Tag Archives: brain

Mind Over Sugar

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Dementia affects more than 850,000 people in the UK and it is set to rise to over 1 million by 2025!*

However, not many people know that there is a strong link between sugar and Alzheimer’s. Almost 70% of people with type 2 diabetes are now known to develop Alzheimer’s, compared with only 10% of people without diabetes! 

Dr Marilyn Glenville, the UK’s leading Nutritionist explains this phenomenon in her latest book Natural Solutions for Dementia and Alzheimer’s, “The high levels of insulin block a group of enzymes that would normally break down the beta-amyloid proteins responsible for the brain plaques in Alzheimer’s. Although high levels of insulincan have this effect, confusingly the brain also needs insulin for its cells to flourish and survive. Your brain has its own supply of insulin – if this supply is hampered in any way, and levels of insulin in the brain fall, brain degeneration is the result. So, as with most things in Nature, we don’t want too much or too little of something – it’s all about homeostasis; that is, balance.”

Naughty clumps

Dr Glenville explains, “It’s thought that changes in insulin function in the brain are the cause of beta-amyloid (a protein fragment) plaque build-up. Beta-amyloid itself is not a problem. In fact, it has a vital role to play in transporting cholesterol, protecting against oxidative stress, and aiding immune function. Problems occur only when the beta- amyloid proteins start to form clumps.”

Can sugar affect your memory?

As well as helping you to regulate your blood sugar, insulin regulates neurotransmitters, brain chemicals that aid learning and memory. If you become insulin resistant, not only will your body struggle to control its blood sugar, but your neurotransmitters will be unable to function as normal, with fallout for your brain function. Dr Glenville adds, “Studies showing the effects of insulin resistance on the brain support the importance of reducing sugar in your diet and show that just having higher levels of sugar (glucose) from eating too much sugary food is a risk factor for dementia even if you don’t have diabetes.”

In fact sugar’s impact on the brain goes beyond the effects of insulin. Dr Glenville says, “Being on the blood-sugar roller coaster also increases levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and this, over time, increases inflammation in the brain, speeding up the deterioration of brain and memory function.”

To keep your brain healthy and young for as long as possible we’ve asked Dr Glenville to share with us her 12 step program to quit sugar:

Spring clean your cupboards. Clear out temptation. Biscuits, chocolates and sweets are all for the local food bank. And remember that you’ll find sugar in savoury foods, too – pasta sauces, soups, ketchup, breakfast cereals and many more are all culprits. If you have a sweet tooth, the hidden sugars in savoury foods will be easiest to give up first. Replace them with your own homemade salad dressings, pasta sauces, soups, granola and so on. Grit your teeth and be ruthless with those cupboard stocks.

Stop adding sugar to drinks and food. You may be doing this on autopilot, the way some people salt their food before tasting it. If you still take sugar in tea or coffee, for example, wean yourself off it half a teaspoon at a time. If you sprinkle sugar on your pancakes or cereal in the morning, try a handful of fresh berries instead. Your taste buds will adapt surprisingly quickly.

Read the labels as you shop. Every 4g of sugar per ‘serving size’ is 1 teaspoon of sugar. The NHS says that added sugar can comprise up to 5 per cent of your daily calorie intake – that’s 30g (7 teaspoons) a day. The World Health Organisation (WHO) wants to limit added sugar (including honey) to just 6 teaspoons a day. I say to keep it as low as possible – no added sugar should be the ideal 80 per cent of the time, and then the other 20 per cent on special treats at special times won’t matter.

Use your scales. It’s important to know what the manufacturer’s assumed serving size is compared with what you would serve yourself. For example, a 30g serving of cereal may be much smaller than you would typically eat – but if it already contains 11g sugar, how much would your own bowl contain?

Don’t skip breakfast. Skipping breakfast makes you far more likely to reach for a coffee and a cake at 11am because your blood sugar will have plummeted. You may feel moody, irritable, tense and not able to concentrate. Always eat breakfast and make it a mixture of protein and carbohydrate – avoiding sugar-laden breakfast cereals at all times!

