拥有健康大脑的10大技巧
爱思英语编者按:想要享有终生的大脑健康?以下10条有效的建议摘自从生物学、心理学、社会学和老年学上对老年化的现有研究,不妨好好参考一下。 Top 10 Tips for a Healthy Brain Want to enjoy lifelong brain health? The following behaviors are pulled from existing research on aging from the biological, psychological, social, and gerontological sciences. 1. Engage Yourself in the Complex and Novel Learning new information and skills across your entire lifespan helps to keep your brain strong even in the later years of life. Activities that have the highest value for brain health are those that are novel and complex to each particular person. What is easy for one person may be challenging for another, so the things that challenge you the most have the most value for your brain. It is the novel and complex that will challenge the brain, stimulate learning, and promote synaptic density, decreasing the likelihood that neurodegenerative disease will manifest. With practice of an activity or skill, your synaptic density increases, and what was once novel and complex can easily become rote and passive. Therefore, continually learning new things will ensure your brain is always expanding and staying sharp! Mental Stimulation Exercise: This activity is designed to help you understand what is personally novel and complex for you, versus what is rote and passive. •Take out a sheet of paper, and divide the paper in half. •In the left column, list five activities that you enjoy and have fun with, and do most frequently. This list represents activities that are rote and passive. Your mind is already comfortable with these activities, which lessens the benefit it has on your brain. •In the right column, list five activities that you find complicated, and don't engage in frequently. This list represents activities your brain has not yet formed strong neural connections with, they are the complex and novel. These activities will likely benefit the development of new connections in your brain. 2. Exercise Regularly Exercise has the positive effect of enhancing successful aging. Exercise performed on a routine basis may not only reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disease, but also may help to slow the course of an existing disease, such as Alzheimer's. Exercise can improve our energy levels, sense of well-being, sleep, and brain health. Engaging in regular exercise also reduces the risk of depression and anxiety. Identifying why we do not exercise permits us to systematically break down our barriers, and to slowly change our behaviors towards a healthy lifestyle. |