I drink coffee. It helps me wake, it helps me focus. It helps me write.
I love the smell. (I don’t think I have ever had a coffee that tasted quite as good the smell.) Coffee smells good.
On a good day, I’ll have 3. On a tough day, where my concentration is not good, where I have been woken a few times during the night by my visiting daughter… I’ll get up to 5.
And when its really bad… I can make it to 7.
I drink expresso. Here in Spain it’s called “Cafe solo”. Sometimes I’ll go for a long black, in spanish “cafe americano”.
As I think about whether I should decrease my coffee drinking as part of my 2015 resolutions, I decided to do a quick study on the health effects of caffeine.
It looks like good stuff. Maybe I should keep drinking 3-4 cups a day?
How much do you drink?
Health Benefits of Drinking Coffee
I found that coffee can help you…
Make you less tired – Caffeine is a stimulant that makes you feel more alert and focused.
Protect against Alzheimer’s – Researchers from the University of South Florida and the University of Miami found that coffee consumption is associated with a reduced risk of dementia. They discovered that adults who drink an average of three cups of coffee a day were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
Pain reduction – Research from the University of Georgia, published in The Journal of Pain reported that consuming the equivalent of two cups of coffee an hour before training reduced post-workout muscle soreness by up to 48 percent (in comparison: aspirin only produced a 25 percent decrease.)
Muscle preservation – Coffee triggers a mechanism in your brain that releases a growth factor called Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). Besides the brain, BDNF also expresses itself in your muscles, where it supports the neuromotor—the most critical element in your muscle. Without the neuromotor, your muscle is like an engine without ignition. Neuro-motor degradation is part of the process that explains age-related muscle atrophy. So in this respect coffee may help maintain more youthful muscle tissue.
This is a guest post by Julie Zimmer. I asked her to share her wisdom on health by telling us some good foods to eat when we need our brain to be at its resilient, productive best. Do you eat these 10 foods? (BONUS: at the bottom of the post… 2 healthy recipes you can try)
About Julie Zimmer, HealthContinuum.Org
Julie Zimmer
Julie has extensive experience as a nurse, both directly in intensive/coronary care (medical-surgical) and as an advisor in public health. Julie has degrees in Psychology and Nursing, and a Master’s in Community Health Nursing Education. She has taught in faculties of nursing in Toronto, Canada and in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a consultant to the International Council of Nurses (ICN). Julie has a wonderful blog on health at HealthContinuum.org.
Feed your Brain: 10 foods that Build Brain Strength
Yummy Healthy Food (see recipe below) photo credit: lablasco
We often think about reshaping our bodies through exercise, but have you ever thought about reshaping your brain?
The human brain has an incredible ability to adapt and react and make new connections and pathways. With the right kind of stimulation and the right kind of mindset, you can reshape your brain. A healthy lifestyle and a good diet will help you unleash the power inside your brain.
Check your sleep habit before changing your diet
The better you sleep, the healthier you eat. This is a scientific fact. If you are sleep deprived, your body secretes a digestive hormone called ghrelin, which increases your appetite. It also releases less leptin, a hormone that signals you to stop eating when you are full.
When these imbalances occur, your metabolism is out of whack and not only do you crave sugar and high fat foods, you eat them in large quantities to combat fatigue. With insufficient sleep, your body also secretes fewer feel good hormones – serotonin and dopamine. Your body will ache and feel cheated as it relies on these hormones to feel great. To compensate, you will eat plenty of sugary foods to re-capture that good feeling sensation. Should you eat this way for too long, unleashing the power inside your brain becomes a struggle.
What about glucose and caffeine?
Refined sugar contains glucose and fructose. When you eat sugary foods, your brain uses glucose for energy. Both glucose and caffeine react the same way – they quickly boost your mental ability and energize you, but their effect is short lived. Over a period of time, too much glucose or caffeine impairs mental and physical functions. I know what you’re thinking; there’s a lot of talk about coffee being good for you. A bit of coffee is fine; it contains antioxidants and it gives you a kick-start. Health experts recommend a daily intake of 300 mg of caffeine (3-4 cups) and 30-45 gm of sugar.
