Simple Strategies to Prevent Your Brain from Aging Too Fast

Introduction

I hope you know that your personality is controlled by your brain. If for some reason your brain becomes dysfunctional, you also lose most of the attributes of your current personality. The opposite is also true. When a mentally ill person is treated and recovers, his or her personality shifts improves.

Losing brain function is scary. Imagine, for example, losing your ability to remember things. You don’t remember who you are, etc., etc., It means you have lost your independence and you are living completely under the mercy of others! Don’t you think that is too scary? However, let us remember that this can happen to anyone. There are just too many things which are impacting negatively on our brains. Stress, chemicals, chronic diseases, and even our genes.

This article will explore simple strategies that anyone can use to help boost the wellbeing of their brains.

Don’t Step into a Fire if You Don’t Want to Get Burned

If you step into a fire, you will surely get burned unless of course you are covered with fire insulators. This means that the best strategy to avoid being burned by a fire is to avoid playing recklessly with it. The same applies to health. If you don’t want to get sick then avoid conditions that can cause your body to contract illnesses. If you don’t want your brain to deteriorate, then avoid conditions which impacts negatively on it. What are these conditions?

Stress

Stress is not a mental illness, but it can contribute to the onset of various mental health disorders or worsen existing ones. It can increase the risk of developing mental illnesses such as anxiety disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and others. Moreover, stress can also exacerbate symptoms in individuals already diagnosed with mental health conditions. It can trigger episodes of anxiety or depression, intensify existing symptoms, and make it more challenging to manage the condition effectively.

We can’t avoid stress but we can manage it. But do you know how? If you don’t, you need to learn. We have developed a hand book on how to manage stress and promote mindfulness. If you like you could access it here: The Nuts and Bolts of Stress Management

Chemicals

Some studies show that some chemicals that are routinely used can harm the health of the brain. Here are three of them: Aluminum Sulfate (Alum); Fluroquinolones; and Quinolones. Aluminum sulfate is used in water treatment plants to remove impurities including dirt, organic matter, bacteria, and other impurities.

Although the amount of alum that is added to water is strictly controlled, there is still concern that this may not be enough to stem its health impacting effects. Because of this some people who can afford reverse osmosis pumps install them to further purify their drinking water.

Another class of chemicals that is believed to harm the health of the brain contains fluroquinolones and quinolones. These chemicals form some antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections. These are potentially dangerous chemicals with ill effect on human health in general, but particularly on brain cells and nerves. In a press release of 16th November 2018, The European Medicines Agency (EMA) wrote:

‘EMA has reviewed serious, disabling and potentially permanent side effects with quinolone and fluoroquinolone antibiotics given by mouth, injection or inhalation. The review incorporated the views of patients, healthcare professionals and academics presented at EMA’s public hearing on fluoroquinolone and quinolone antibiotics in June 2018.

‘EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) has endorsed the recommendations of EMA’s safety committee (PRAC) and concluded that the marketing authorization of medicines containing cinoxacin, flumequine, nalidixic acid, and pipemidic acid should be suspended….’.

Some common medicines containing fluoroquinolones and quinolones are cinoxacin, ciprofloxacin, flumequine, levofloxacin, lomefloxacin, moxifloxacin, nalidixic acid, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, pefloxacin, pipemidic acid, prulifloxacin and rufloxacin.

The best way to avoid the side effects of these chemicals is to heed this advise and steer clear of this class of antibiotics, even if in your part of the world it is still legitimate to use them.

Chronic Diseases

Some chronic diseases like diabetes and atherosclerosis have a negative impact on the brain. The brain is an energy intensive organ. The brain accounts for about 20% of the body's energy consumption, although in terms of mass, it only represents 2 percent of the body’s weight. A lot of glucose must be channeled to the brain cells to manufacture this energy. The brain of a diabetic person can’t carry this task effectively because the brain cells can not effectively take in the glucose.

A person who suffers from atherosclerosis (the narrowing down of blood vessels due to plaque build-up) has a reduced blood flow to various body organs, including the brain. This means the brain is not getting enough oxygen and nutrients to be able to operate optimally.

If you are a diabetic you need to closely monitor and manage the disease. But what you need even more is to get your cells to open up so the much-needed glucose can flow in. Since the cells closed up due to inflammation, you need to take in some anti-inflammatory substances. However, you need to be careful. Many pharmaceutical anti-inflammatory drugs can have serious side effects. I recommend using turmeric instead. Turmeric is a powerful natural anti-inflammatory substance and is very safe. In addition, scientific studies have revealed that turmeric can prevent the so-called amyloid protein plaques from entangling and choking up brain cells. Many scientists believe that primarily memory loss is caused by this. Mix turmeric powder with a little black pepper powder to improve its absorbability and you are there!

Using ketogenic diet is a much smarter way for a diabetic to have his/her brain achieve optimal performance. This is a diet constituting of some protein, a mixture of vegetables and some good fats. This is a great diet because it does not cause inflammation, it does not raise blood sugar and the fat in it can feed the brain cells and release the much-needed energy.

If you are suffering from atherosclerosis chances are your blood circulation is full of calcium. This occurs when your body is too acid and your bones are forced to release calcium to aid to neutralize the acid. Why is your body full of acid? You have been eating too much proteins and carbohydrates, and have neglected your vegetables and fruits. So, eat more vegetables and fruits and reduce consumption of proteins and fruits. Just dress your vegetables with some good fats so you don’t miss out on the energy you need. Fat is a superior source of energy compared to carbohydrates and proteins.

Other measures

Scientific studies suggest that repairing brain cells need a hormone called ghrelin. This is a hormone which is produced by the body only when we are hungry. Aha! So fasting is a great way to effect brain repair huh? So, let us adopt fasting as a key strategy in preventing our brains from aging.

In so many situations the seeds of our own destruction are within our genes. The genes predispose us to many diseases, including some those affecting the brain. The good thing is that gene expression depends on the body environment. For example, you may contain genes which predispose you towards becoming a diabetic. However, whether you eventually become a diabetic or not will depend on how you have been treating your body. Chances are if you completely forgo sugar and starch and eat only ketogenic diet you will never be diabetic.

Conclusion

Your brain is too precious to lose. There are many strategies that can help you to maintain it in its optimal condition including those outlined above. It is your responsibility to learn and implement them. Here is a recipe that can help you and your loved ones to maintain optimal brain function. Invest just a little to access it here: RECIPE TO PREVENT MEMORY LOSS & BRAIN FOG

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