Protandim

Doing the crossword puzzle everyday will do more than keep you entertained for an hour or so. According to some recent studies, crossword puzzles help you stay young longer by creating new brain cells and “exercising” your mind. It is easy for those of us who are older to let our minds rest, but that will only allow the effects of aging to creep in that much quicker. Retirement from work is great, but don’t ever let your mind retire.

But crosswords are not the only brain game that will keep you young. Any brainteaser does essentially the same thing. All you really want to do is stimulate your brain. Just as you workout, you need to keep challenging yourself. If you have never done a Sudoku game, start on a easier level, and slowly work your way up. Personally, I know I couldn’t have started with the New York Times Crossword puzzle; I had to work my way up.

Brainteasers, especially crossword puzzles, lower the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease by almost 50%! So the question is why aren’t people doing crosswords everyday if they have such great results? The answer remains to be seen, but it seems that most people either do not know they can decrease those risks, or have mentally checked out and don’t really care anymore once they are done with work and retired. If you can get in a habit of doing the crossword when you are younger, it will benefit you greatly down the road.

Vitamin K is not well-known compared to others like Vitamin C and A, but it is proven to have a lot of health benefits. Vitamin K is an antioxidant that fights harmful free radicals that work slowly to break down the body. Some view aging as a collection of free radicals that have built up in the body which become too much for the immune system to deal with. Vitamin K is a leader in the battle against anti-aging and perhaps one of the most effective supplements to work against the aging process.

What does this vitamin do? For starters, it helps blood coagulate in the body and helps against the deterioration of the body. The K vitamin is a relatively new subject, since it was thought previously that we had enough K in our bodies to fight disease. We know now that this is not the case for most people, who actually suffer from a certain level of K deficiency. Researchers believe that as we grow old, we experience inflammation in our organs. To deal with this, the body increases and decreases its use of certain hormones accordingly. One of those hormones that increases during the time of need is Interleukin 6, which eventually leads to increased inflammation. Vitamin K is shown to reduce the affects of Interleukin 6.

How does inflammation lead to aging? When we age we experience such inflammation in the body that it leads to disease. The inflammation has been shown to lead to other things that eventually lead to heart disease and osteoporosis. Damages experienced by both the heart and lungs have been reduced with the introduction of Vitamin K. Furthermore, the vitamin has been linked to positively affecting blood sugar levels, Alzheimer’s Disease, and risk of stroke. Foods that are rich in K are leafy green vegetables and other vegetables, and some cheeses. The consumption of hydrogenated oils can stop the health benefits of Vitamin K from occurring in the body also, as it serves as a blocker.

How lifestyle and diet reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s
Stephanie Guzowski (Psychology Today Online)

The elderly are a treasure trove of wise and witty anecdotes. Their lifetime’s worth of memories link us to the past and serve as a bridge to the future. Vivid recollections may even keep a person “young at heart.” So when dementia deprives older people of memory, language, and ultimately, personality, it’s not just devastating for them, it’s a horrible loss for their family and friends as well.

Alzheimer’s disease, caused by a steady accumulation of amyloid plaque proteins in the brain, is the most common source of dementia. About 4.5 million Americans have the disorder, and it is estimated that by the year 2050, that number could approach 20 million. There is no known cure. But recent research has uncovered a new gene—SORL1—that, when functioning normally, protects against and reduces the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s. The finding is bound to help unravel some of dementia’s causes.

A family history of Alzheimer’s and increasing age are primary risk factors. But there is growing evidence that improving your lifestyle and diet can preserve your mental faculties and cut your risk of developing mind-robbing disorders.

• Stretch Your Mind. Don’t let your thinking gears get rusty. Mental activity strengthens brain cells and neural connections, and may even give rise to new nerve cells. Engaging in stimulating leisure activities throughout your life can reduce the risk of dementia by about half, according to Australian researchers. Reading, writing, completing crossword puzzles, or even visiting a museum produces positive changes in the hippocampus, part of the brain affected by dementia. Mastering a new language is also beneficial: Among bilinguals, the onset of dementia begins some four years later than it does for monolinguals.
  The brain’s malleability allows for neural connections to continue to form late in life. Researchers at UC Irvine discovered that short, repeated learning sessions slowed the buildup of a protein in the brain known to lead to plaques and tangles—symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The take-away for humans is that it’s never too late to begin exercising your mind. Even ordinary activities done in a novel way, such as brushing your teeth with the opposite hand or taking a different route to work can enrich brain cell connections.
• Keep in Touch. A strong network of family and friends can also lower your risk of dementia. Social activity lessens depression and reduces stress levels, which helps maintain connections among brain cells. Volunteering, joining a club, or traveling can add four years to one’s life, according to Harvard researchers. It’s no surprise then that lonely individuals, in their later years, may be twice as likely to develop the type of dementia linked to Alzheimer’s.
• Hit That Treadmill. One of the best ways to care for your mind is to keep your heart healthy. Aerobic exercise improves oxygen consumption, which benefits brain functioning. A brisk half hour walk, bicycling, swimming, or dancing each day promotes good blood flow to the brain and stimulates new brain-cell growth. Such activity lowers the risk of dementia and slows cognitive decline in those who already have dementia. Because of the connection between the brain and cardiovascular system, reducing risks of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes also protects against Alzheimer’s disease.
• Brain Food. Eating an apple a day could keep Alzheimer’s away. Apples and apple juice, along with a balanced diet, can protect against cell damage linked to age-related memory loss, according to research from Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts. Fresh apples contain high levels of the antioxidant quercetin; eating at least one a day can help protect brain cells against oxidative stress, a tissue-damaging process associated with Alzheimer’s.

Fresh veggies and fish are just as good for your brain as they are for your body. Eating foods rich in folate, along with the use of supplements, may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, suggests a report in Archives of Neurology. Folate can be found in spinach, dry beans, peas, fortified cereals, grain products, and some fruits and vegetables. And those who eat fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, trout, and albacore tuna) have higher levels of the fatty acid DHA in their blood, which significantly lowers the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s.

And as we grow older, each of us becomes more likely to experience intermittent bouts of forgetfulness. But taking action now could help ensure that you’ll remain sharp for years to come—with plenty of tales to tell.

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