Ten foods to feed your brain
Your brain needs healthy blood vessels as much as your heart does. Choosing foods that are good for your heart will also be good for your brain. The key to healthy eating is moderation and variety.
Omega-3s: without these fatty acids, your brain is like a car running on empty. When a car is empty, it stops. Your brain won’t stop, but it can shrink. New studies show an increase in the hippocampus (where the brain forms and stores memories) and in gray matter volume in people with higher than average levels of omega-3s in their blood. Fatty acids are vital to brain tissues and cells. To get plenty of omega-3s in your diet, eat fish twice a week or take fish oil supplements. Other sources are nuts and seeds, flaxseed oil, squash, kidney beans, spinach, broccoli and soybeans.
Colorful fruits and vegetables: contain antioxidants, the substances that protect your brain against cell damage by blocking free radicals. Free radicals are the “bad guys” that work with damaged cells that cause diseases, from skin wrinkles to cancer. Examples are dark green leafy vegetables, berries (especially blueberries), bananas, apricots, melons and mangos. Red coloured foods, such as tomatoes and red cabbage are rich in lycopene – a very powerful antioxidant.
Pumpkin seeds: when I crave a crunchy snack, I reach for pumpkin seeds instead of pretzels or crisps. Just a handful is packed with protein, fiber, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. Both seeds and oil are rich in zinc and fatty acids. Either raw or roasted, they’re nature’s perfect snack that promotes healthy skin, improves your brainpower and protects against diseases such as high blood pressure, arthritis, osteoporosis and cancer. The seeds are high in tryptophan, a compound that prevents depression and helps you sleep at night. At Halloween, when you carve that big pumpkin, think twice before throwing out those seeds.
Eggs: contain B12, lecithin and essential fatty acids that protect against brain shrinkage, which is often seen in Alzheimer’s. As we age, our body’s natural choline weakens. Egg yolk is high in choline, which nourishes brain cells and improves memory. Since the yolk is also high in cholesterol, healthy people shouldn’t eat more than three eggs a week. Other sources of choline are soybeans, peanuts, kidney beans, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and black beans.
Avocados: this fruit long deemed “too fat” has been put on the back burner. It’s time to bring the avocado at the front for brain health and anti-aging. It contains monounsaturated fats (good fat) and fiber. It’s high in vitamin E, potassium and magnesium. It has anti-inflammatory properties; it lowers blood pressure and improves circulation to the brain. A few slices of avocado per day and as a side dish is sufficient.
Whole grains: complex carbohydrate sources give a steady stream of energy to your brain. They contain fiber, vitamins and minerals. Choose whole-wheat bread and whole grain pasta, cereals or rice. Go brown instead of white. Wheat, bran, wheat germ, barley, oatmeal and quinoa contain folate and B vitamins that help brain function and memory. Lentils, whole beans and starchy vegetables are also complex carbohydrates.
Green tea: the anti-inflammatory compounds and catechins in the tea can keep your mind sharp and fresh. Green tea helps you to relax and resist mental fatigue. Drinking two cups of green tea per day can help prevent cognitive impairment.
Dark chocolate: a bit of dark chocolate is fine. Dark chocolate with 70 percent or more pure cocoa is naturally high in flavonols that increase blood flow to the brain and boost concentration. Before reaching for coffee, try a piece of chocolate instead.
Red wine (or grape juice): red wine in moderation (1 glass a day for women; 2 for men) can improve memory and cognition. Red wine is rich in resveratrol, an antioxidant that improves blood circulation in the brain. It can reduce the risk of stroke and Alzheimer’s. Cranberry juice, berries, grapes and peanuts contain resveratrol.
Spirulina: the last, but not the least. My neighbor, out of concern, gave me a brochure on spirulina and she urged me to get some for my family and me. My two girls and I are vegetarian and my husband has significantly cut back on meat. We are all taking spirulina on a daily basis and we feel great. Spirulina isablue-green algae and is 100% natural. It is often described as the most complete food source. Spirulina comes in capsules, powder or flakes. It can be dissolved in juices or sprinkled on food. It is very high in protein, minerals and vitamins, including B complex vitamins. It is a source of iron, folic acid, magnesium and calcium. It is high in beta-carotene, an antioxidant vitamin important for your eyes. There is increasing evidence that spirulina prevents cognitive diseases and maintains brain health.
