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Glutathione - Mind GamesCopyright © 2008 Mike AprilI think the one thing that is overlooked for living to the max is taking care of our mind, our mental health. Our mental care is just as important as our physical care. When I talk about mental health not only am I talking about the actual state of health of your brain, meaning how physically fit your brain is, but I’m talking about your emotional state. In order to have a healthy mind you need to make sure you’re nurturing your brain on both levels... physically and emotionally. Think about it (no pun intended) we need our brain (mind) to do daily tasks, enjoy activities and most importantly to live a long, health vibrant life, and to live to the max we need to exercise our mind just like we exercise our bodies. As we get older so does our brain, in fact our brain gets smaller as we age. Maybe you’ve noticed that it takes you a little longer to do things, or you’re getting a little more forgetful these days or you just don’t feel like you’re behind the eight ball as much any more. No matter what changes you may be noticing you need to understand your brain is getting older. Your brain is made up of billions and billions of nerve cells called neurons. These are the cells that fire off signals to the brain telling it to do certain things. Everyday our brain is replacing these cells but as we get older fat starts to deposit between these cells and as a result of this it makes it harder and harder for our brain cells (neurons) to talk to each other. And as the old cells (neurons) begin to die off they’re not replaced with new neurons, and that’s why are brain gets smaller as we age. So today I’m going to share with you some tips on how to have and keep a strong healthy mind. These tips will help create more pathways in your brain and should help you with your memory, mood and over all health. 1) First and foremost - exercise. How can exercise help with your brain? Simple, your brain needs to interact with you in order to exercise. It goes hand in hand, if your body is healthy so too is your brain. By exercising you’re increasing the oxygen and blood flow to your brain. This will help your memory, reaction times and overall general well-being of your brain. Plus there are all the added benefits of exercise. Simply by exercising 3 times a week for 30 minutes not only will you be helping your brain but you’ll be reducing your chances of heart problems such as stroke, heart attack and hypertension. I’m sure I don’t have to mention what a heart attack can do to the brain. Want a strong and healthy brain have a strong and healthy heart. 2) Just like physical exercise you need to exercise your brain as well. To do this simply engage and use your brain. Here are some things you can do: Start reading, do crossword puzzles, have thought provoking conversations, take a class, start a new hobby or play games. Here’s one I do, when I need to go grocery shopping I make a mental list and then I go shopping. At first I missed things but now I get everything I need on my list. It’s been researched that doing any type of mental exercise on a regular basis will increase your memory by 50%, just ask a waiter. 3) Make sure you’re eating a proper diet, I hate using the word diet because this implies something temporary. I should say make sure your living a healthy lifestyle. Your brain needs carbohydrates to function properly. Your body brakes down the carbohydrates into glucose which is a simple sugar and this is its energy. You’ll find good carbohydrates in foods with whole grains such as wholegrain bread and cereals. You also need to maintain a low-fat and low-cholesterol lifestyle as well. This will keep your heart and blood vessels strong and healthy. You don’t want to have clogged blood vessels or arteries; these are the highways that your body uses to get all that good nutrients to your brain so you don’t want to make that harder by having a poor diet. Increase your intake of foods that have antioxidants, these foods help keep your arteries from getting clogged. When it comes to food, color is your friend, eat colorful fruits like blueberries, strawberries, oranges and so on and as for veggies eat green leafy ones. Not only does a good diet (lifestyle) give you a better quality of life it also improves your mood and your self esteem. By having a balanced healthy diet you’re naturally increasing your serotonin levels in your brain. And serotonin is responsible for monitoring your mood. It’s also a very good idea to limit or even stop your alcohol intake. I know the beer commercials would have you believe that alcohol is here to make you happy but in reality alcohol acts like a depressant and will definitely bring you down. And if you’re having more then one drink a day you’re causing serious damage to your brain on a daily basis. 4) This is easier said then done due to the fast-pace lifestyles we all have, but you need to reduce your stress. Stress in the major cause of health problems such as stroke and heart attacks. Stress also affects our memory and how our mind develops. When you’re under a lot of stress you change your mood and not in a good way. If you’re experiencing long term stress you’ve been releasing hormones into your body that actually kill cells in your brain responsible for creating new memories or accessing old information. You need to quite your mind everyday. One of the best ways is with deep breathing. In my other article Ten Sure Fire Way To Crank Up Your Energy And Reduce Your Stress I include a great breathing exercise. If you’re like me and you like coffee you need to cut back on it and if you’re a smoker well I don’t need to mention what you should do. Both of these act as stimulants and in most cases will stress you out even more. A great stress reducer is exercise, get a punching bag and get rid of all that stress. Many a day I taped my boss’s picture on that punching bag and got all my stress out. I would like to take a moment to thank my former boss for helping me lead a stress free life. 5) This is the last tip but to me is one of the most important. What you think of yourself is the most important factor to having a healthy mind. If you’re a product of low self-esteem your mind is not in a healthy place at all. A healthy self-esteem will lead to a healthy life. And just like working on your body you need to work on your self esteem. Low self-esteem has been linked to mood disorders, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, and chronic fatigue. Increasing your self-esteem can be hard and I could certainly write an article just on that. But here are a few things you can do to start: And if this person is always negative it’s time to seriously think about cutting them out of your life. They’re a waste of time and they’re not doing you any favors being your friend with their poisonous attitude. You’ll absolutely drive yourself nuts trying to live up to what others may think of you. STOP!! Live the life that makes you happy and if others can’t deal with it...too bad. You have to do what makes you happy. Think about it, how crazy is it to live YOUR life the way others think you should. You’re not making yourself happy; you’re making other people happy at your expense. Live To The Max Mike April About The Author:
*** Digital Reprint Rights *** *** Author Notification *** We ask that you notify the author of publication of his or her work. Mike April can be reached at: greatmoreemail@yahoo.ca *** Print Publication Reprint Rights *** If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: greatmoreemail@yahoo.ca
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