Tag: Brain Function

Better Your Memory by Eating Right

Leading a healthy lifestyle can cause so many benefits and that include helping you better your memory. This is a very important aspect because if you will not take certain steps in order to nurture it, you may end up with the disorders that are associated with this function of your brain. Your memory is your brain’s ability to encode information, retain and store them and recall vital data whenever needed.

Steps to Improve Memory

There are many things that you can do to help your brain perform at its best. This can be achieved by avoiding unhealthy vices like drinking too much alcoholic beverages, smoking and turning to prohibited drugs. You must learn how to control your vices if you can’t stop immediately. Exercising also helps in giving your brain good supply of oxygen. This will enhance its performance and will make you remember things easier. It is also a must to get enough rest and good amount of sleep. The way you think will be gravely affected if you are tired, especially when you only got some hours of sleep that may leave you feeling weak and you also cannot think straight.

There are exercises that you can do to help your brain improve. You can resort to various card games that promote such benefit. You should also be active in learning new things all the time even if you are already. This must not stop you to learn by reading and training. You must also engage in different physical activities that will help regulate the blood circulation on your brain. You must also learn how to control your emotions, especially the stress that you feel as a result of thinking too much about your problems. Depression causes a major impact on one’s memory as well as emotional instability.

Eating Right

You must eat right for your brain to function well. It will not help if you will be distracted by your hunger for your thoughts to come out fluently. By eating right, it means that you have to eat the kinds of foods that are healthy in proportions that will help you stay fit and vigorous. If you are into some type of diet, just be sure that you follow the recommended intake of the food that you are allowed to eat. Here are some foods that can help you achieve the goal of attaining better memory.

1. Sunflower seeds. Nuts contain healthy fats that you can incorporate on your diet. These seeds contain abundant source of Vitamin E, an antioxidant that help out in improving your memory as you grow older. Other rich sources of Vitamin E include hazelnut, spinach, kiwi, broccoli, wheat germ oil, mango and dry almond.

2. Salmon. This contains Omega-3 fatty acids that are important in developing your brain and helping it to function better. Such acids can also be found in walnut, soybean, shrimp, scallop, tofu, winter squash, flaxseed and walnut.

3. Blueberries. These are rich in phytochemical elements that can affect one’s memory in a very good way. These are also good for your overall health.

4. Lean beef. This is rich in iron that will help you boost and help better your memory if taken in moderate proportions. But make sure that you do not eat much of this because you may encounter weight problems if you do so.

Herbal Remedies for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Are you suffering from unexplained exhaustion that lasts for more than six months and accompanied by several other symptoms such as sore throat, muscle and joint aches, lack of energy, short-term memory loss and severe headache? There’s a high chance you are afflicted with chronic fatigue syndrome. Doctors have yet to discover the exact cause of chronic fatigue syndrome or CFS, but it is widely believed that a number of factors help trigger this debilitating disorder. Immune deficiency is on top of this list.

The symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome are also classic symptoms of viral infections such as flu. And just as viral infections have no known cure yet, there is also no known cure for CFS. However, there are many ways to treat the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome and help alleviate the discomfort and illnesses that the patient suffers from.

Since chronic fatigue syndrome is most likely caused by viral infections, it is thus important to keep the immune system strong. Herbal remedies are becoming more popular as more people discover the wondrous effects of natural herbs in promoting health and fighting different types of viruses. For combating chronic fatigue syndrome, the following herbal treatments are recommended.

Ginkgo Biloba This herb is known to improve circulation and brain function. Taking ginkgo biloba can help with memory and cognitive impairments that is one of the symptoms associated with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Korean Ginseng Long used in the orient to boost energy (and sometimes as an aphrodisiac), Ginseng also strengthens the immune system and fight viral infections. It also helps alleviate the harmful effects of stress. Just use with caution, though, because this herb is quite powerful. If you have high blood pressure or heart disease, do not use ginseng. Consult an herbalist first if you are sensitive to the effects of caffeine and similar stimulants.

Echinacea This powerful herb prevents pathogens such as bacteria and viruses from entering the body and causing several disorders. It basically protects the cells from infections. Recommended dosage is to take about fifteen to twenty drops in liquid form for thrice daily for two days. This is approximately 300 325 mg taken thrice daily.

Astragalus – One of the most effective herbs to strengthen the immune system, astragalus encourages the production of white blood cells that help fight off and get rid of pathogens that have entered the body. Astragalus is effective in treating flu and head colds but should not be administered if the individual is also suffering from a fever. Recommened dosage of Astragalus is 150-250 mg taken three to four times daily.

Licorice root This herb is known primarily for its efficacy in relieving cough and as an expectorant. But licorice is also effective in purging out toxins from the body. Licorice root also supports the endocrine system. However, it is not advisable to take this herb for more than seven days in a row. If you have high blood pressure, do not take licorice root. If you plan on using licorice for extended periods, make sure you also increase your intake of foods rich in potassium.

Like all other medications, it is important to use proper dosage when using these herbal remedies to achieve the best effects. It is also best to consult a doctor and a herbalist to help you identify which herbs works best and how much dosage you should take.

Updates On The Benefits Of Fish Oil

Many scientists believe that the discovery of fish oil as brain food 150,000 years ago became is the starting point that separates modern humans from the ragtag band of earlier species. The discovery was actually an accident since fat or oil from fish was a common diet of many early people in the East African Rift Valley.

Fish oil is a brain food that caused their thinking skills to expand with incredible speed, allowing them tremendous advantage over every other species on the planet. Within a short time, they were able to dominate the earth. For these believers fat or oil form fish is most likely the candidate for the brain food that initiated their mental development. Fish oil by then was a rare type of fat that would have been in short supply on the plains of Africa but was found in great abundance in the lakes of the East African Rift Valley.

They believe that fish oil is the crucial dietary factor that enabled early generations to evolve into modern humans about 150,000 years ago. For them it is the missing link that will allows us to age with our mental capabilities completely free from many disorders. Dementia and depression are one of these disorders, both a mental health problems.

Dementia is a loss of brain function and usually occurs with other diseases. The causes of dementia are mostly not preventable. There are studies that say that dementia can be controlled by practicing healthy habits like quitting smoking, controlling high blood pressure and diabetes. Dementia has many types and one of them is the vascular dementia, a type that is caused by series of small strokes or changes in the brains blood supply. A notable healthy habit that can help reduce vascular dementia is by taking a low-fat diet and exercising regularly.

Depression on the other hand, is a psychoneurotic or psychotic disorder with symptoms like severe sadness, inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and sleeping time, feelings of hopelessness, and sometimes can lead to a suicide. A recent study revealed that higher blood levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are associated with a lower risk of these two diseases among elderly persons. EPA is found in certain fish and are believed by some to lower the risk of dementia and Alzheimers disease.

New medical research also revealed that almost every chronic disease is affected by an imbalance of eicosanoids. It is by constantly controlling insulin levels that a person can gain control of eicosanoids which is the key to prevent diseases and maintain wellness. Eicosanoids affect our body as a whole including the heart, mind and even emotions. Excess in insulin leads to a wide range of disease conditions.

There is also a need for a person to regulate calorie without hunger or deprivation. It is believe that by doing so, aging is reversed. And lastly for a person to gain balance in her well-being, a person most supplement her diet with tolerable amount of fish oil.

Hormones are the key to longevity and optimal health and you have the power to control your hormones through your diet. Once you achieve this, you can have the power to reverse the aging process, prevent heart disease, reverse cancer, reduce pain and inflammation and treat neurological disease.

And since controlling your hormones is the key to a longer and better life, fish oil is the missing link that allows you to achieve it with no side effects.