Heighten Cognitive Awareness -
High levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol are associated with an increased the risk of dementia. Diet, exercise, weight control, and avoiding tobacco will go a long way toward improving your cholesterol levels. But if you need more help, ask your doctor about medication. Some observational studies suggest that low-dose aspirin may reduce the risk of dementia, especially vascular dementia.
Ask your doctor if you are a candidate. Excessive drinking is a major risk factor for dementia. If you choose to drink, limit yourself to two drinks a day. People who are anxious, depressed, sleep-deprived, or exhausted tend to score poorly on cognitive function tests. Poor scores don't necessarily predict an increased risk of cognitive decline in old age, but good mental health and restful sleep are certainly important goals.
Moderate to severe head injuries, even without diagnosed concussions, increase the risk of cognitive impairment. Strong social ties have been associated with a lower risk of dementia, as well as lower blood pressure and longer life expectancy.
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Can watching sports be bad for your health? Beyond the usual suspects for healthy resolutions. May 13, Every brain changes with age, and mental function changes along with it. Get mental stimulation Through research with mice and humans, scientists have found that brainy activities stimulate new connections between nerve cells and may even help the brain generate new cells, developing neurological "plasticity" and building up a functional reserve that provides a hedge against future cell loss.
Get physical exercise Research shows that using your muscles also helps your mind. Improve your diet Good nutrition can help your mind as well as your body. Improve your blood pressure High blood pressure in midlife increases the risk of cognitive decline in old age. Improve your blood sugar Diabetes is an important risk factor for dementia.
Improve your cholesterol High levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol are associated with an increased the risk of dementia. The supportive factors, exercises, and games cited above remain valid for maintaining cognitive fitness as we grow older, with certain caveats. For example, a verbal memory task for an older person with encroaching memory problems might be modified to include a 6-item list of words to recall, instead of a item list.
Prompts and cues can spur memory and provide the individual with an experience of success. If it is too hard, you risk overwhelming the person. Finding the right cognitive challenge for such individuals allows them to exercise their faculties and experience some success, rather than becoming overwhelmed and frustrated.
Neuropsychological testing is one way to assess cognitive health. However, this option can be costly and labor intensive. There are a number of excellent tools available to practitioners for basic screening and tracking of cognitive health. Many of these tools are designed for use with older people, but some are meant for use with younger people as well.
This assessment uses patient history, observations by clinicians, and concerns raised by the patient, family, or caregivers. These measures include the General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition, Memory Impairment Screen, and the Mini-Cog brief psychometric test.
These supplements include B-complex and E vitamins, minerals such as zinc, herbs such as ginkgo biloba, and other botanicals. The Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory study followed 3, older adult participants over the course of six years, randomly assigned to ginkgo biloba or placebo groups DeKosky et al.
The study found no evidence that the supplement slowed cognitive decline or prevented dementia. B-complex vitamins such as B6, B9, and B12 have not been shown to prevent or slow cognitive decline in older adults McMahon et al.
Studies have shown that certain supplements such as zinc can have positive effects on frontal or executive function in children and adults Warthon-Medina et al.
Recently, a large prospective cohort study followed 5, participants for 9. As always, it is best to consult your physician before taking either approved medications or medical supplements.
We have a number of resources that specifically apply to strength assessments and a healthy mind. For some practical resources to get you started, check out some of the following.
This handout is a valuable resource you can use to educate children about the benefits of exercise for mental wellness. In particular, it lists several of the emotional and neurochemical benefits of exercise and recommends several forms of exercise children might enjoy.
Use it to facilitate discussion about the link between mind and body when talking about the brain and cognitive health. This exercise invites clients to illustrate the gap between the extent to which they are currently using their strengths and the extent to which they could.
This exercise effectively gives clients immediate visual feedback on their strength use and can facilitate discussion around plans to increase or optimize strengths use. This measure was created with the help of the Activity Builder at Quenza. Quenza is a platform created by the same team who established PositivePsychology.
The Cognitive Fitness Survey can be used for self-reflection. It is designed to assess and track physical and emotional factors that contribute to cognitive health.
It also assesses and tracks specific cognitive health dimensions, including attention; short-term, remote, and prospective memory; and organizational capacity.
Use them to help others flourish and thrive. For much of their history, clinical psychology and related helping professions focused on assessing and treating emotional, social, and cognitive deficits.
With the positive psychology movement in the late s came a different emphasis: finding and building upon strengths. Aspects of health and wellbeing began to be studied more assiduously and became the focus of interventions.
Initially, cognitive health was one aspect of overall health and wellbeing that was overlooked by many researchers and practitioners. Fortunately, more recently, cognitive health has begun to receive the attention it deserves, as both a research topic and focus of intervention Aidman, As with other components of health and wellness, cognitive health, including attentional capacity, memory abilities, and organizational and problem-solving skills, can be enhanced with the right support and exercises.
Staying physically healthy pays large dividends toward such cognitive fitness. Physical health includes maintaining a heart-healthy diet, sleeping well, and exercising regularly. In addition, basic, cost-effective mental activities and exercises can further boost cognitive fitness.
Many of these are enjoyable in their own right and can boost cognitive skills. To be most effective, cognitive activities and exercises should involve as much novelty as possible.
To find the right activities, a positive psychology, strengths-based approach might be useful. We hope you enjoyed reading this article.
About the author Dr. Jeffrey Gaines earned a Ph. in clinical psychology from Pennsylvania State University in He sees clinical psychology as a practical extension of philosophy and specializes in neuropsychology — having been board-certified in Jeffrey is currently Clinical Director at Metrowest Neuropsychology in Westborough, MA.
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References Aidman, E. Cognitive fitness framework: Towards assessing, training and augmenting individual-difference factors underpinning high-performance cognition.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience , Cognitive assessment. Clinic-friendly screening for cognitive and mental health problems in school-aged youth with epilepsy.
Bart, R. The assessment and measurement of wellness in the clinical medical setting: A systematic review. Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience , 15 9—10 , 14— Bickart, K. Amygdala volume and social network size in humans. Nature Neuroscience , 14 2 , — Brilliant T, D.
Does video gaming have impacts on the brain: Evidence from a systematic review. Brain Sciences , 9 10 , Desai, A. Recognition and management of behavioral disturbances in dementia. Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry , 3 3 , 93— Diener, E.
New research Heibhten little risk Vegan-friendly granola bars infection from eHighten biopsies. Heighten Cognitive Awareness at work is linked to high blood pressure. Icy fingers and toes: Poor circulation or Raynaud's phenomenon? Every brain changes with age, and mental function changes along with it. Mental decline is common, and it's one of the most feared consequences of aging. But cognitive impairment is not inevitable.
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