“That feeling you get when you’re struggling and it seems hard, that’s norepinephrine squirting into your brain,” Milstein said. “We want to embrace that feeling. It just has to be something you’re not familiar with and done a couple times a week to help—what we believe to be the case—break up some of that trash. Make it challenging; make it something you enjoy.”

[Note: Milstein didn’t mention if the body can totally rid itself of brain trash after it’s washed out of the brain.]

Inflammation

Another way to cleanse the brain of trash is via the immune system, whose function is to get rid of things that shouldn’t be in the body. The job of the microglia immune cell in your brain is to eat the trash there, Milstein explained. But autoimmune scenarios cause the microglia to start eating healthy brain cells, contributing to memory loss.

“Alzheimer’s, in many cases, is an autoimmune condition,” he said. “What we’re learning is that inflammation in other parts of the body—in the joints, intestines or heart—can send signals into the blood stream that tell the microglia to go into attack mode. So we want to treat inflammation in our body from the neck down.

“Think of inflammation as a fire,” he continued. “We don’t want it to smolder, we want to put it out.”

Milstein noted that a CRP (C-reactive protein) blood test can detect inflammation in the body.

Hearing Loss

Milstein cited Johns Hopkins University research indicating that untreated hearing loss is linked to dementia by a factor of two times for mild, three times for moderate and five times for severe hearing loss.

Why? In part, because it inhibits a person’s ability to learn and take in new information, and also because it can create isolation and a loss of social contacts. But, he noted, this can be prevented by getting a hearing aid.

“So if you know somebody who’s stubborn and doesn’t want to get a hearing aid, it’s not just their hearing they’re saving, they’re also saving their brain,” Milstein said.

Proper Diet

Milstein said diet can play a role in memory loss because what’s good for the heart is good for the brain.

As such, the following foods are considered part of a healthy diet: green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, nuts, berries, beans, whole grains, fish, poultry, olive oil and wine (one glass per day).

And the following foods should be limited: red meats, butter and stick margarine, cheese, pastries and sweets, and fried or fast food.

Other Things That Matter

Patients diagnosed with depression develop dementia at two-and-a-half to six times the rate of the general population, Milstein said. He emphasized the need to address mental health issues.

Elsewhere, walking roughly 30 to 40 minutes a day can be extremely beneficial for the brain, though that doesn’t have to be done in one session.

“Walking triggers the release of neurotrophic growth factors, which help the brain to grow, maintain new connections and stay healthy,” Milstein said. “Exercise is medicine for the brain because it helps blood flow to the brain, helps with sleep and helps balance the immune system.”

He noted that taking a 30-minute walk after meals lowers blood sugar by a significant amount.

“That’s important because lower blood sugar helps prevent diabetes, and diabetes boosts a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s by 65 percent,” Milstein said.

He added that it’s now thought that a considerable percentage of Alzheimer’s cases are directly attributable to type 2 diabetes. As a result, treating diabetes can lower one’s risk for developing the disease.

He noted that other good physical activities for both body and mind are dancing and tai chi.

Based on Milstein’s discussion, the following are the 10 best things to do for your brain:

• Sleep
• Learn new things
• Treat hearing loss
• Be socially engaged
• Manage stress/mindfulness
• Keep inflammation low
• Proper diet
• Moderate exercise/walking
• Treat diabetes
• Take care of the heart

These four things can potentially make a big difference:

• Sleep
• Get regular physicals to check for heart disease, inflammation and diabetes
• Have fun mentally and physically, and learn new things
• Eat real food (i.e., natural food without added chemicals)

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