Boosting your brain

How to stave off cognitive decline

I forget stuff. Do you?

Sorry, what was I saying?

Cognitive decline is real and it effects all of us.

Here’s the news:

A new Chinese study, published in the journal Nature Aging, found that:

“The odd midlife memory lapse is a normal part of the ageing process. But a new study has found that there are three distinct peaks when cognitive decline is more evident in all of us. However, these clear spikes seen at 57, 70 and 78 are significantly more pronounced in some people, and the reason for that is simple: lifestyle.”

(From The Telegraph in London).

So back to our old friend ‘lifestyle’. You know - the same guy who means we should eat less red meat and walk more.'

‘Lifestyle’ carries a lot of the blame when we need to kick our butt into gear for any reason.

It’s the catch-all word for the collective of matters from diet to pollution to where we live and our genetics.

Funnily enough though I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who says “Hi Wade, my name is X, and I have great lifestyle!”.

The reason this connects to cognitive decline is this:

“The study measured levels in the brain of 13 proteins that are associated with accelerated brain ageing and neurodegenerative diseases. What is interesting is that the peaks are related to shifts in our lives, from the midlife drop in our hormones to the impact of retirement.

The downstream effect they have on our brain is evident years afterwards. But that is not to say their impact is out of our hands.”

And here’s what you can use: