Posts tagged High Blood Pressure
Healthy Aging – Eight Ways to Keep Your Mind Sharp As You Age
Nov 1st
At 63, I am constantly looking for ways for keeping my mind sharp. It is a vital topic to me since I spend a lot of time teaching and writing. Here are eight tips that have served me well.
1. Keep on learning
My main role model for keeping intellectually fit is my friend Sigy, 88 years young. Whenever I speak to him, he tells me about the latest online course he has downloaded. Sigy is constantly challenging himself with something new.
2. Take a multivitamin supplement
Health experts recommend that older people take a multivitamin daily to promote optimal health and a strong immune system. It helps maintain and boost good health and wellness. On the other hand, Live Science.com reports that so-called “brain pills,” such as ginkgo biloba and melatonin, offer no beneficial effect. In fact, they might have negative side effects such as high blood pressure and digestion problems.
3. Live a “balanced” lifestyle
Research shows that leading a balanced life – however you define it – can reduce stress and retard memory impairment. David Corbett takes a long-term view of a balanced life in his book Portfolio Life. He recommends the following:
- having a satisfying vocation a profession,
- being a lifelong learner,
- making time for personal pursuits and recreation,
- enjoying family and friends, and
- getting back to society.
4. Watch what you eat
- Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid that is critical to brain function. It can reduce the risk of macular degeneration, protect against Alzheimer’s disease, and fight arthritis. What are good foods to eat? Try salmon, trout, mackerel, herring and sardines.
- Recent studies have shown that two to four cups of coffee a day may increase your cognitive capacity and help you fight Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists are not sure whether it is due to the caffeine or the antioxidants found in coffee and tea.
- Do not want to overeat or under eat. Either one can have harmful consequences for brain functioning. The Food and Nutrition information Center at the National Agricultural Library of the US Department of Agriculture has some great resources on healthy eating.
Check out the Tufts University Food Guide Pyramid for Older Adults aged 54 for tips on a healthful diet. Here are two suggestions that you can easily remember: eat, bright colored vegetables (carrots and spinach for example) and deep colored fruit (berries and sliced melon are two).
5. Get enough sleep
If you do not sleep enough, you are likely to pay the price in having attention and memory problems. You also run the risk of making it harder for yourself to learn new things and think. And what does sleeping enough mean? According to the US National Institute of Health, older adults need as much sleep as younger adults: 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Check the NIH website for some helpful tips on sleeping well.
6. Exercise your memory
Here are some tips for improving your memory:
- pay attention to what you need to learn.
- process information according to your learning style.
- use as many of your senses as possible.
- connect information to knowledge you have already learned.
- organize information through words or mind maps.
7. Have the right amount of energy
I am an advocate of the rising-energy model of aging. I do not believe that it is inevitable that your energy will decline as you age.
Harvard produced a special health report called Boosting your Energy that proposed a seven-step plan for increasing your natural energy. Here are the first three steps from Julie K. Silver, M.D. of the Harvard Medical School:
- set goals and write them down; it is a great way to motivate yourself.
- keep your stress in check by discussing it with others using relaxation techniques and writing your feelings down on paper.
- do not overwork yourself; use smart techniques that allow you to work better by working less.
8. Get enough exercise
According to Live Science, “scientists are starting to think that regular exercise may be the single most important thing you can do for the long-term health of your brain.” The American College of Sports Medicine urges older adults to work out strenuously at least 15 to 60 minutes three to five days per week. That means getting your heart rate up to 60% to 90% of your maximal heart rate (220 minus current age).
I often go running with my heart monitor strapped around my chest. In a recent 50-minute run up and down small hills, my average heart rate was 127, which was 80% of my maximal heart rate. I was right on target!
The Power of Positive Emotions
Oct 13th
Assisting others to achieve their dreams has always been a core principle that has guided me in my life. It is my personal belief that when any of us have a touch point with someone that we can affect that person in one of three ways and leave them feeling: negative and provoking destructive emotions, indifferent or unaffected, or we can choose to inspire and awaken the positive, productive emotions.
I have exercised the discipline of the latter because my over thirty-eight years of experience has afforded me wisdom of a very important principle. It is a principle taught in every major religion and exercised all too infrequently and as a consequence it has led to the learned helplessness that a vast majority of adults suffer from preventing them from reaching for their dreams. This principle is that there is power in positive emotions. As one gains mastery over their emotions they learn to transform any circumstance into a positive; and in so doing, find success where others lose themselves in failure and a morass of negative emotions.
When one indulges in negative emotions they instantaneously change their blood chemistry, altering the actual morphology of their brain cells, solidifying and strengthening the negative biochemical responses to stressors. They also lose their ability to see the positive solutions to their unique challenges, and actually train their brain (the single most powerful tool God has graced us all with) to seek out more of the same stressors. To say that this dynamic is counterproductive to athlete and student development is a vast understatement. Over time this condition of failure causes very dangerous medical conditions like: hypertension, stress, phobic responses, arterial sclerosis, high blood pressure, heart disease, bone loss, loss of lean body mass, extreme weight gain or unhealthy weight loss, insomnia and a myriad of other health issues. It is a serious matter that is largely overlooked.
Conversely, positive emotions and the discipline of conditioning oneself to evoke them instantaneously changes blood chemistry in a potent way. The power of positive emotions alters the actual morphology of brain cells forming new neural connections which has been proven to increase productivity, problem solving and even the persons I.Q. instantly. Further, positive emotions strengthen the reaction to circumstances in a productive direction on a biochemical and emotional level, thus leaving the individual more capable and equipped. Over time positive emotions becomes a reflex response to circumstances and stressors leading to very powerful physiological responses: piece of mind and a feeling of well being (or that no matter what the circumstance all things will work out), a balanced blood chemistry, increased production of testosterone and growth hormone, increase in lead body mass, physical strength and stamina, deep and restful sleep and much more.
It is important to understand this dynamic in order to appreciate the fact that in order for me to assist others to fulfill their dreams I must first evoke the power of positive emotions they already possess, but in most cases do not exercise. It is a mental, emotional and spiritual state of being. It is a discipline that must be learned and mastered overtime. It is ‘the zone’ or place where genius is manifested in the individual and collectively a state of being that creates the greatest of human achievements… It all starts with a smile, a handshake, a positive greeting, a pat on the back or a comment that uplifts the spirit or brightens one’s day. This is why I pinch a child’s cheek, give my students a hug, compliment good behavior, praise the straight ‘A’, greet everyone with a smile and take a moment to uplift. Creating an atmosphere of positivity enhances everyone’s progress and empowers those who have courage to reach for their dreams.
Over the many years, I have done whatever I could to help, whether that is subsidizing tuition and personal training during difficult times, having special conferences with parents and teachers, public speaking for special events, or assisting extended family members of whom I have never met. Giving is a privilege that feeds the soul and it evokes transformational power of positive emotions. It is a core principle I exercise as often as possible.
