Los Angeles Jewish Home

We know there are concrete steps we can take to improve our physical health and prevent or decrease the chances of developing certain illnesses. This is true for our mental health as well.

To keep our minds fit, we need to follow the same key strategies for keeping our bodies healthy: get regular physical exercise and eat a healthy diet. In addition, we need to engage in activities designed to ‘exercise’ and ‘nourish’ our brains.

Get Physical

“Of all the lifestyle habits that may protect your brain health, the scientific evidence is most compelling for the effects of regular physical conditioning,” says Gary Small, M.D., Director of the UCLA Longevity Center in his book The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program. “Recent research shows that people who engage in moderate physical activity have a 40 percent lower risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.”

Small cites a Harvard study of more than 18,000 women which found that walking briskly for a total of 90 minutes a week – about 15 minutes per day – was enough to delay cognitive decline and reduce possible risk for future Alzheimer’s disease.

Physical activity causes the heart to pump more blood, which reaches all the body’s muscles and organs — including the brain. Increased blood flow in the brain appears to reverse cellular deterioration associated with aging.

Aerobic activity isn’t the only type of physical activity to positively affect the brain. Strength training also seems to promote brain function by increasing the heart’s efficiency in supplying blood to the brain and boosting specific brain functions involving complex reasoning and attention skills. Balance training also shows benefits to memory and other cognitive abilities.

Choose Food Wisely

“What we eat affects our mental function and may be critical to maintaining brain health,” says Dr. Small.

A healthy diet benefits both the body and the brain by helping to keep inflammation in check. Although inflammation is usually a health-promoting process, chronic inflammation fuels many age-related illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Health-promoting foods such as fruits, vegetables, fish, whole grains, and legumes fight inflammation, as do many herbs and spices.

Lawrence C. Katz, Ph.D., a professor of neurobiology at Duke University, says “brain exercise” can help develop new connections in the brain. “The mental decline most people experience is not due to the steady death of nerve cells,” he says in an American Psychological Association publication article. Rather, the cause is atrophy of connections between nerve cells in the brain. Routine behaviors can contribute to this atrophy, while novel experiences can help strengthen neural connections.

Train Your Brain

Just as the body needs exercise, so does the brain. Learning stimulates the growth of new brain cells. By challenging the brain, we can increase the number of brain cells and grow the number of connections between those cells. The key is to keep the stimulation varied. So while it’s good to exercise your brain by doing crossword puzzles, for example, you should combine that with different types of mental challenges such as Sudoku or other brain teasers. Taking classes and learning new skills are also ways to “exercise” the brain.

“Practicing basic memory methods sharpens memory capacity, slows age-related decline and helps maintain peak memory function,” says Small. His research at UCLA has found that using simple memory techniques can activate and strengthen specific neural circuits in the area of the brain involved with memory processing.

“As we learn memory enhancement skills, neural activity increases as the brain recruits neighboring circuits to solve tasks,” says Small. “With practice, the brain develops more efficient strategies for both learning and recall.”

Reduce Stress

Constant stress releases cortisol in the brain, which weakens memory. Meditation can reduce harmful stress hormones by shifting the focus of our attention. Lack of sleep can cause stress, while getting adequate sleep reduces chronic inflammation, improves memory and helps us to be more resilient in dealing with stressful events.

Reach Out to Others

Establishing and maintaining relationships with others is another way to help the brain. “Social interactions boost cognitive ability,” says Dr. Small. “Becoming and staying socially engaged may reduce your risk for dementia by as much as 60 percent.”

Having or finding a purpose can also help us stay sharp. A Rush University Medical Center study of more than 950 older adults found that those who had clear intentions and goals were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s over the subsequent seven years.

Research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that engaging in volunteer activities may boost brain function. Researchers found that after six months of volunteering, the participants demonstrated significant increases in brain activity in regions important to cognitive function.

Keeping the mind fit should be a lifelong priority, and is a pursuit that can greatly influence the quality of our lives in our later years. The Healthy Brain Initiative, a project sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and the Alzheimer’s Association to promote cognitive health, makes a great argument for maintaining good mental health: “Having a clear, active mind at any age is important, but as we get older it can mean the difference between dependent and independent living.”

Labels: Brain Games, Cognitive Exercise, Cognitive Fitness, Diet, Exercise, Fitness, For the Mind, Gary Small, Nancy Sokoler Steiner, Stress

Cross posted from the Los Angeles Times.


By Karen Voight


When your core is strong, daily activities become easier and you'll get more from your exercise routines as well. Remember to incorporate this straightforward yet challenging move for a more balanced practice.

Begin on your hands and knees. Turn to the side and position your right hand directly below your right shoulder and your right knee below your right hip. Straighten your left leg with your left foot flat on the floor, toes and knee facing forward. Reach up with your left arm so it is above your shoulders. Engage your abdominals and move your tailbone in toward your body to avoid over-arching your lower back. Look up to the ceiling and pause.

Keeping your hips and shoulders stacked, push through your left heel and lift it to hip level. Concentrate on maintaining your balance with minimal movement in your torso. Hold this position for three to six breaths. Then lower your leg, come to all fours and repeat on the other side.

Voight is the creator of a line of fitness DVDs, including "Full Body Stretch" and "Ballet BodySculpt."


Read the original article.

Labels: Activities, Balance, Cross Post, Fitness, For the Body, Los Angeles Times, Staff, Voight

Labels: Activities, Aging, Bowling, Cross Post, Fitness, For the Body, Golf, Health, Senior Living, Seniors List, Sports, Staff, Swimming, Walking

Cross posted from The New York Times blog, The New Old Age.


