Boost Your Brain (23 page)

By the time you reach week twelve, your weekly score will have risen, along with your Fotuhi Brain Fitness Score (which you will calculate at the end of this chapter and can compare to your baseline score from
chapter 3
), and you’ll have the enhanced memory, clarity, and creativity to show for it.

First, a little more detail. In contrast to your Fotuhi Brain Fitness Score, which represents your current brain fitness based on your current lifestyle, you’ll now be rating yourself on your
effort
each week using a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best) in eight key categories:

Exercise
Give yourself a 1 if you were sedentary this week, or a 5 if you were quite active, engaging in thirty minutes of high-intensity aerobic exercise, combined with 15 minutes of weight lifting five days a week. Give yourself a 2, 3, or 4 if you fell somewhere in between.

Food Quality
Give yourself a 1 if you ate a very unhealthy diet this week (no fruits or vegetables, no fish, and items high in trans fats, salt, and simple carbohydrates), or a 5 if your diet was healthy (balanced, with five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, two to three servings of fish a week, and items high in flavonoids and low in trans fats, salt, and simple carbohydrates). Give yourself a 2, 3, or 4 if you fell somewhere in between.

Food Quantity
Give yourself a 1 if you ate oversize portions and paid no attention to the number of calories you consumed this week, or a 5 if you were cognizant of caloric intake and ate healthy portions (a serving of meat, for example, that was the size of the palm of your hand). Give yourself a 2, 3, or 4 if you fell somewhere in between.

DHA
Give yourself a 1 if you ate no fish and did not take a DHA supplement this week, or a 5 if you ate fish twice this week and took 1,000 milligrams of DHA daily. Give yourself a 2, 3, 4 if you fell somewhere in between.

Mindfulness
Give yourself a 1 if you were stressed every day this week, a 5 if you were often in the alpha zone (focused, calm, and alert), or a 2, 3, or 4 if your state of mind fell somewhere in between.

Attitude
Give yourself a 1 if you were frequently pessimistic this week, a 5 if you were optimistic, or a 2, 3, 4 if you fell somewhere in between.

Sense of Curiosity
Give yourself a 1 if you did little to expand your horizons, learn something, or try a new activity; a 5 if you were highly curious, learning, and trying new activities; or a 2, 3, 4 if you fell somewhere in between.

Memory Stimulation
Give yourself a 1 if you didn’t make any effort this week to memorize names, phone numbers, lists, or anything else; a 5 if you memorized the name of every person you met and always memorized your shopping list or other random lists; or a 2, 3, or 4 if your memory training fell somewhere in between.

In addition to your scores, you should note your blood pressure and pulse each week.

You’ll also use the “notes” section of the scorecard to record any unusual factors. If a work project caused you heightened stress one week, an injury affected your mobility, or a new medication affected your sleep, this is the place to register it! You can also use this space to keep track of your weight or clothing size.

When you rate yourself each week, you’ll obtain a total score. To track your progress over the next twelve weeks, plot your weekly total score on the graph on the next page.

Week One

It usually takes about three weeks to form a habit; hence, the first three weeks of the plan outlined next are fairly concrete, while the remaining weeks offer some flexibility. For the first week, you’ll complete your chosen track in each of the four brain-booster categories. As the weeks progress, each track will get progressively more ambitious. If at any point you feel you could do more, move up to the next track and complete the assigned work for that track.

As you work through the weeks, continue to read this book to learn about brain shrinkers and see if they apply to you. I’ve noted a few weeks where you should pay particular attention to a few common brain shrinkers.

Now choose your track for each category and follow the advice. You’ve already seen a preview of these, but we’ve reprinted them here to make selection easier.

Exercise

Track 1:
If you lead a sedentary lifestyle and are currently not exercising at all, this is your track. I want you to get moving, but I don’t expect you to run a marathon (at least not anytime soon). Start by walking for ten minutes at a time, three days a week.

Track 2:
If you’re not completely sedentary—for example, if you walk a good bit for work—and exercise occasionally, this is your track. Walk fast or jog for twenty minutes, three days a week. (Don’t count time you walk at work; this must be twenty uninterrupted minutes.)

Track 3:
If you already exercise twice a week or more, this if your track. Do thirty minutes of uninterrupted aerobic activity, five days a week, plus five extra minutes of weight lifting, push-ups, or another muscle-building activity, three days a week.

Diet

Track 1:
If you’re currently consuming a highly unhealthy diet, with few brain-building nutrients, this is your track. First, you’ll need to detox, cutting the worst foods from your diet before you make any serious effort to add brain builders. Commit to cutting your consumption of trans fats almost entirely and your consumption of simple carbohydrates—often found in processed foods—by 50 percent. Try to avoid sugary foods, such as donuts, which are high on the glycemic index, as they’ll cause a spike in your blood sugar.

