Every Day Brain Health: Engage Your Senses

There is one easy thing you can do every day to help build your brain’s reserve and open up new pathways.  As a bonus, this one simple thing will help you think about and experience the world in a fuller, richer, more engaged manner while firing up the chemical and electrical qualities that keep your brain pumping.

Tune into your senses.

We know that heightened sensory experiences light up areas in your brain. *  So, when you bite into an apple and you feel the resistances as your teeth break through the skin, hear the crunch, and taste / smell the sweet/tart flavors and aromas of the fall harvest, you are firing up the activity in your brain in a different way.  The process of triggering those brain regions bathes them with good chemicals and activates electrical connections that keep those pathways – those direct routes to experiencing the world – open, nourished, and ready for action.

Sensory information lighting up the brain!

Did you know that you can get that same result by thinking about a sensory experience or reading about a sensory experience?   That description of biting into an apple – as you, in your mind’s eye, see, feel, hear, taste, and smell the process — set in motion the process of nourishing your brain with the same kinds of good activity as actually participating. *

Think about this….  You can take a moment in your life and imagine everything you might see, hear, taste, feel, and smell.  Heighten that experience, taking information from your sensory life, and light up your brain.

Take this moment, right now, and examine it through your senses.   Yes, you are looking at a screen of some kind reading words.  As you are thinking about the moment, tune in to what else is happening.  Take a moment and turn up your senses.

Be very careful, though… you may trigger something even more powerful.   Experiencing your life more fuller could lead to increased enjoyment, amplified pleasure, and a deeper appreciation for the moment.

 

From the brain geek’s corner:

*This chapter in NIH supported research The Neural Basis of Multisensory Processes introduces methods (fMRI and BOLD) for measuring brain activity and the data to support.

*Harvard is working with MEG as a way to measure brain activity and this study deals with heightened sensory data.

*Here is the foundational research on rewiring your brain – actual neuro-regeneration – through sensory experience.

Brain Food: Spice Up Your Dishes and Protect Your Brain

Evidence is mounting that our brains benefit dramatically when we consume healthy amounts of food containing antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Healthy levels of both in the blood have been linked to:
• Reduced age-related inflammation in the brain.
• Healthier immune systems.
• Inhibiting the progress of buildup of beta amyloids found in Alzheimer’s patients’ brains.
• Increased cognitive functioning and brain mass.

This area of research is in its infancy and much more study is needed to show exactly how it all works. For now and for all practical purposes, it is enough to know that paying attention to getting enough antioxidants and anti-inflammatory elements in our diet will, without question, make us healthier and think better.

Spice things up!
Spices are incredible, little known sources of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. When you add spice to your dishes you are doing 2 really great things: wake up your senses and reduce your risk of damage to your brain from the effects of long term inflammation.

For an all-out powerful antioxidant/anti-inflammatory infusion, try adding these spices to your recipes:
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Nutmeg
• Basil
• Turmeric
• Cinnamon
• Ginger
• Cloves
• Chili powder
• And yes… dark chocolate!

Here is my version of Gazpacho with extra brain protecting ingredients:

Brain Boosting Gazpacho

8 large vine-ripe tomatoes (2 diced in small pieces)
1 large cucumber, peeled and diced
2 large sweet red peppers, diced
½ purple onion, diced
2 cups of fresh corn
Juice of 1 lime
A handful each fresh rosemary, sage, and basil
1 palm full of turmeric
1 shake ground ginger
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt & pepper
2 large handfuls of cilantro or curly parsley chopped finely
2 scallions, diced
1 avocado, sliced

Place 6 large tomatoes and fresh herbs in the blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Dice 2 remaining tomatoes and all of the onion, cucumbers, and sweet red peppers and put in a large serving bowl. Roast an ear of corn (3 to 5 minutes on the grill). Remove the corn from the cob and place in the bowl with the diced veggies. Pour the blended tomatoes and fresh herbs on top of the bowl of veggies. Add Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Chill for at least 1 hour. Spoon cold soup into serving bowls. Chop cilantro, scallions, and avocado and sprinkle on the top. .

Memory and the Senses: Hear the Difference

The Rich Sounds of Memory

When we talk about memory we are referring to the complicated process of retrieving bits and pieces of information collected at another point in time.    Some memories are very powerful and easy to recall and others seem to fade into the background.

It makes sense that those pieces of information with more hooks – context, background info, emotional factors – are stronger.   Those memories are filled with all kinds of emotional and intellectual information all triggered by sensory data.   Think about it.   We define moments in context and that context is filled with sensory data – sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feel.   The “things” that make a memory rich are in the sensory data associated with the event.

When you take away chunks of sensory data, you definitely lose value.   Smells, for example, are great triggers – new car smell, the scent of fall, popcorn, and the smell of new vinyl all can bring in a rush of memories.

Sounds do the same.   Today when I walked through the grocery store parking lot it was the sounds that made the moment:

• the Salvation Army bell ringer,
• cars driving through the puddles,
• recess at the pre-school across the street,
• a woman on her cell phone,
• the soles of my shoes crunching through a pile of dried leaves,
• a yellow lab panting at the window of the car as he waited, not so patiently,
• the sound of the broken wheel on the grocery cart I took from the middle of the lot

The sounds of my life made that mundane moment both rich and memorable.   In short, take away or diminish my hearing and my life loses a depth and quality that I would sorely miss.

Hearing loss is a big issue for my generation.   I spent my younger years with a transistor radio attached to my head; my teen years no more than a foot away from a set of speakers; my early adult years at concerts and bars with loud music or with headphones blasting sounds directly onto my eardrums; and now not a day goes by when I am not piping music or spoken word into my ears through highly tuned ear buds or incredibly cool headphones.   I know I need to be careful or I will lose one of those things that make my life so rich.

Hearing loss, unlike the sense of smell or taste, is something you can do something about and still retain dignity.   The first step is to find a professional and get a hearing test.   Next, if you or someone you know has hearing loss, look into getting some help.   Hearing aides are now almost undetectable.   Check out a few here.   They are not like my grandmother’s hearing aids or even my mom’s.

I guess our memories are our own personal body of work.  They are all those events that make us who we are and brought us to this moment in time.   Creating good, strong rich memories means engaging your senses and the best way to do that is collect as much information as you can.    The sounds of your life are too precious to lose.

So, speak up if you keep hearing “what did you say” or if you get blank stares at the dinner table this holiday season and recommend a hearing test.

Even though I wrote this piece while participating in a campaign by BOOMboxNetwork.com on behalf of ASHA and received payment for my participation, I jumped at the chance to Speak Up about hearing loss and will continue to do so.   Needless to say, all opinions stated within are my own – wouldn’t have it any other way.