Brain Health – Enabling Quality of Life
How Brain Health Can Impact Plans for Aging at Home
Aging at home, or “in place” is a major concern during middle-age period of life. Ask any baby boomer or senior about their greatest wish for aging, and nearly all will rank quality of life and aging in place as top picks.
Brain health is key. Self-reliance and staying at home are worthy goals, indeed. Achieving these goals, however, starts with a healthy brain.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon and CNN’s chief medical correspondent, has made some suggestions about maintaining brain health. As the author of “Keep Sharp: Build A Better Brain At Any Age,” Gupta spoke with National Public Radio’s Terry Gross on her show, “Fresh Air.” During the interview, he gives insight into maintaining brain health and talks about his research and the pandemic’s effect on our brains. He also dispels some myths about the aging brain.
There’s a perception that as people age, they lose an ability to learn new things, create new habits, and form new behavior patterns. According to Gupta, yes, the brain ages and changes, but it can also get sharper as we age. “It is sort of the use it or lose it phenomenon, when it comes to the brain if you think of the brain like a muscle, which, I think, is a fair metaphor,” he says. For example, a good exercise for our brains is to find new patterns and routines, continue learning, experiencing new things, and modifying daily habits to shake things up. As Gupta puts it, “…mix it up a little bit, shock the brain, shock the body a little bit,” Put bluntly, get out of your comfort zone!
Routine exercise, eating healthy food and getting adequate sleep also are critical factors to brain health. Gupta calls the latter a “‘ rinse’ cycle.” Allowing your brain to rest and get proper nutrition and hydration are vital for ongoing rejuvenation.
Listen to the 41-minute interview with Dr. Gupta: Dr. Gupta on NPR’s Fresh Air