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Dr. John Den Boer Top 10 Tips for Keeping a Healthy (Aging) Brain

By: Dr. John Den Boer

As we age, many challenges face us.  One of the most major (some would say THE most major) challenges – is keeping your brain healthy.  Given our brain controls everything – our thoughts, feelings, who we are and want to be – we need to focus on keeping this most important organ healthy. Dr. John DenBoer

Please see below for some important tips on keeping your brain healthy, especially as you age.

For those who would appreciate a condensed version, here it is:

Dr. John’s Top 10

1).  Prioritize Sleep

2). Use flashcards

3). New and Novel Learning

4). Get Creative

5). Get Aerobic

6). Visualize everything!

7). Consider Supplementation

8). Err on the side of errors

9). Recall Practice

10). Surround Yourself with Family/Friends

1). Prioritize Sleep

Closely tied with physical exercise, good, quality sleep helps both regenerate physical muscle and promote rest.  Sleep also helps heal the wounds of mental health, including helping mitigate trauma and help with depression and anxiety. John Den Boer Sleep also has a significant neurocognitive benefit, including (but not limited to) the regrowth of neurons and the re-formation of neural connections.

2) Use Flashcards

If you are learning something concrete, flashcards are a great tool for “spaced recall”: you learn when you create the cards, then use them at intervals to test yourself.  This should be closely tied with the use of visual imagery (see #6 below).

3) New and Novel Learning

As we age, we must continuously engage in new and novel learning.  What is new and novel?  At the most basic level, it is something that we have not done before.  One of the biggest fallacies in aging is that we simply have to keep our brains active to preserve our cognitive facilities.  This is incorrect – simply brain activity is not enough.  Rather, engaging in new and novel learning is needed. John Den Boer This process stimulates new neural connections and helps release neuroprotective chemicals, which help reduce brain atrophy.

4). Get Creative

Do things you like, like things you do!  Be creative and find things that both challenge and invigorate you.  Some examples are matching-card memory games, “brain workout” John Den Boer (such as that supplied by the Alzheimer’s Society) brain games, or crossword puzzles and/or jigsaws.

5) Get Aerobic

Aerobic exercise is the single most helpful thing for brain health.  This is above and beyond cognitive stimulation or “brain games.”  How much or what type depends on you, but aerobic exercise is generally defined as 30 minutes or more of continuous exercise with a heart rate above 90 beats per minute. John Den Boer

6). Surround yourself with family and friends

Avoid isolation.  Surround yourself with friends, family members, and general people that make you happy.

7).  Consider Supplementation

Osteocalcin, a hormone released by bones that can be boosted by weightlifting, appears to have a key role in retaining memories in old age.  Also, iron deficiencies may also impact memory and may be helped significantly by supplementation.  Women may also consider hormone replacement therapy as well in an effort to combat low estrogen levels.  No medical therapies should be enacted unless first approved by a physician.

8).  Err on the side of errors

In terms of the brain, try to succeed, but it’s more important to try. Research on “deliberate erring” (i.e., consciously making errors) found that making purposeful errors can promote deeper understanding and better recall, with learners who inserted then corrected deliberate errors learning approximately double those who put the right answer first time. John Den Boer

9).  Recall Practice

“Names don’t generally mean anything,” says Kermode, whose four world records include memorizing 224 names in 15 minutes. That means you have to make them meaningful to you. When you’re introduced to someone, “Come up with something that’s similar to that word, or something that rhymes with it: Brian could be ‘brain’, or Dominic could be domino; Dave likes to rave.” John Den Boer

10). Visualize Everything

Try to put visual images to anything written or (particularly) verbal.  According to an article in the Guardian.  For birthdays and other dates, Kermode suggests attributing an object to each month (“October might be a pumpkin; February a love heart”) and an image of the day. To remember a birthday on 4 February, Kermode suggests, “It can be as simple as the number 4 looks like a sailboat, so you can imagine they really love boats.” If you want to remember your schedule, associate each day of the week with an event or place: “Wednesday could be a wedding you’ve been to, so all the things you’re supposed to do on Wednesday, you could imagine happening at that wedding.” John Den Boer

You may also consider choosing striking visual images.  The more complex, the more visual, the better.  The rules: choose vivid images, the weirder the better; you should feel some emotional engagement (funny or disgusting work well) and the two elements should interact in the image you create, John Den Boer actively if possible.

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