Brain Health

I heard a lecture yesterday about keeping your brain healthy and it was fascinating.

The Center for BrainHealth® , out of the University of Texas at Dallas, is dedicated to achieving an individual's highest mental and communicative potential to optimize brain health after brain injury, brain disease, and natural aging. www.brainhealth.utdallas.edu.

Sandra Chapman, PhD, made several points that stuck with me.

1. Forgetting is good. Somethings don't need to be remembered (trivia, your fourth-grade teacher's birthday, long ago negative experiences). Replace them with postive memories.

2. Don't have general anesthesia if you don't have to. It puts a ding in your brain that takes a long time to overcome.

3. Older people do forget details but remember the gist. Cultivate getting the big picture.

4. Keep learning, but find something you are already find interesting. Don't take up calculus or sudoku or French if you don't like it. Get better at something you already do well.

5. Multitasking can be overwhelming. Focus on the important things.

6. Forgetting and disorientation are not normal signs of aging. Consult a specialist - your gynocologist or dentist may not know. The Center for Brain Health is proposing a "baseline" brain checkup (like in mammograms or colonoscopy) so changes can be monitored and treated.