it", but if you are a builder or auto mechanic and know very well how it made, the fabulous aura of the object disappears and you have a different opinion about it. The room or the car you need is not a beautiful but simple, that’s why "the shoemaker without shoes" - he knows that all the "boots" are bad. The same to other areas of our lives, butcher easier applies to the fauna, the financier to the economy, but I don’t want to know what surgeon thinks about human. I think the principle is clear, to analyze the problem of a plurality of components, to remove what does not bother you, accept the fact that you can not fix, quietly think about that you can fix.
4) Separate the things you can control from the things you can't. Then, focus your efforts on addressing the problems you have some control over.
Set Aside Time to Worry. When anxious thoughts enter your mind at other times during the day, remind yourself, “It's not time to worry about that yet.” When you reach your scheduled time to worry, sit and worry until time is up.
5) Do Something Different. Come up with something that requires enough concentration that you won't have brain power left over to worry.
Illustration of dependence the condition from ability (or to be more precise, self-confidence).
1Friendship is recommended. Communication with numbers of friend as good for mental outlook owing to the new information, as for intellect owing to the new neuron connection.(SOURCES: Maryann Noonan, Ph.D., postdoctoral researcher, Oxford University, England; Paul Zak, Ph.D., chairman and professor, economics, and founding director, Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, Calif.; Nov. 12, 2013, presentation, Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, San Diego);
The more social ties people had at a young age, the better their health early and late in life, the researchers found. (The study was published Jan. 4 2016 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.);
"The relationship between health and the degree to which people are integrated in large social networks is strongest at the beginning and at the end of life, and not so important in middle adulthood, when the quality, not the quantity, of social relationships matters," said Kathleen Mullan Harris, professor at UNC.
Loneliness accelerates cognitive decline in older adults, says a research team presenting at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Washington, D.C. The findings build on recent research indicating that late-life depression is linked with an increased incidence of Alzheimer’s disease (forbes*). Loneliness is a feeling that we have less social ties than we would like. Lately, more and more people feel lonely (ncbi*). Loneliness is associated with higher blood pressure (psycnet*) and heart disease (ncbi*). loneliness increases the risk of your chance of dying by 26 percent (journals*). (Compare that to depression and anxiety, which is associated with a comparable 21 percent increase in mortality (bmj*).) Genes that code for the body’s inflammation response are turned on to a degree not seen in non-lonely participants. At the same time, in almost like a teeter-totter regulatory dynamic, we see down-regulated, or suppressed activity, in a block of genes involved in fending off against viral infections (ncbi*).
Strong clear friendship is very important also for mental health. Although now it is partially possible to replace by an individual psychologist, but the fundamental remains the same. Every moment the consciousness is full of social norms and unofficial rules, during a dialog with familiar or unfamiliar people, a person is forced to separate the "inner voice" and what to say really. This conflict causes stress, and prolonged stress, as we know, exhausts the body. Completely different, is a really good friend with whom you can communicate easily and relaxed, with whom you get benefit and pleasure from communicating.
Talk about your feelings.
- Firstly, to describe self-feeling is quite difficult and it causes the brain to work.
- But most importantly is that the inhibition of emotions and feelings inside yourself - have a negative impact to the health of the nervous system
2 The brain does not lose neuroplasticity with aging. Even deeply elderly’s mind can strengthen with Intellectual exercise. (Belleville, S., Clement, F., Mellah, S., Gilbert, D., Fontaine, F., & Gauthier, S. (2011). Training-related brain plasticity in subjects at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Brain. Journal of Neurology. First published online. Doi:10.1093/brain/awr037.)
3 Stanford study shows* dramatic math improvement from playing video games just 10 minutes per day. Their results show that when we play video games, two regions of the brain are continually hyperstimulated: the region most associated with motivation and goal-orientation and the region most associated with learning and memory. Sutton-Smith* observed that most people tend to experience stronger self-confidence, increased physical energy, and powerful positive emotions, like curiosity and excitement, during play. This is a perfect contrast to depression. People who are clinically depressed lack the physical energy to engage with ordinary everyday tasks. They’re overwhelmingly pessimistic, particularly about their own capabilities. And they experience a distinct absence of positive emotion. In other words: Video game play is literally the neurological opposite of depression.
