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    6 Things Neurologists Would Never Do If They Wanted To Protect Their Brain Health

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    All of your organs are crucial to your well-being, with the exception of a select few (looking at you, appendix). But if you had to rank the ones you really, really want to protect, your brain should definitely be one of the top contenders.After all, your brain is your body’s command centre, overseeing basic life functions like your breathing and heart rate, along with your memory, learning and complex thinking. Neurologists know this and are well aware of what can happen to your health when your brain isn’t in peak condition.With that in mind, we tapped neurologists across the country for their hot take on the things they would never do in the name of preserving their brain health.Meet the experts: Juliann Paolicchi, MD, a neurologist at Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital. Hera Kamdar, MD, neurologist and assistant clinical professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Vernon Williams, MD, sports neurologist and founding director of the Center for Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics in Los Angeles.Smoking And Excess Drinking Are A Hard PassThere are a lot of things out there that are potentially bad for your body, but some toxins are considered worse for your brain than others. Juliann Paolicchi says she will never smoke because of its impact on the brain.“The effects of nicotine on the brain are cumulative, which means there is never a bad time to stop,” she says. Research also suggests that smoking raises your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by as much as 40 percent.But Paolicchi also lists hard drugs and “excess alcohol intake” as things she avoids, noting that they’re “known to be neurotoxins,” which means they’re specifically bad for your brain.They Don’t Skimp On SleepEvery neurologist we spoke to stressed the importance of sleep. Vernon Williams says he aims to get good, consistent, and regular sleep. “Burning the midnight oil can have serious health and brain repercussions,” he says.Hera Kamdar, agrees. “Sleep helps consolidate memories and knowledge, and gives your brain time to reset and replenish,” she says. That’s why she recommends getting seven or more hours of “uninterrupted” sleep a night, if you can.While there’s no magic number on how many hours each person should get, it’s important to try to maintain a regular routine to improve the quality of your sleep.READ MORE: Fall Asleep Faster With These 7 Hacks For Better SleepLay Off The Ultra-Processed FoodsUltra-processed foods are linked to a slew of bad health outcomes, including cognitive decline and stroke. That’s why Dr. Kamdar says she does her best to avoid ultra-processed and high-sugar foods as much as possible. “Easier said than done, I know, but trying to eat fresh foods and a Mediterranean-style diet that is rich in berries, nuts, fish, and leafy greens is all fantastic for brain health,” she says.Don’t Let Stress FesterStress doesn’t just lead to exhaustion, breakouts and hair loss. Stress can cause an increase in the hormone cortisol, and chronic cortisol exposure is linked to serious brain degenerative diseases like dementia, Dr. Kamdar says.So, taking care of your mental health is important. “Good mental health leads to good brain health,” Dr. Kamdar says.She tries her best to deal directly with stress when it pops up. Some techniques that can help manage stress include specialised breathing techniques, doing something that makes you feel relaxed, get some exercise, and turning off the news.READ MORE: What Is Oxidative Stress? Causes And How To Reduce It, According To ExpertsNever Leave Your Head UnprotectedDirect brain injuries are a clear threat to cognitive health, which is why Dr. Paolicchi does her best to protect her head at all costs. “Wear a seat belt when driving, wear a helmet on a bike or scooter and when participating in certain sports like rugby, skiing, snowboarding and skateboarding,” she says.Don’t Let Loneliness Take OverDealing with chronic loneliness increases the risk of dementia by more than 30 percent, according to the National Institute on Aging. That’s why Dr. Paolicchi and other neurologists try to stay social. “Call, or better yet, get together with friends,” she says. “Continuing to socialise with others helps us cope with isolation, mood swings, and stress and helps us retain good memory function.”Friends help friends keep their brains healthy!This article by Korin Miller was originally published on Women’s Health US. More

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      New Research Shows Where Women Carry Fat Could Protect Them From Brain Disease

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      When it comes to protecting from brain disease, we know a few rules that’ll help us age gracefully: exercise regularly and go easy on the sugar and fats. But a new study has linked the natural fat deposits in female bodies as a key protector against brain disease.

      Not all fat is bad

      Like avocados, not all fats are bad. We know this to be true when looking at our diets: high-fat diets that include pizza and excess animal fats tend to have higher negative outcomes than a diet high in olive oil, fatty seeds and nuts and other plant-based fats.

      But a new study shows that the propensity for women to collect fat in places like their hips, butt and backs of the arms (called subcutaneous fat), could protect against brain disease like dementia and stroke. Males, on the other hand, store fat around major organs in the abdominal region, called visceral adiposity, which promotes inflammation.

      Before, the differences in immune response to brain disease were thought to be down to hormonal discrepancies, but this study offers a new perspective. In ScienceDaily, Alexis M. Stranahan, PhD, neuroscientist in the Department of Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, said that “When people think about protection in women, their first thought is oestrogen. But we need to get beyond the kind of simplistic idea that every sex difference involves hormone differences and hormone exposure.”

