Who would have thought that one could improve brain health? I mean, if I go to the gym and do biceps exercises, or squats, there is a way to measure my progress.

Muscles grow and can be measured or I can move more resistance, lift a heavier weight, and I feel better, (because of the endorphins released when I resistance train) but if I go read classical literature or research in a field I am unfamiliar with, I cannot measure my brain’s health or growth in the same way as I can a muscle’s growth or health.

(When was the last time anyone complimented you on your axon definition? See?)

If I am still thinking, creating words in my brain, then it must be healthy, right?

Not necessarily. Changes in my brain’s health are subtle and cumulative, and we are not sure that once things like Alzheimer’s disease have begun that cognitive function can be regained.

It turns out that I need to take care of improving my brain’s health just like I do my musculature and skeletal health.
Continue reading about how to improve and keep your brain healthy at: Brain Health

This is a fascinating article on why a person needs REM sleep.  Of the 4 stages of sleep, REM seems to be where the brain is most active.  REM sleep is where you dream your most unusual dreams.  In the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage, your body is actually in a near state of paralysis and usually people do not move at all.

While you sleep, your brain reorganizes your memories from the day.  Exactly how dreaming influences this is not known, but scientists are exploring this.  When you take a nap, it is best to only sleep for 20 minutes so you do not go into a stage 4 sleep.  If you do go in to a stage 4 sleep, you will feel more tired when you wake up.  So limit those power naps to 20 minutes.

If you want to be as smart as possible, be sure to get your 6-8 hours of sleep per night, and especially that 2 hours in the dream state where your eyeballs are watching that imaginary tennis match called REM.

In this article by Julie Upton from Health magazine , she discusses the various reasons we need a lot more Vitamin D than most of get on a regular basis.  Some of the great benefits of Vitamin D are:

• Lower your risk of cancer
• Fight off winter weight gain
• Safeguard your healthy heart
• Say good-bye to seasonal blues
• Boost your defenses against colds and flu
• Prevent autoimmune disorders
• Build stronger bones

The correct amount of Vitamin D varies.  Your supplement requirements depends on where you live and how much sun you get.  We probably all can use a little help to get the needed amount per day – up to 2000 IU.

This article discusses the stages you go through as you sleep and why each is important. There are 4 stages of sleep, and if you are awakened during stage 3 or 4, you will probably feel very groggy.

Sleep is needed to refresh the body and enable the brain to process and retain information. Lack of sleep can contribute to daytime mood problems, decreased productivity and an increased risk for accidents. Studies show an accumulated sleep “debt” may lead to the development of high blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular disease and an increased risk for infections.

On average, adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. But surveys by the National Sleep Foundation find many Americans aren’t getting enough sleep. On average, respondents say they get 6 hours, 40 minutes of sleep on weeknights and 7 hours, 7 minutes on weekends. Twenty percent of Americans are getting less than six hours of sleep a night.

Naps are also very good for you.  A short 20 minute nap (before you get beyond stage 1) will help you to become refreshed and ready for the rest of the day.

While a person sleeps, their brain is actually working very hard to consolidate everything they have learned that day so they can recall things from long term memory.  If a person’s sleep is interrupted, their ability to remember what they learned that day is seriously degraded.  So, pulling those all-nighters in college may have helped get through the exam for that day.  But it probably severely  hurt the chances of remembering that information for the long term.

If you fail to get enough sleep, your ability to remember what you learned has been shown to suffer dramatically.  People who got less sleep than their body demanded were 80% less effective than people who got the sleep their body required.   People who stay awake for many days, have been shown to display severe psychological problems such as hallucinations.

Naps are good for you. As soon as you wake up, your body begins to tell you to go to sleep.  Around 3 PM, your body’s natural sleep rhythm wants a 25 minute nap.  People who nap actually perform better the rest of the day than people who stay awake all day.  Your brain revitalizes itself and is better able to focus for the second half of your day.

Sleep deprived people have issues being creative.  Tests have shown that the brain of people who have not gotten the proper amount of sleep actually act differently.  The frontal lobe is associated with a person’s speech as well as novel and creative thinking.  In sleep deprived people, there is a significant decrease in activity in this area of the brain.  While activity is seen within the parietal lobes of rested people as they think through math problems no corresponding activity is visible within the brains of sleep-deprived subjects.

It is important to have a consistent sleep schedule.  Our bodies and the chemicals it produces work best when it can depend on a schedule.  One study showed that by merely anticipating a wake-up time, our bodies will spike ACTH and cortisol higher than normal.  By anticipating our wake-up time we can give ourselves that hormonal jolt of energy to hop out of bed with ease.  Depressed people do not have that anticipation and never get that hormonal boost.

Our brain needs sleep to form long term memories and repair itself.  Depriving our brains of the sleep it requires (the amount which is different for each person) and you can ensure that your brain will NOT operate at it peak efficiency no matter how many Myfitbrain games you play.

People can obtain their mental stimulation in many ways, but it takes work.  Properly constructed brain games offer people an alternative way to get their brain exercise.  Just as some people only get exercise by going to a gym, the only way some people will push their brain in novel ways is by using a structured brain game software program such as Myfitbrain.

Brain games alone will not keep your brain sharp though.  It is important to also get physical exercise, eat a proper diet, and get sufficient sleep.  The brain is a very sensitive and complex organ.  In order to maximize its capabilities, a person needs to take care of its environment by treating it well.  Treating it well also includes minimizing stress.

Stress management is important to enable our brains to build and utilize new neurons.  Our bodies are only meant to deal with stress in short sporadic situations – like running away from lions and tigers and bears – on my!  When we put our bodies and brain under stress for extended periods of time, our brain is not operating at its peak efficiency for the long term.  If we do not replace the neurons that die as a natural part of aging or die due to injury or too much alcohol, our brains will begin to shrink.  As our brains shrink, they become more susceptible to showing the effects of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Many of things we should do for our brain are similar to what we should do for our hearts.  An exception is the mental exercises which push the brain in novel ways and require the brain to make use of the neurons it creates when we are eating right, sleeping well, getting aerobic exercise, and minimizing stress.