The 6 Secrets to Keeping Your Brain Healthy (from Esquire)

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The 6 Secrets to Keeping Your Brain Healthy


Science just gave us another reason to take physical exercise seriously. Great.


A new study published in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that weight training twice a week could help to preserve your most important asset—your brain. Participants who trained with weights twice a week showed significantly less brain deterioration than participants who did less or no weight training, reports The New York Times. (For the record, all the participants were women between the ages of 65 and 75, so take this for what you will.) Light weight training seemed to keep the lesions that eat away at the good stuff in your brain at bay, though exactly why is not yet known.


This research is promising. Breeze into the gym twice a week and pound out a few reps, no problem. But it’s also part of an ever-growing list of tricks that supposedly help your brain stay at peak condition. To help you think about your brain (consider that for a moment), here are five more things to try that don’t involve weights and a sweaty gym mat. Apply as necessary. 


Red Wine


Ah yes. A hotly debated topic that makes headlines every time a new study is published. The grapes in red wine contain resveratrol, which boosts blood flow to the brain, so a glass a day supposedly reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s and memory loss. And it certainly wouldn’t hurt you to try. But moderation is key, and here, scientists err on the side of caution: More than one glass a day could have negative effects on the brain. So keep it classy.


Drugs


The pharmaceutical kind. Neuro-enhancing drugs are popped by students and surgeons alike, and they are intended to jack up brain power in the short term—similar to draining a pot of coffee before tackling a particularly arduous report. Modafinil is perhaps the most widely-used smart drug, and studies have yet to find serious long-term side effects. Plus, according to the Food and Drug Administration, it is considered far less addictive than Adderall. Power on.


Keep your stress in check


Seems obvious, but stress begets stress, and reminding a stressed individual to take it down a notch is less than helpful. But research shows stress does physically wage war on your brain cells and the part of your brain that houses memories, so if you value your oldest and most precious recollections, try setting more realistic expectations and pursue a healthy (or health​ier​) work/life balance.


Brain food


So dubbed for a reason. The list of memory-boosting foods is long, ranging from dark green leafy vegetables (yes, kale) to whole grains. The best brain food seems to be fish, and a study found that eating cold water catches—salmon, tuna, and cod—once a week could slow cognitive decline by 10 percent per year. That’s as good as three or four extra years, and all for a few bites of spicy tuna roll. 


Meditation


In the long term—and we’re talking at least 20 years—meditating can better preserve the brain against the wear and tear of aging. If you’re not quite ready to dedicate years to empty, transformational thought, studies also show that just a few weeks of the practice can improve focus and memory. 

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