What foods or supplements have helped you unleash your brainpower?
Time after time I see promising young athletes reach the professional teams, and they don’t make it. Time and time again I see someone do well in the good times, but then allow one small setback to avalanche into a total personal, business and financial collapse.
Other times someone struggles through the youth ranks, shows no extreme talent, but when they reach the professional team they excel. Or, a friend uses a small personal crisis to multiply their productivity across all aspects of their life.
What differentiates those that cope with those that do not?
Resilience: Mental Toughness
How do you cope with setbacks? How do you deal with the blows that life deals you?
Able to focus outward: Good problem solving skills
Able to focus inward: Strong inner “selfs”, self-belief
Deliberately practiced procedural habits
Be Water my Friend
Resilience Means Adapting to Adversity
Resilience is the ability to roll with the punches. When stress, adversity or trauma strikes, you still experience anger, grief and pain, but you’re able to keep functioning — both physically and mentally. Resilience isn’t about ignoring it, stoic acceptance or lonely heroics. In fact, being able to reach out to others for support is a key component of being resilient.
Resilience and Mental Health
Resilience offers protection from many mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety. Resilience can also help offset factors that increase the risk of mental health conditions, such as lack of social support, being bullied or previous trauma.
9 Tips to improve your Resilience
If you’d like to become more resilient, consider these tips:
Make every day Meaningful – Do something that gives you a sense of accomplishment and purpose every day. Set goals to help you look toward the future with meaning.
Get Connected – Building strong, positive relationships with loved ones and friends can provide you with needed support and acceptance in both good times and bad.
Write it Down – Think back on how you’ve coped with hardships in the past. You might write about past experiences in a journal to help you identify behavior patterns.
Maintain Hope – You can’t change what’s happened in the past, but you can always look toward the future. Accepting and even anticipating change makes it easier to adapt and view new challenges with less anxiety.
Take care of your Health – Include physical activity in your day. Find a night time pattern that allows for good sleep. Eat consciously.
Playfulness and Pause. Rest your mind and let it wander through imagined worlds. Mindful imagination can reduce stress (and it improves your immune system). Play games and act like a kid. YouTube videos about Goats Shouting Like Humans are stupid, but they do make me laugh insanely.
Embrace Creativity Regularly. Participation in music and dance, can have a significant effect in building resilience.
Use Procedural Skills – take advantage of the “procedural learning” part of your brain. Keep practicing the skills you’ve mastered by repetition – like playing piano, ping-pong or drawing pictures. Rote-learned information is what school focussed on – but today it’s all Google-able. Forget it. Focus on your procedural skills. These should be exercised and enhanced every day.
I hate the feeling of being overwhelmed. It tends to hit me about 2 or 3 in the morning. I wake and can’t fall back to sleep. I go through the motions of little bits of meditation, of focusing on breathing… but all for nothing. I am not going back to sleep. My inner battle is not going to give me peace. I get increasingly frustrated with myself in a vicious self-reinforcing spiral of emotional turmoil. Where is all the efforts I have put into finding myself, accepting myself here now at 3 in the morning when I really need it? What is the point of practicing techniques of mental discipline, of searching for peace of mind if these tools fail me when I really need them?
At this point, I get up, go downstairs and get to work on something.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed with all the work that remains to be done? Overwhelmed because too many things have become urgent all at once?
Overwhelm comes from over-thinking.
If I am in the moment, 100% focussed on the task in hand, I have no time to over-think – and I feel no overwhelm. When I am churning and multi-tasking, then my wheels begin to spin out of control and I over-think. I spend more time switching between tasks than I do focussing my attention at completing a task.
But sometimes the simple fact is that there is too much on my plate. I am not just feeling overwhelmed, I have also allowed too many responsibilities to fill my time. I need to say “No” to some of these tasks.
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