Try a bowl of porridge sprinkled with ground nuts and seeds. The porridge oats give sustained energy and the nuts and seeds add protein to help further lower the GI.

Or, have an egg on wholemeal or rye toast with grilled tomatoes. This very low-GI breakfast provides a good amount of protein from the egg whites, omega 3 fats in the yolks, and good-quality complex, unrefined carbs from the bread – all in all a power-breakfast of energy that will sustain you until your healthy mid- morning snack.

Eat little and often. So, you get to 3pm and you feel sluggish and tired and every part of your body is screaming to have something sweet to keep you going until teatime. Think about how you’ve eaten over the course of the day – did you have breakfast? Did you allow yourself a handful of nuts mid-morning? Did you eat lunch? Eating little and often is the best way to avoid blood sugar dips that lead to cravings – usually for sweet things.

Avoid extreme diets … at least while you are trying to adapt to a no-sugar regime. This is because fasting will make it harder to avoid blood sugar dips and the cravings that come with them. Once you’ve cut sugar from your diet as much as you can, you’ll even find that you may lose weight naturally, which will remove the need for dieting altogether.

Watch out for caffeine. This stimulant and can trigger a roller coaster of stress hormones that feel a bit like sugar highs and lows. Even though it may feel like an appetite suppressant, in the end caffeine will boost your appetite and trigger sugar cravings. It’s all about removing the temptation to reach for the biscuits.

Say no to alcohol. Alcohol has an effect on your blood sugar, so look for drinks with lower sugar content. Spirits do not contain sugar, but their mixers usually do. White wine is more sugary than red, but on the other hand a white wine spritzer (made with sparkling mineral water) will be better for you than a full glass of red wine.

Add protein to starchy carbohydrates. If you eating starchy carbohydrates (pasta, rice, potatoes, bread) particularly if they refined remember that they are broken down into sugar – but protein (fish, eggs, cheese, nuts, seeds and so on) slows down the rate at which your stomach empties the food into the next part of the digestive tract and so it slows down the emptying of the carbohydrate, too. Add ground nuts and seeds to porridge for vegetable protein, or an omelette (animal protein) with brown rice.

Be kind to yourself. Live by the 80/20 rule: as long as you are eating healthily and avoiding sugar 80 per cent of the time you can have that occasional piece of cake without beating yourself up about it. This will also make it less likely you’ll obsess about sugar – and fall off the wagon altogether. You’re ‘allowed’ to have sugar 20 per cent of the time, so what’s the big deal?

Be smart about alternatives. Beware ‘natural’ sweeteners – some may be no better for you than sugar itself. The following, though, are all worth trying: maple syrup, barley malt syrup, brown rice syrup and coconut sugar.

*https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20027/news_and_media/541/facts_for_the_media

 

 

9 Ways To Give Your Brain a HIIT Workout

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We spend hours at the gym or running and hiking to train our body and endurance.  But what about our brain? If you feel like your attention span is shortening you can stretch and strengthen it with simple everyday changes. 

Get more sleep

Not sleeping properly can not only affect our energy levels and looks but also our brain functions. Getting enough Zzz’s can help support learning, memory as well as regulate our mood or even appetite and libido. When looking at the brain of someone who is sleep-deprived, scientists have found reduced metabolism and blood flow in multiple brain regions.*

Be social

Making friends and socialising has a great impact on our emotional wellbeing as well as brain functions. How? When speaking to people and building relationships, you have to pay attention to what they say and then use your memory to recall information to be able to hold a conversation.

Pick up a foreign language

Did you know that learning foreign language can actually make your brain bigger? ** It can also boost your creativity and ability to focus. But most importantly, learning another language gives you ‘a cognitive reserve’ that helps to protect against the changes that can occur during ageing. Dr Marilyn Glenville, the UK’s leading Nutritionist and author of Natural Solutions for Dementia and Alzheimer’s explains, “Speaking a second language throughout your life could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s. Studies show that people who speak two languages may develop dementia more than four years later than those who speak only one language! Language learning leads to more neural connections. More neural stability and more resilience to neural damage.”

