Nutrition vital for brain health

All the trend in brain health lately has been to do with what's going on up top. Crosswords, jigsaw puzzles and everything possible that stretches your brain capacity was being touted as brain training that would potentially keep you cognitively sound.

One recent UK study has shown what appears to be a strong link between the intake of certain vitamins and the improvement and prevention of illnesses such as ADHD, depression and bipolar disorders, prompting the medical profession to reassess the importance of diet in mental health.
The great thing about these sort of studies is that all of these vitamins can be found in good old natural foods. Beef is a superb source of B12, wholegrain cereal, pulses, fruit and vegetables are great for upping your B1 intake, and naturally, fish is a fantastic source of Omega 3’. ‘Omega 3 – a fatty acid found in fish oil – has been clinically shown to reduce the risk and severity of depression, including bipolar disorders.

So I've compiled a tip list that will allow you to keep your brain healthy through your stomach while you do your crosswords. They are as follows.

1. Balance your intake of nutrients. Eat a wide range of natural, wholefood options that will allow the intake of essential vitamins for your brain to stay healthy.
2. Regularly spaced out meals to keep the energy constantly flowing to the brain. By eating sporadically you flood with the brain with energy and then starve it for the next 6 or 7 hours causing it to stress and not perform optimally. This sort of behaviour is what causes irritability and mood swings which is undesirable for good brain health.
3. Resist the temptation to stuff hydrogenated, fried, cheap and nasty processed foods into your body. This will tip the balance of Omega's in your body in favour of Omega 6's which will only succeed in producing inflammation at the cellular level which will increase the chances of artery and brain damage.

The studies and processes undertaken to find out these very beneficial conclusions are carried out by scientists but the way you can stop your brain deteriorating isn't rocket science. As you can see the tips mapped out above are simple enough to follow it's just a matter of getting accountable and following through.

What is it that people love about Easter and Christmas?

Just recently I was thinking about the Christmas and New Year period coming up. It is no secret I and many others look forward to this time of the year. But it really hit home to me recently why the holiday season is so widely anticipated. In fact people actually do some pretty silly things over this period.

While I'm not here to rant about what you eat, drink and how much activity you carry out over the festive season holiday period or Easter it will all tie in nicely together. See I was discussing the holiday plans with a mate over Christmas and he was so excited he could hardly contain himself. So I tried it with a few other friends and the same response was noted. And they all came up with the same reason for this excitement. They didn't have to do anything, be anywhere or answer to anyone. In other words totally switch off. This may not sound like anything new to you but answer me this. Why do you wait till the end of the year to switch off completely.

If it is so enjoyable as everyone reports wouldn't more regular short breaks/timeouts be beneficial. I know they are but the majority of us don't do it. Here's a great way for you in 2009 to ensure your whole year is littered with complete switch off periods on top of Christmas and Easter.

1. Plan your 2009 breaks now and record them in a diary or on the calender. Commit to them and let someone know so you will be held accountable. There should be 2 0r 3 on top of Easter and Christmas. Book the time off now and more importantly book your accommodation so you have no excuse to get out of it
2. Go hard and work to achieve outcomes in these time frames. Have a plan so you are totally focused on achieving outcomes in this period and will use the break as a celebration for your success. Get that must do attitude that will ensure you fulfill your desired outcomes or goals so you will learn that achievement is followed by a reward, so you start to become an achiever not just a plodder.
3. Have fun. No work, personal development or anything related to work should be contemplated in this 2, 3 or 4 day period. This is a total switch off period where you do whatever you like but it must excite you in a way that encourages you to keep having these mini breaks.

Not that I have this mastered yet either but I keep coming back to this time and time again. It's not the quantity it's the quality. Your lifestyle needs to be top quality with intense ups (switched ons) and more intense downs (switched offs). Again quality not quantity.

Don't let anyone take your breath away this festive season.

Oxygen is so abundant we never worry about where it's coming from do we? Like anything you truly appreciate it when you are in danger of losing it. This is why I felt it very relevant to put out the warning about lung disease just before the festive or as I like to call it, the silly season. The time when we let down our guard and put whatever we can whenever we like into our bodies just because it's the party time of the year. We drink more, smoke more and conduct ourselves in reckless behaviour.

Back to oxygen and our lungs. COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) affects 2.1 million and is predicted to reach levels of 4.5 million by the year 2050 if we don't take action now to start controlling this escalating problem. The scary part of this equation is past evidence indicates that one in three Australians with COPD were not aware that they even had the disease which means they are not taking the important steps to manage and keep the condition in check.

It is all fine and dandy for me to go quoting these figures and expecting everyone to take matters into their own hands and ensure they are lung disease proofed. My advice along with every other lifestyle influenced condition is to keep living a natural and unprocessed existence as much as you possibly can. It is the more hands on option but if hands on means healthier long term, that will be the option I will choose every time. And if this is your philosophy then I salute you wholeheartedly. If you want to start directing your life in this direction follow this simple, formula.

1. Slow down. this alleviates the need to cut every corner and utilise harmful health sapping options to assist you on your quest to save a minute here and there. At sometime in your life you will have to slow down, why not do it on your terms? Stop and smell the roses!!!
2. Move more. Live by this mantra and you won't go wrong. In every task we do there is a more time efficient way of doing it. Mowing lawn, going to the shop, sending messages, getting upstairs, socialising, preparing food, losing weight and the list could go on for ever. That's why the more time consuming option when feasible will be a healthy option.
3. Go natural. Food, shampoo, deodorant, fly repellent, toothpaste and so on are all examples of products that can be produced naturally or severely processed or chemicalised. Especially the chemical options are not only damaging to you and your lungs but in general your health and the environment. Options are out there if you are prepared to look for them.

Stay in control of your body and what it does and what goes into it. Become the gatekeeper from hell and only allow beneficial lifestyle choices into your life.

How should you approach the festive season?

It's a very mixed message that I hear every festive season. Some are looking forward to it. Some are not looking forward to the over eating (but they will still do it!!!). And some are looking forward to time off from work more than anything. So how should you approach the festive season this year.

You know as well as I do there is never a one size fits all answer to a question like this. But I feel there can be a definite successful approach to the way you attack and go about enjoying the festive season period. I think a dangerous way to approach Christmas and New Year is thinking life is suddenly going to be all bells and whistles and for two weeks all of life's hassles are going to just drift away with the over indulgent mist that this period produces. I suggest you start preparing for the last two weeks of the year and the first week of the new year now. If nothing else it will make the transition back into the next year smoother and not such a big bump.

Here's how to attack it.

• Tie up all loose ends. Realise that the business world goes into hibernation over this period so loans, insurances and all of those evil necessities if not all fully organised will be a hassle to sort out over this period. Have all of these able to look after themselves for the next month. This action is a proactive way to reduce stress in advance.
• Keep active and watered. Just move and don't be a sloth. It is so common to see people go from being flat out and getting as much done as possible to stopping everything and parking themselves in one spot and stuffing everything and anything in their mouths that is available. Moving and drinking enough water if nothing else is going to keep your focus off the choices that will be in front of you and not mistake thirst for hunger which is a common occurrence.
• Keep your rhythm. Dancing is good for the activity levels but it's not what I mean here. I am talking about your circadian rhythms. Do this by going to bed and getting up the same time as normal. By going to bed later and getting up later you are throwing your bodies natural rhythms into chaos and you end up feeling even more lethargic and unmotivated. If you must, have an afternoon kip for an hour.

These three actions will keep you stress free, active and normal. How many people do you know possess those traits over the festive season?