One of the most important glitches of aging is the decreasing function of the brain. As years are added up to your age, you will realize that you are forgetting more things than usual. There are times when you would have difficulty recalling people’s name particularly if they’ve been away for a while. There are times when you’ll go to some place and wonder why you were there at all. Something in your brain circuit is definitely not clicking the way it should, as it used to when you were younger.
The good news is, the scaffolding theory has recently been discovered. According to this theory, you can build a better brain even as you age. Your neural circuits will be able to function more properly and efficiently as opposed to the common course without the intrusion of scaffolding.
The Vital Function of Neurons
It is the skill of a young brain to activate other neural circuits when some are not functioning as well. In this time and age, even an older brain can accomplish switching on the other circuits to continue to enjoy better brain function. Suddenly, they can challenge the natural course and proceed to solve mental problems just as well as young adults do or even better.
You may have heard of the debate between the advocates of neural fallouts and the supporters of the plasticity model of the aging brain. Neural fallouts advocates argue that loss of neurons and synapses occur as years pass. On the other side of the arena, plasticity fans stood firm by the research that shows some neurons in the brain actually never stop developing new connections, continuously functioning to maintain the balance of brain resources.
Youth vs. Experience
Aging is also an important player on the function of the brain known as “procedural memory”. Procedural memory is the brain’s ability to remember the normal processes that individuals go through in their daily lives. It includes the simplest of tasks, the most trivial memories. The normal course of aging usually spares your ability to perform those tasks. It is as if mastery of the skill or familiarity of it actually helps make your brain remember.
Even in other areas that are intense and cognitively challenging like playing chess, typing, and reading, it has been proven that experience usually takes over youth. Master chess players can easily make a move at first sight of the board. They only take a longer time to move as usual thinking for a better way to win the match. Some areas of the brain indeed mature well into the middle years, especially those that are involved in complex skills and languages.
Give your Mind a Mental Boost
In case your mind does not respond to the alternate neural circuit thingy, you can always do something to maintain your mental health even as you age. First, you can do cardio exercises. A physical activity such as aerobics is usually thought of as an antidote for cardiovascular disease. But it can do more than keeping your heart healthy. It can also make your mind sweat and keep it well while you go through the routine.
Secondly, you can watch what you put into your mouth. Your diet — what you eat – can significantly get in the way of your brain’s function. You may have heard that taking foods with Omega-3 is healthy not just for the body but for the brain, too. Flavonoid-rich foods like fruits and vegetables, dark chocolates, and non alcoholic red wine also have essential effects to your cognition. The importance of flavonoids in brain function has been proven by a research made in France over a ten-year period. High levels of flavonoids were associated with significantly lower memory declines.
Thirdly, the amount of mental activity you get into spells a striking difference on how your brain age in the long run. You can even prevent Alzheimer’s disease from happening or ever having to appear as obvious.
Last but not the least is your mental attitude. To help preserve your mental abilities, you must be in tune to the fact that your cognition may change as you age. But you must not settle for that fact alone. Because you can definitely do something to help strengthen your cognitive abilities or make it function as efficient as it used to.
Keeping the brain young is my work in progress. I take it upon myself to find ways on how I can protect my mind from aging and from the risks of suffering from degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Do you want to know what I’ve found out from different resources online? I’d share them with you here:
Cardio workouts and aerobic exercises are good brain sharpeners. However, some doctors suggest that to make your physical activity more beneficial to your overall health, combine aero with weight training. Keeping yourself fit by ‘moving it’ has been found to forestall mental decline and may even help restore a sharp memory.
Foods that contain antioxidants may not only help protecting yourself against cancer. They can also keep your brain healthy and well-functioning. But more than just focusing on picking the right variety of food, you must also mind how much you eat. The same weight that’s paining your legs will also burden your brain and keep it from making witty replies.
Speech training will also help your brain speed up even at an age when it usually starts to slow down. You can take a brain fitness program that is mainly about working to improve your hearing and language , paying serious attention to accuracy and speed.
It does not follow that getting old means decreasing mind ability. You can still enjoy top-of-the-line mental skills if you are able to take care of yourself. There are several ways to help sharpen the mind. First, you must use it so as not to lose it. You can keep your mind sharp by continuously putting it at work. Second, body exercise can also mean mind exercise. Doing cardio workouts have been connected to increasing mental ability. Third, eat to feed not just your stomach but your mind as well. There are brain-friendly foods that you should take in order to enjoy a healthy mind.
If you want to keep your mind sharp, you have to work your body and keep it healthy in all sense of the word.