YTOM: Chapter 3

Do You Mind: Your Brain and Nervous System

The brain is considered your anatomical fuse box because it controls everything your body does.  Unlike most people believe a decrease in brain function isn't the way it has to be.  The way we treat our body and brain has a lot to do with how our intellect ages as well.

The Anatomy
Brain:  The brain is split into 2 main functions: reptilian (movement & raw emotion) and executive (intellectual). 25% of the oxygen and sugar your body uses for nutrition is consumed by the brain.
    Skull:  protection of the brain
    Brain Stem: connected to spinal cord, responsible for involuntary functions (breathing, digestion...)
    Cerebellum: muscle coordination, reflexes, and balance
    Cerebrum: most of the brain function, human thought
    Left Hemisphere: concrete thought (speech, writing, language, & calculation)
    Right Hemisphere:  imaginative thought (spatial ability, music, & intuition)
    Frontal Lobes:  planning, personality, behavior, & emotion
    Parietal Lobe:  touching and moving limbs, speech and understanding speech where parietal and occipital lobes meet
    Occipital Lobes:  vision
    Temporal Lobes:  process sound and short-term memory
    Neurons: 100 billion, transmit information
    Neurotransmitters:  chemical messengers in the brain
    Thalamus:  "train station," makes actions smooth
    Limbic System:  series of pathways that help us recognize sensation and consider its meaning
Many of the parts of the brain overlap, and work together to create all of the functions our bodies perform.  The way we learn things when we're young has a huge effect on what neuron pathways become strong and which won't.

There are several things that can go wrong in our brains.  Artery-related diseases (strokes), memory-related disorders (Alzheimer's), chemical-associated disorders (addiction or depression), personality-related disorders (eccentricity or emotional disorders).

The Action Plan
1. Keep All Lanes Open:  take 2 baby asprin a day if you're over 40 to help keep your arteries from being inflamed and your blood from clotting
2. Exercise Your Brain:  Avoid living on autopilot by having the same routine every day, "test at your threshold" (do things that challenge your abilities - crosswords, Sudoku...-something you can't finish is even better than something you can)
3. Some Food for Thought:  Generally what's bad for your heart is also bad for your brain.  Avoid saturated fats, and increase omega-3 fatty acids.
4. Reduce Stress:  Reduce stress with friendships, exercise, meditation, and group affiliation. Everyday stresses are ok, but it's the big stresses in life that really age us.
5. Go Natural:  Leading vitamins and supplements that help elevate brain function: Folate, B6, B12, Coenzyme Q10, Alpha Lipoic Acid, L-Carnitine, Resveratrol (flavenoid), SAMe (amino acid)
6. Think Hawaii:  Use your imagination to help increase your cognitive function and keeps your brain active
7. See the Pros:  If you feel you have a personality disorder, there's no cure-all so see a professional for help.
8. Don Your Helmet:  Even minor trauma (a ding where you can't remember what happened clearly) can cause long-term memory problems.

Again, overall I like all the information given in the chapter.  I feel like I know more about how the brain functions and ways to help keep it healthy.  However, again they mention taking asprin, which I'd rather avoid.  I also think they should have spent a little time talking about the spinal cord and nerves throughout the body instead of only talking about the brain.