4 Smarter: The New Science of Building Brain Power Dan Hurley (Autor) "Children from music classes demonstrated......*"
5study from Finland* provides powerful evidence that exercise really does positively transform the health of both bodies and brains, with its absence going in the other direction.
6 If your job is chock full of challenging thinking tasks, your brain may be getting a positive boost* that will help prevent memory loss and thinking decline later in life*, according to a new study.
7 Research has indicated that higher levels of education significantly decrease the rate and severity of dementia later in life*. Learning and using foreign languages linked the higher density of the gray matter, which contains more connection synapses and neurons, as well as increased activity in some of its areas. More intensive training, which the brain receives during life by study and use of additional languages contributes to delay the onset of brain diseases. The effort and attention necessary when switching between languages stimulate greater activity in the brain. The most effective way to stimulate the brain, as well as "to expand " viewpoint of the world order - is the study of languages. For best results, you should choose the languages of groups other than native. This talk not about memorization, but understanding of the concept of language. The variety of languages in the world is not an obstacle, but the possibility of development. Allow the human brain to work more efficiently, perhaps, through a new psychic element of intellection. These elements are developing through understanding the concept of the great number of opportunities and forms of intellection of other sentient subjects. The more difference the language in which they communicate, the more difference principle of thinking, which has developed as a result of independent evolution.
Humans use such forms of thinking as a word, image, emotion:
- Emotion is the most dangerous form of thinking. Extremely unreliable, non-universal, highly subjective, has a very short shelf life. Not being transformed into other forms of thought, emotional thought dissolves into consciousness for a few minutes.
- Use as a form of thinking – thinking by images, in the first place means a low possibility of elements exchange because at this stage of evolution, man is not able consciously to convey the image created in his mind in the consciousness of another person. On the other hand, human memory is arranged so that the faster and longer it stores the images. However, it is worth noting that the image, by definition, less accurate and over time is subject to change.
- Thinking by words – quite a limited way, often do not have enough words to describe and capture the idea, born by images and/or emotions. The way to not only develop cognitive ability but also learn to solve issues by changing the point of consideration is learning other languages. The word is a digital way to store and transfer information. This method is more universal, transformable, accurate, and has a longer shelf life. However, he is the youngest in human consciousness, because the child begins to think by words much later than other ways.
Perform the usual things in an unusual way.
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” Henry Ford.
8 People who eat plenty of fruits and veggies may preserve more of their memory and thinking skills* as they grow old.
9 Mark Mattson, PhD, Chief, Laboratory of Neurosciences; Chief, Cellular and Molecular Neurosciences Section, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD., found* evidence that going for long periods of time without eating benefits the brain. "Talent should be hungry" - classic*
10 Even if a person is genetically predisposed to develop cognitive decline or dementia, it's not written in stone* – lifestyle choices matter (neurology), (jamanetwork).
11 Eat less fatty foods. Experiments* on mice have shown that the high-fat diet triggered chronic inflammation, which in turn triggered an autoimmune response in the mice’s central nervous systems. Normally this response protects the brain from invaders like bacteria, but a high-saturated fat diet knocks the process off track, resulting in damage to synapses in the brain – specifically in the hippocampus.
12Fish (Omega 3 -> the protection and renewal of the nervous system), eggs (Hulin -> Memory), oatmeal (good carbs -> energy), nuts (glycine -> calming effect, relieves stress, relaxes), green tea (L-theanine -> better reaction time).
13Of course, it is no secret, that in a bad mood (depression, long-term (chronic) stress (not to be confused with the short stress)) takes place not only an inhibiting the growth of nerve cells, but also contributes to their rapid demise. Accordingly, a good mood will save Your brain from these problems. But, it is not always necessary to resort to pharmaceutical methods, try a simple smile to yourself. Research shows that a smiling expression sends feedback from your face to your left frontal cortex, which in turn triggers the release of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine (hormones of «happiness») into your brain. In addition, smiling increases your charisma. The more difficult option is meditation, aerobic* exercise in the fresh air such as running (runners euphoria) as well as swimming, bike trip, skiing, and short fasting.
14Travel. Not necessarily a trip to another end of the world, it may be even a trip to previously unknown places. The point is that new experiences along with new locations make Your brain try to keep in memory your adventure, that promotes active neurogenesis in hippocampi.
materials: t-l.ru, cosmo.com.ua, piter-piter.ru, consumer.healthday.com, webmd, habrahabr, forbes, bbc