By Karen Stabiner

Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

For the first time since 2001, the American Geriatrics Society and the British Geriatrics Society have updated their guidelines for preventing falls in older people. The update includes two notable changes: One recommends tai chi — the meditative, slow-motion Chinese exercise — as an effective way to prevent falls, while another suggests that doctors review medication use by all elderly patients, with an eye toward reducing use of those drugs that increase the risk of falling.

The earlier guidelines did not single out any particular exercise regimen and endorsed prescription reviews only for patients taking more than four medications.

Exercise is essential for any older person who can manage it, according to Dr. Mary Tinetti of the Yale University School of Medicine, a chairwoman of the panel that issued the new guidelines. Tai chi gets the nod because several trials have suggested that it seems to help reduce the risk of falling, she said, although it is possible that other forms of balance training work just as well.

Greg Fuller teaches tai chi at the Jewish Home in Los Angeles. “The basic underlying philosophy is that balance is everything,” he said. Most important for his students, whose average age is 90, tai chi involves small, slow, controlled motions.


“With beginners, we spend a lot of time working while seated, bringing attention to the proper alignment of the pelvis, chest and head,” said Mr. Fuller. Once that is accomplished, “finding strength and balance while standing is much easier.”

Even then, many students work standing just behind a chair. “The presence of the chair back within reach gives them a sense of security and confidence,” Mr. Fuller said. “They forget about the possibility of falling and concentrate on the movements.”

Confidence is important to fall prevention, according to Dr. Tinetti, who said that fear of falling can itself lead older people to cut back on activities they used to enjoy. The less they do, sadly, the less they eventually are able to do.

The geriatrics groups also have long recommended that the medication regimens of older patients be reviewed and, if possible, scaled back. Earlier guidelines called for reviewing medications only if a patient takes more than four. This time around, researchers say that all older patients ought to have their doctors review their prescriptions for any that might increase the risk of falling.

“The evidence is strongest that medications that affect the brain — these include antidepressants, sleep medications and medications for anxiety — increase the risk of falling,” said Dr. Tinetti. “There is also a suggestion, not yet proven, that narcotics and some blood pressure medications may increase the risk of falls, as well.”

The updated guidelines distinguish between a fall that requires intervention and one that might be a isolated incident. The updated criteria for getting a risk evaluation are:

• An elderly person worried or frightened by a fall.
• Two or more falls in the past year.
• One or more falls with injury.
• Repeated difficulty with balance when walking.

Read the original blog post here.

Labels: Aging, Balance, Cross Post, Falling, Fitness, For the Body, Health, New York Times, Stabiner, Staff, T'ai Chi, The New Old Age

If you live in Southern California, the odds are that you will live into your late 80s or early 90s. Many of us can look forward to extra years that our parents and grandparents didn't have. But for most of us, the important question is not how many years we will live, but how many will we live enjoyably. A few easy‚ life-changing steps can help ensure that you will experience the full potential of all your years.

Step 1 — Get Off the Couch!

By getting active and working out regularly, you reduce the risk of developing many medical conditions that accumulate with aging and inactivity. Walking regularly at a pace of 2-3 miles per hour will diminish your risk of a heart attack by 30 percent! Exercise will also decrease the possibility of a stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and many cancers. Another benefit is that working out will lift your mood and improve your sleep. Sounds good, but how do you get started?

Step 2 — Pick an Activity You'll Enjoy

The best exercise for all of us is one that we'll keep doing! Walking, cycling, jogging, tennis and golf are big favorites. Swimming is great for those with arthritis and other conditions that limit movement. On rainy days, try an elliptical machine that will exercise both your arms and legs, or a treadmill or stationary bicycle. Check with your physician before starting an exercise regime. If you need some help or motivation to get going, enlist your spouse or a good friend to join you. Once you start exercising and feel that extra bounce in your step, you'll be hooked.

Step 3 — Commit to a Regular Schedule — it's Fun!

My prescription is to exercise 30 minutes a day for five or more days each week. Look for opportunities — take the stairs instead of the elevator, park a little farther from the store or restaurant and walk the extra distance. Your goal in sustained exercise is get your heart rate up to about 60 percent of its maximum rate. To calculate the appropriate rate, subtract your age from 220 and multiple by 0.6. For example, if you are 65, the target heart rate for exercise would be 220-65 x 0.6 = 93. Keep an exercise log to record the time you've put in.

Step 4 — Consider a Little Heavy Lifting

As you get older, the best way to avoid getting osteoporosis is by lifting weights. A study in Boston of nonagenarians (90-year olds) in a nursing home found that even at this advanced age, they could improve their strength by more than 100% in a few short weeks! After beefing up their muscles, some residents were able to discard their canes and walkers. Before you start pumping iron, find a professional trainer at any local gym or fitness center for a consult. Warm up first, start slowly, then look for that 100% improvement — it's right around the corner.

Epilogue — a Tale of Two Grandmothers

Both my mother and grandmother were in nursing homes in their late 80s, but my mom was there as a resident and my grandmother as a volunteer. They were the same height, the same build and had virtually the same diet. What was the difference? My mother always had a car, lived in a building with an elevator, and had a housekeeper. My grandmother never drove; walked everywhere, including up two flights of stairs to her apartment, and cleaned her own home. Try a little exercise today. Before long, you'll notice it's a lot easier to get off the couch and to climb those stairs. In addition to feeling better, you'll reduce your risk of illness and injury, and enjoy more of all that life has to offer!

Dr. Edward L. Schneider heads the largest private center for research and education on aging, the Andrus Gerontology Center of the University of Southern California. He also serves as Dean Emeritus of the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and Professor of Medicine at the USC Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Schneider has written or co-written twelve books, including Ageless: Take Control of Your Age & Stay Youthful for Life, and published more than 180 scientific articles on topics related to aging.

Labels: Feature Articles, Fitness, For the Body, Health