The Joy of Yawning

According to the authors of the book, How God Changes Your Brian, yawning is one of the best-kept secrets in neuroscience. Both Dr. Andrew Newberg and therapist, Mark Robert Waldman believe that yawning should be integrated into all exercise and stress reduction programs.

Brain-scan studies have shown that yawning activates the precuneus, a tiny structure in the folds of the parietal lobe. The precuneus plays a central role in consciousness, self-reflection, and memory retrieval. This is one of the hardest hit areas by Alzheimer's and other age-related diseases. Yawning also helps regulate the temperature and metabolism of your brain.

Evidence has shown that yawning helps individuals on military assignment perform their tasks with greater accuracy and ease. And, Olympic athletes yawn before performing.

So, if you want to maintain a healthy brain, yawn...

• When you wake up.
• When you are confronting a difficult problem at work.
• When you prepare to go to sleep.
• Whenever you feel anger, anxiety, or stress.
• Before giving an important talk.
• Before you take a test.
• While you meditate or pray.
  

The authors suggest that you may have to fake six or seven yawns before a real one will emerge.

More Brainpower On A Budget

Each weekday afternoon, I look forward to watching Dr. Oz on television, and I also enjoy reading his weekly column in The Toronto Star. I appreciate all his advice, especially that which pertains to improving brain function. As the daughter of parents with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, I am always on the lookout for new ways to increase my brainpower.

I found the following suggestions very easy to implement:

• If we get 55 micrograms of selenium daily, it is possible for the brain to perform as well as someone who is 10 years younger. One egg has 14 mcg and a slice of whole-grain bread has 10 mcg.

• Three or four servings of dark, leafy greens like spinach and kale can slow mental decline by as much as 40%.

• Compounds in blueberries can protect the brain against inflammation which is linked to Alzheimer's disease.

• Turmeric, which is found in yellow mustard, will also guard against inflammation. All that is needed is 17 mg of turmeric a day, about a teaspoon of mustard.

• Salmon, trout, and walnuts contain omega-3s which help keep the brain young.

Baby Steps Into the Unknown

Whenever we are anxious, our instinct is to stay put. Although this is comforting, it does cut us off from opportunities to grow and improve our circumstances. In his upcoming book, Change Your Brain...Change Your Body, Dr. Daniel Amen provides a few tips that will help us set change in motion.

The following baby steps are either low-cost or no-cost and are designed to have a domino effect on our lives.

• Buy or borrow a magazine that you don't usually read but interests you.

• Ask a friend or relative with very different tastes if you could borrow his/her favourite book.

• When renting or borrowing a DVD, browse through a section you normally pass over (science fiction, foreign films, documentaries).

• Use familiar food in a different way. Consider adding slices of peeled oranges or other fruits to your usual salad. Substitute chicken broth for milk in your favourite mashed potato recipe.

• Buy an unfamiliar food like daikon, quinoa, or bresaola. Then, find a recipe and make a meal using it.

• Sleep on the opposite side of the bed. You will have a different perspective when you wake up in the morning.

• Reconnect with a friend you haven't seen for awhile.

• Rearrange the furniture in one room of your home.
  

• Think back to a favourite hangout or activity from your high school or university days. Revisit the place or activity and watch your mindset change.

More Brainpower On A Budget

I highly recommend Daniel Amen's book, Magnificent Mind at any Age. Amen is a clinical neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and brain imaging expert who appears regularly on public television. You may have seen his special: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.

Amen believes that the key to satisfaction and success at any age is a healthy brain. And, it is possible for all of us to develop the qualities of a magnificent mind.

In his book, he provides a number of no-cost and low-cost suggestions:

• Since the brain is 80% water, it makes sense to drink lots of pure water.

• Eat fewer calories. Obesity is bad for your brain--fat stores toxic materials and obesity doubles the risk for Alzheimer's disease.

• Eat healthy fats such as fish, avocados, and raw nuts. These help maintain nerve cell membranes and myelin.

• Limit your exposure to environmental toxins. Painting without proper ventilation, visiting nail and hair salons too often, using pesticides, breathing in gas fumes as you fill up your car, and even remodeling your home have been implicated in brain damage.

• The brain needs physical exercise. The best exercises combine aerobic elements with some form of co-ordination movement. According to Amen, dancing and table tennis are the best and safest activities. He particularly likes table tennis which he calls aerobic chess: it gets your eyes, hands, and feet to work together while you are thinking about the spins on the ball.