Exercise Tips

MAKE IT AN EVENT
Even if you’re on the easy end of track 1, take your exercise seriously. Put on comfortable shoes, schedule time, and then get outside, on a treadmill, in a mall, or wherever you choose to walk or run. Creating habits—like setting aside time to move and even breaking out and lacing up your sneakers—that center around an activity will make you much more likely to stick with it in the long run.

SUBSTITUTE
Cross-train by substituting stationary cycling, swimming, or another aerobic activity for walking or running.

BUDDY UP
Find an exercise partner. You’re less likely to cancel a workout or quit your regimen if someone else is counting on you to show up. Set goals together and celebrate when you reach them.

Track 2:
If you’ve already detoxed, or you already eat a somewhat healthy diet, this is your track. Focus on eating natural rather than processed or fast food. Be sure to include flavonoids.

Track 3:
If you’re already eating a healthy, balanced diet, this is your track. Supplement your diet with 1,000 milligrams daily of DHA. (Note: If you take Coumadin or another blood thinner, do not take DHA.) Be sure you know the levels of your vitamins B12 and D. If they’re low, supplement. If they’re borderline, adjust your diet to feature more foods that offer vitamins B12 and D.

Mindfulness

Track 1:
If you’ve never done any type of mindfulness activity, this is your track. Start with my simple 7-7-7 breathing exercise. Do it once a day, three times a week, and focus on your technique. If you feel noticeably calmer after doing it, you’ve probably got it right.

Track 2:
If you’ve had some experience in the past with meditation or another form of mindfulness, or are currently taking such a class, this is your track. Meditate twenty minutes a day, four days a week.

Track 3:
If you’re already a practiced meditator or regularly engage in some other mindful activity, this track is for you. Continue with your mindfulness practices and set aside three half-hour sessions to write down all the things you love about your life. Think about why you love them and then come up with ways to increase your exposure to the things you cherish. For example, I love spending time with my daughters, Nora and Maya, so one of my thirty-minute sessions might end with a plan that allows me to get home from work a bit earlier twice a week.

Cognitive Stimulation

Track 1:
If you’re a cognitive couch potato—you do little to stimulate your brain, aren’t socially active, and rarely attempt to memorize facts or names—this track is for you. This week, practice memorizing a list of eight random words a day, three days a week, using the tips provided in
chapter 7
. (Hint: Use a newspaper or magazine to help you pick random words for memorization.)

Track 2:
If your life is somewhat socially and cognitively stimulating but you rarely take on activities that stretch your “memory muscle,” this is your track. This week, practice memorizing a list of twenty random words a day, four days a week. Try to incorporate cognitive stimulation into your daily life as well. Think of it as the equivalent of taking the stairs rather than the elevator: add numbers in your head, play around with your electronic gadgets to see what new functions you can perform with them, read the directions and figure out how things work!

Track 3:
If you’re socially active, your life or work involves mental gymnastics, and you’re already good at remembering names, this is your track. Your goal is to flex your “memory muscle” in new and challenging ways in order to enhance your cognitive flexibility. This week, practice remembering thirty-six items three days a week, and ten names two days a week.

Act Your Age!

As we age, different factors affect our brain health and performance. As you continue through your twelve-week plan, keep these age-based modifications in mind:

In Your Twenties and Thirties

Most people in this age group have minimal memory and cognitive function complaints, although attention can be a concern. The chief goal now is to get the brain into the best possible condition to ensure maximum performance now and to offset the wave of aging that’s ahead. At this age you should . . .

Work on Attention Issues
Regular exercise and daily supplementation of 1,000 mg of DHA may help reduce problems with attention. But if such interventions don’t seem to help, be sure to talk to your doctor about your attention concerns. You may have treatable conditions such as sleep apnea, an underactive thyroid, vitamin deficiency, or ADHD. These could be treated well with simple interventions that may or may not include medication.

Build Brain-Healthy Lifetime Habits
They’ll benefit you now and in the future, so the sooner you make it a lifestyle, the better. Just like you have a routine of brushing your teeth, get into the habit of eating brain-healthy food, exercising regularly, watching your waist-to-height ratio, getting quality sleep, and stimulating your brain.

Get Emotionally Fit
Find strategies that work for you to reduce stress. Set long-term goals you would love to achieve one day, and then take pleasure in completing small steps toward those goals on a daily basis. If your long-term goal is to be a lawyer, for example, take pleasure in the fact that you study an extra hour for a test in the basic college course that will help you further your academic career.

Treat Any Brain-Draining Conditions
If you have or suspect you have sleep apnea, diabetes or pre-diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, or any other vascular risk factors, be diligent about treating them and reducing your risk. The effects of these diseases are cumulative, so the longer you have them the more you’ve damaged your brain.

In Your Forties and Fifties