The Brain Game: How Is Your Brain Aging?

Every day we lose thousands of brain neurons. They die and do not come back. At the same time our surviving brain cells can grow to touch each other (plasticity) and our brain can function better. To keep your brain sharp, play the brain game to decrease the amount of brain cells that are dying and at the same time, create plasticity to better connect brain cells.

Brain cells need 2 things to survive and grow strong: fuel and stimulation. Glucose and oxygen are the two types of fuel that feed the brain. Stimulation is required to exercise all of the parts of the brain. Examples of stimulation include physical exercise, visualization, smell, touch and vibration. There a hundreds of exercises that stimulate discrete regions of the brain and at Better Body Solutions we specialize in helping brains be healthy. I’ll post more about this in the future.

Problems with either fuel or stimulation can lead to early brain cell death. Everyday examples of this include anemia (not enough oxygen), too much cortisol (toxic to brain), decreased blood flow and low or high blood sugar.

At Better Body Solutions we check the brain status of nearly every patient. Since the brain controls the body it behooves us to correct brain imbalances which will help the body in general. We have many tools to do this and I’ll be discussing this in future posts. For now though, remember 3 things:

1. You live in your brain even more than your body. Every thing you’ve ever felt, seen, smelled, emoted, every joy, pain, thought and sound you’ve heard has taken place in your brain.

2. Your brain runs your body far more than you know. For example, your digestion, hormones, blood circulation and respiration are all modulated by your brain.

3. Lose too many brain cells or fail to develop your brain (and mind) and you run a risk of living a less than satisfying life with a heightened risk of disease, disability and early death.

Play the brain game and visit us often to learn how to better care for your brain!