      READ MORE: A New Study Shows That Nightmares Are A Good Predictor Of Future Dementia

      Where you store fat matters

      The study scientists started by inducing obesity in rats, then observing the differences in fat distribution around the body in the males and females. They then noticed that where female rats stored fat correlated with protection against inflammation. They also performed liposuction on the rats before inducing obesity, and were then studied after taking on a high-fat diet, which is known to cause inflammation in the body. The elimination of the fat meant that the rats had less protection against inflammation.

      “When we took subcutaneous fat (fat stored under the skin) out of the equation, all of a sudden the females’ brains start to exhibit inflammation the way that male brains do, and the females gained more visceral fat (fat around the abdominal area),” Stranahan says. “It kind of shunted everything toward that other storage location.” It turns out where the female rats stored fat correlated with a higher level of protection against inflammation, particularly where brain disease is concerned, author’s noted.

      READ MORE: 7 Reasons Your Period Might Be Late — Other Than Pregnancy

      So, what are the implications for your health?

      Without the liposuction surgery, female rats on a high-fat diet only displayed inflammation similar to the level of male rats after menopause, showing that the fat storage was protective in females before this period. It’s notable that even after liposuction, a high-fat diet still correlated with high levels of inflammation, so stick to a whole foods diet.  

      Stranahan notes that this likely has implications for using the BMI as a benchmark for overall health. “We can’t just say obesity. We have to start talking about where the fat is. That is the critical element here,” Stranahan says. A more accurate reading? Looking at the hip to waist ratio, she says.

      READ MORE: 7 Ways To Meditate For Anxiety Relief That Are *Actually* Easy To Do

      The bottom line: where fat is stored links to inflammation in the brain. Visceral fat promotes inflammation while subcutaneous fat acts as protection, and high-fat diets are not a good idea to take on (kinda, sorta duh), since they promote inflammation. More

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      A New Study Shows That Nightmares Are A Good Predictor Of Future Dementia

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      We spend a third of our lives asleep. And a quarter of our time asleep is spent dreaming. So, for the average person alive in 2022, with a life expectancy of around 73, that clocks in at just over six years of dreaming.

      Yet, given the central role that dreaming plays in our lives, we still know so little about why we dream, how the brain creates dreams, and importantly, what the significance of our dreams might be for our health – especially the health of our brains.

      My latest study, published in The Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine journal, shows that our dreams can reveal a surprising amount of information about our brain health. More specifically, it shows that having frequent bad dreams and nightmares (bad dreams that make you wake up) during middle or older age, may be linked with an increased risk of developing dementia.

      In the study, I analysed data from three large US studies of health and ageing. These included over 600 people aged between 35 and 64, and 2,600 people aged 79 and older.

      All the participants were dementia-free at the start of the study and were followed for an average of nine years for the middle-aged group and five years for the older participants.

      At the beginning of the study (2002-12), the participants completed a range of questionnaires, including one which asked about how often they experienced bad dreams and nightmares.

      I analysed the data to find out whether participants with a higher frequency of nightmares at the beginning of the study were more likely to go on to experience cognitive decline (a fast decline in memory and thinking skills over time) and be diagnosed with dementia.

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      Weekly nightmares

      I found that middle-aged participants who experienced nightmares every week, were four times more likely to experience cognitive decline (a precursor to dementia) over the following decade, while the older participants were twice as likely to be diagnosed with dementia.

      Interestingly, the connection between nightmares and future dementia was much stronger for men than for women. For example, older men who had nightmares every week were five times more likely to develop dementia compared with older men reporting no bad dreams. In women, however, the increase in risk was only 41%. I found a very similar pattern in the middle-aged group.

      Overall, these results suggest frequent nightmares may be one of the earliest signs of dementia, which can precede the development of memory and thinking problems by several years or even decades – especially in men.

      Alternatively, it is also possible that having regular bad dreams and nightmares might even be a cause of dementia.

      Given the nature of this study, it is not possible to be certain which of these theories is correct (though I suspect it is the former). However, regardless of which theory turns out to be true – the major implication of the study remains the same, that is, that having regular bad dreams and nightmares during middle and older age may be linked to an increased risk of developing dementia later in life.

      READ MORE: Are Your Drinking Habits Ruining Your Brain Health?

      The good news is that recurring nightmares are treatable. And the first-line medical treatment for nightmares has already been shown to decrease the build-up of abnormal proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease. There have also been case reports showing improvements in memory and thinking skills after treating nightmares.

      These findings suggest that treating nightmares might help to slow cognitive decline and to prevent dementia from developing in some people. This will be an important avenue to explore in future research.

      The next steps for my research will include investigating whether nightmares in young people might also be linked to increased dementia risk. This could help to determine whether nightmares cause dementia, or whether they are simply an early sign in some people. I also plan to investigate whether other dream characteristics, such as how often we remember our dreams and how vivid they are, might also help to determine how likely people are to develop dementia in the future.

      This research might not only help to shed light on the relationship between dementia and dreaming, and provide new opportunities for earlier diagnoses – and possibly earlier interventions – but it may also shed new light on the nature and function of the mysterious phenomenon that we call dreaming.

      This article is taken from The Conversation, where it’s been published under a Creative Commons license.

      READ MORE: What Really Happens To Your Body (And Brain) On A Detox Diet?

      Abidemi Otaiku

      NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Neurology, University of Birmingham More