Using music 

“Research suggests that playing a musical instrument music when you are older can give you a 36% lowered risk of developing dementia and cognitive damage,” Marilyn says. Can’t play an instrument? Don’t worry, singing can you remember words easily too. “Think how easily you can remember the words of songs that you sang years ago – and yet how much harder it often is to remember a poem or piece of prose that isn’t set to music. Word sequences are far more memorable when they are sung rather than spoken,” Dr Glenville adds.

Start knitting

Apparently knitting is set to be the new baking. It isn’t just something elderly women do and it has recently become popular with celebrities. Apart from helping you to relax it can also boost your mental health as it stimulates almost all of your brain. When knitting, you need to stay focused, plan what you’re doing in advance and also use visual information and synchronise it with your movements.

Teach your body a new skill 

There is a range of techniques to keep your brain alert that doesn’t have to paper-based cognitive tasks. Dr Glenville says “Walking in a new park or taking up line dancing fire up new neural pathways that keep your brain in touch. Needing to remember the steps n a dance is also a wonderful workout for your brain – learning the flow and rhythm of the music stimulates cognitive activity, while learning and performing the steps is great for both your memory and your physical fitness. Active learning is the perfect complement for doing jigsaws, Sudoku and crosswords.” 

Set yourself little challenges 

Dr Glenville suggests the following simple games to give your brain a workout: “Counting backwards from 100 in 2s, 3s or 4s is a good one, and you can make it harder by doing something else at the same time, such as tapping your foot. Or try the ‘tip-of-the-tongue’ game – think of a theme, such as ‘food’, and name as many items relevant to the theme as you can in one minute.” Most people can do 30. Can you double it?

Write things down

Studies have shown that the act of writing something down forces your brain to recall it in a way that typing on your computer or phone does not. ***

Laugh 

Who doesn’t love laughing? It not only lifts your mood but it’s also a great calorie burner. However, researchers have also discovered that laughing can also minimise the damage that stress hormone, cortisol can cause (it damages certain neurons in our brain and affects learning ability as well as memory). On top of that, laughter produces wave frequencies similar to true stare of meditation.****

 

*www.brainfacts.org/about-neuroscience/ask-an-expert/articles/2015/what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-are-sleep-deprived/

**https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/04/what-happens-to-the-brain-language-learning,
***http://mentalfloss.com/article/52136/11-simple-ways-improve-your-memory

****http://www.laughteronlineuniversity.com/laughter-good-for-brain-meditation/

 

Unleash The Power Of The Female Brain | Book Review

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Unleash the power of the female brainThe brain is probably the most underrated organ and the one that is most taken advantage of. Yet everything we do affects our brain.

Renowned neuropsychiatrist and best selling author Dr Daniel G. Amen has written a comprehensive guide to the female brain. The amount of stuff I learned was amazing. The book says that all is needed is 12 hours to a radical new you, and I agree with their claim. I have already made changes in my life because of this book.

Dr Amen has based this breakthrough guide on research from his clinical practice. The book has pictures of brain scans throughout. These brain scans are ‘before’ and ‘after’, like make-overs for the brain. The book is a health guide that every women should read because, as Dr Amen says, “success in everything you do starts with a healthy brain.”

Dr Amen also talks you through harnessing the strengths of the female brain and overcoming the vulnerabilities. He tells you what to eat, and what not to, how to control your cravings, how to sooth your brain and even how to prepare for pregnancy and raising your children in a brain-healthy way.

This book put my diet under the microscope and made me realise that all of the stress I have been under, and my habit of craving junk food is stopping me achieving my full potential. Although sometimes Dr Amen came across as (only slightly) preachy. No one can be a saint all the time and I still believe that a little bit of what you fancy won’t do you any harm. Despite this I could rave on and on about the book, but I won’t; I will just say that it is a must read. I will be reading it again. It certainly did change my life and make me appreciate my brain.

