Kinetic Enterprise's Health Capital Assessment
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Greedy Brain
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Pop Quiz:
What organ is approximately 2% of your body weight and yet consumes more than 20% of your oxygen and nutrients?
Answer:
Your big, hungry, greedy brain. ...and you thought that old Jaguar of yours was expensive to maintain.
"Sheesh!" you're thinking, "I'm just starting to figure out how to support the health of my body, and now I have to think about the health of my brain too??"
No worries! According to Alvaro Fernandez, CEO and co-founder (his partner is neuroscientist, Dr. Elkhonon Goldbert) of the California-based brain fitness Web site and consulting firm, Sharp Brains, "what is good for the body, is good for the brain."
So what is good for that greedy mass of grey matter between your ears?
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The Four Pillars of "Smarts"
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A fascinating hour-long interview with Alvaro (whodescribes himself as a "learning micro-organism" ...no doubt! The man has masters' degrees in economics, business and education. Talk about someone with plenty of active grey matter...) yielded these four pillars that are essential maintaining-and building-your cognitive capacity:
Nutrition
See the archived issues of Fueling Your Fire, Super Foods and Super Fuzzy Brain, for ideas.
Physical Fitness
Particularly cardiovascular fitness, which increases circulating oxygen in your blood and brain.
Stress Management
Read below for a compelling reason to stop fretting.
Brain Exercise
Including the three essential prongs of: "novelty" (learning new skills), "variety"(engaging your brain in new and different ways), and "challenge" (working at the edge of your current capacity).
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Your Brain's Worst Enemy
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During our interview when Alvaro was asked,
"what is a healthy brain's worst enemy?"
he responded definitively and without hesitation:
"Worrying too much and
holding a passive attitude towards life."
It turns out that the cascade of biological events that are the result of chronic stress not only kills current neurons, but it prevents the growth of new ones.
So, in the words of the Dalai Lama, "If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry."
Well said.
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The Big Myth
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The good news is that, contrary to popular belief, intelligence isn't fixed and mental decline isn't a mandatory part of aging. In fact, scientists have shown how the adult brain retains the ability to generate new neurons throughout life. So, by giving our brains the same investment of time and care that we give our cars and retirement portfolios, we can not only maintain the our current level of rapid-fire thinking, but we can actually increase our intelligence through new neural growth. Now, stop ruminating on whatever is worrying you, run to the fridge (literally run... it's good for your brain), grab a spinach salad and challenge yourself to try a new mental task. Check out these Sharp Brains Teasers to get you started... |
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