Unleash the Power of the Female Brain: Supercharging yours for better health, energy, mood, focus and sex

This is how the book breaks down:

1. FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR FEMALE BRAIN: Care About Your Brain More than Any Other Body Part
Hour 1 Exercise – Boost brain envy – Hang anchor images of why you want to have a healthier brain

2. HARNESS THE UNIQUE STRENGTHS OF THE FEMALE BRAIN: Use Your Intuition, Collaboration, Empathy, Self-Control, and a Little Worry to Give Yourself a Great Advantage
Hour 2 Exercise – Recruit Your Team and Make Your Worries Work for You – this is what I would call a form of the Serenity Prayer which is a consistent go-to in my life

3. ADOPT THE AMEN CLINICS’ METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING THE FEMALE BRAIN:: Know Your Brain, Important Numbers, and the Four Circles for Ultimate Success
Hour 3 Exercise – Get Assessed: CBC and on Amen’s website (SPECT optional)

4. BALANCE YOUR HORMONES TO BOOST THE FEMALE BRAIN
Part One: Balance Estrogen, Progesterone, and Testosterone
Part Two: Balance Thyroid, Cortisol, DHEA, and Insulin
Hour 4 Exercise – Take the Hormone Questionnaires and Inventory Your Healthy and Unhealthy Hormone Habits

5. FEED THE FEMALE BRAIN: Flatten Your Tummy and Boost Brain Reserves by Healing Your Gut and Eating Brain-Healthy Superfoods – Treat Food as a Drug because it is one
Hour 5 Exercise – Provide Therapy for your Kitchen (Food/Diet)

6. SOOTHE THE FEMALE BRAIN: Put an End to Anxiety, Worry, Depression, and Perfectionism
Hour 6 Exercise – Get ANT Therapy and Answer the Work’s Four Questions

7. GET CONTROL OF THE FEMALE BRAIN: Conquer Cravings, Weight Issues, and Addictions
Hour 7 Exercise – Embrace Your Failures (Turn bad days into good data)

8. UNDERSTAND ADD AND THE FEMALE BRAIN: Learn to Treat the Hyperactive “Boys'” Condition That Ruins Female Lives
Hour 8 Exercise – Know Your Focus and Energy Robbers and Boosters

9. BE BEAUTIFUL ON THE INSIDE AND OUT: Learn Strategies to Help Your Brain and Body Look Amazing – Stop the Negative Chatter and Make a Plan to Look and Feel Amazing
Hour 9 Exercise – Get a Massage and Enjoy a Sauna

10. UNDERSTAND SEX AND THE FEMALE BRAIN: Optimize Your Brain for Greater Pleasure, Deeper Relationships, and Lasting Love
Hour 10 Exercise – Be the Director of Your Pleasure

11. GET YOUR BRAIN READY FOR BABIES AND CARING FOR THEIR BRAINS ONCE THEY’RE HERE: Prepare for Pregnancy – and Unleash the Power of Your Daughters’ Brains
Hour 11 Exercise – Indulge in Special Time

12. CHANGE YOUR FEMALE BRAIN, CHANGE THE WORLD: Realize That It’s Not About You – It’s About Generations of You
Hour 12 Exercise – Create Your Own Genius Network

APPENDIX A; NATURAL SUPPLEMENTS TO HELP YOU UNLEASH THE POWER OF YOUR FEMALE BRAIN

Tony Scott ‘Had Cancer’

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After the incredibly sad news that Tony Scott killed himself, his friend have revealed that he
had inoperable brain cancer and only killed himself so his family were spared watching him die slowly and painfully.

ABC News revealed why the 68-year-old director jumped to his death on Sunday, by leaping from the Vincent Thomas Bridge. He left a suicide note.

A friend told the New York Post:

‘He has been suffering from cancer and he had a relapse. He wasn’t depressed, he was a lovely guy. On Sundays everyone went to his house, there would be the guy who worked in his local restaurant sitting by the pool by Michael Caine.’

Another source added: ‘He did have cancer, and for a while he was cancer free. He didn’t have any money problems or marriage problems.’

Scott directed such classics as Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II and Enemy Of The State and was the younger brother of director Ridley Scott. He fell within feet of a cruise boat around 12.30 p.m in front of horrified tourists.

‘He landed right next to our tour boat, and many of us saw the whole thing,’ a witness, who had been on the cruise told TMZ.

The Contra Costa Times reported that Scott climbed a fence on the south side of the bridge, which spans San Pedro and Terminal Island, at 12.30 p.m. on Sunday and leaped off ‘without hesitation’.

Simon Halls, a publicist for the Scott brothers, said. ‘The family asks for privacy during this time,’

Ridley Scott is flying from London to Los Angeles to be with his brother’s family.

He leaves behind two twin sons and his wife Donna. Hollywood is poorer today at the loss of such an amazing talent.

Clare Jonas on Synaesthesia {Interviews}

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Clare Jonas sits on the Southbank on a sunny Saturday afternoon. She’s not what most people imagine an academic to be like. Although she’s just about to finish her PhD at Sussex University, out of her satchel she pulls a ball of wool and some knitting needles.
Clare: Do you mind if I knit?
She’s recently taken up knitting and appears to be making some sort of hat, possibly to keep her enormous brain warm when the winter comes. Clare is obsessed with brains and has been poking about in them for most of her adult life.

Frost: Tell us what it is you do…
Clare: I research Synaesthesia which is a condition in which the senses get senses get mixed up, or two aspects of the same sense get mixed up or sometimes the concepts of the sense get mixed up.
Probably the most common type that involves mixing up the senses involves sound and vision, so you might see colours when you’re listening to music for example.
The way we refer to the different sides of Synaesthesia is inducive and concurrent. The inducer is what causes the Synaesthesia, maybe a letter or some music. Concurrent is the resulting sensation you get which is a ghost sensation.
Frost: Is it the same for everyone who experiences Synaesthesia?
Clare: Not every Synaesthae experiences it in the same way. Using the example of sound to colour synaesthesia; for some people a trumpet’s sound might be red, for others it might be blue.
At the moment I’m interested in the patterns of Synaesthesia but I’m moving towards how Synaesthesia differs from normal experiences and what can that tell us about “normal” experiences.
Frost: What interested you in the subject? Is it something you experience?
Clare: Yeah, I do have Synaesthesia. With me it’s concept and sense being mixed up. When I think about numbers or time or letters of the alphabet, they have spatial locations, so for example; the number ten is just in front of my right shoulder and January is by my right eye, the letters of the alphabet are kind of off in space to my left and above me.
Frost: Is Synaesthesia the result of nurture as opposed to nature??
Clare: I don’t think so because my brother and I went to the same primary school and would’ve been taught by the same teachers and he hasn’t got Synaesthesia and I have. It’s to do with the hardware in your brain. The theory at the moment is that some people have a genetic predisposition to Synaesthesia.
In the case of number and space getting mixed up, when you’re a young child with a tendency to have synaesthesia, you might put the number one, for example, in different places depending on the different times you’re looking at it, but as you get older your synaesthesia settles down into a fixed pattern.
We have a break and go for a wander talking the about the intelligence and comedy of homing pigeons as we stumble upon a science fair. “Keep your eye out for brains” coos Clare; she’s in her element as she quizzes some unsuspecting degree students about the power of algae and the magnetism of ants. I learn that you can remove parts of an ant’s legs and they try and carry on as normal and somehow it proves that ants count the number of steps they take. As she quizzes several more undergraduates and I’m sure I see one physically tremble with intellectual intimidation.
I carry on and ask her more questions.
Frost: Is synaesthesia a hindrance for people that experience it?
Clare: No, most people say they enjoy it. Although, in the same way that most people don’t know what it’s like to have Synaesthesia, so they can’t imagine the world any differently, that’s how it is for a synaesthete. So if numbers have colours or words have tastes, it’s just the way they’ve always been.
Frost: Could some people have such severe experiences that they don’t carry out a normal life?
Clare: No I wouldn’t say so, the worse thing I’ve heard from a Synaesthete is that it can be distracting. So if you’re trying to read a book you keep getting distracted by all the different colours of the letters for example. It doesn’t hinder people in any significant way as far as I know. In fact most of the time it can be kind of helpful, if you imagine you’re meeting someone for the second time and you’ve forgotten their name but you know it was a green name, that could mean that it must start with the letter “f” so you can narrow it down and you’re less likely to embarrass yourself.
Quite a few types of Synaesthesia, we haven’t investigated all of it, you get an advantage in the concurrent domain. So people who have letter – colour synaesthesia would have better colour processing than most people.
Frost: Do these people maybe tend to take up to artistic careers?
Clare: There’s some anecdotal evidence that synaesthete tend to go into more artistic careers but the synaesthete I’ve met do all kinds of things. When people contact us because they’ve heard about Synaesthesia they’ll often be people who work in offices or students, other academics, occasionally I’ll just be talking to a friend and they’ll say “oh but I have that! Isn’t that normal?” There are people everywhere who have synaesthesia…it’s actually quite common.
Frost: How common is it?
Clare: It depends on which form of Synaesthesia you’re talking about, the kind I have, the spatial stuff, that’s probably about 1 in 4 people have some kind of spatial synaesthesia. This includes thinking of time as having a spatial component or letters or numbers.
Frost: How do we know we’re not just imagining as opposed to it being real Synaesthesia?
Clare: There are two ways we can test it, the first is a modified Stroop test. In the original Stroop test people are asked to look at the names of colours, e.g. yellow, and say what colour ink it’s printed in, i.e. it might be printed in green. It’s much harder to say what colour the word is when it doesn’t match the ink. Then you see how long it takes them to name that colour as opposed to when it matches.
Frost: So it’s a massive disadvantage on brain training games?
Clare: I’m not brilliant at them and I don’t even have colour synaesthesia.  That test doesn’t always work; there are some people that don’t show that effect at all. If that’s the case there’s another test based on consistency. So this you can do more easily and on a wider variety of people. Basically what happens is we’ll test people on their inducer and concurrent pairings, for example we’ll ask them “what colour is five for you, what colour’s six, what does the word ‘brain’ taste of” that kind of thing. Then we’ll also get someone who doesn’t have Synaesthesia in and ask them to pretend that they have Synaesthesia. We tell the non synaesthete that we’re going to re-test them after a few days or a couple of weeks. We don’t warn the synaesthete that we’re going to re-test them and we test them again a longer period of time later than the control, so maybe months. So the idea is if the synaesthete is more consistent than the control over time, then they almost certainly have Synaesthesia.
Frost: Wont people be tempted to re-create the effects with drugs?
Clare: Well there are reports that there’s a drug in South America that can induce symptoms like Synaesthesia but it also induces severe vomiting.
Frost: Lovely, what’s the most unusual type?
Clare: the strangest is probably lexical-gustatory; where words have tastes when being read or spoken or heard. Or mirror touch; when you see someone being touched on their body and you feel that touch in the same location on your own body.
Frost: Do you know of any famous people that have Synaesthesia?
Clare: Thom York, I think he has music to colour. Probable Kandinsky had it, his painting are said to have names of musical compositions and look a bit like other peoples reports of Synaesthesia of music to space. Pharell Williams in N.E.R.D.
Frost: If someone wanted to find out more about Synaesthesia where can they go?
Clare: They could have a look at our website which is www.syn.sussex.ac.uk which is my research group which is headed by Jamie Ward. They can get involved in tests if they think they might have Synaesthesia. There’s a questionnaire on the website which they can fill out and send back to us or if they think they have a Synaesthesia which we haven’t covered on the questionnaire they could email us and ask. There are people doing research all over the world.