Plog (ProACTIVE Health Blog)

You probably know that there's nothing wise about french fries, but is there actually a meal that can make you smarter? I've discussed foods that can support virtually any organ in your body but what about the brain? Foods that support the brain help increase its metabolism, blood flow and functionality. Below is a list of the smart food A-listers that score an A+ when it comes to brain health.

• Chew the fat: Foods with healthy monosaturated fats support healthy blood flow, and despite popular opinion dietary cholesterol is actually good for the brain!  Foods like eggs and avacados give your body the right kinds of fat and cholesterol that support brain health and keep you body from producing blood cholesterol. Avacados containoleic acid, which helps to build the coating of insulation, known as myelin (found in white matter of the brain.) Myelin helps information travel at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. Eggs contain DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid that helps to form connections between neurons.
• Cuckoo for Cacao: Don't get too excited, but those studies about chocolate being good for you-- there's probably some truth to them. That doesn't mean chowing down on Hershey bars will make you smarter (quite the contrary, actually); the health benefits in chocolate are only in the purest form of dark chocolate: cacao. Before all the sugar and dairy products are added, raw cacao can improve mood and cognitive function. The best way to get it is chocolate with 85% or more cacao or a 100% organic non-alkalized drinking cacao.
• Matcha? You betcha: The EGCG in Stone ground matcha green tea is up to 137 times greater than the amount of EGCG available from other commercially available green teas. This super powerful antioxidant has been found to boost the imuune system and is even being researched in treatments for HIV and Cancer. The reason matcha, a slightly sweet powdered tea added to water, is better than soaking a regular green tea bag is because you actually consume the plant, rather than just the extract from the plant.
• Super Salmon: This superfood makes our list of must-eat foods often, and with good reason. On top of being one of the best sources of essential fatty acids, wild salmon is an excellent souce of lean protein, low saturated fat, and minimally contaminated (again, if caught in the wild). Salmon can improve brain matter, mood, support healthy arteries and blood vessels, improve the look of your skin and hairm and reduce your risk of stroke and Alzheimer's. 
• Thanks a Latte: Coffee, yes coffee, has been shown to be beneficial to brain health. However, adding tons of milk, sugar, caramel, whipped cream, syrup, and sprinkles is not going to do you any good (at least as far as brain health is concerned).
  

This is the age of multitasking, I know.  Why would you settle for just one task when you could perform three or more at once. If you don't get the point of keeping your mind on point consider this: multitasking makes our work 50% less valuable and take 50% longer to complete. So, your administrative juggling may look impressive at the office, but you'd probably get more done if you just stuck to one task.

The reason is it takes out brain a while to really begin concentrating. If you sat down at the computer to do, say, your taxes.  Blood would begin to rush to the part of your brain that controls concentration, basically the switchboard of your brain. Then your brain will begin firing the correct neurons and impulses causing you to type numbers and do math or pick up the phone and call your accountant. Regardless, the brain must first concentrate on a task before you're able to perform it to your best abilities.

So, that sounds great right? The brain gets fired up, and issues commands.  However, when you hear the familiar ding of a new message in your inbox, or your phone rings, or you get thirsty, or the cat meows, suddenly you've lost your focus and your brain is starting to concentrate on something else, thus starting the cycle over. Every time you perform another task or are distracted the cycle starts over and you must develop concentration again. This makes your work take longer, feel more taxing, and suffer from gaps in quality.

How do you avoid this and stay focused on the task at hand?

• Have a well-defined goal. Write for 20 minutes. Do three loads of laundry. Organize your desk. Set out with a clear idea of exactly what you are going to do.
• Break things into chunks. Last week we talked about chunking information to help retain it in your memory. This applies to staying focused on long term complicated projects. Separate the project into several parts and focus on just one at a time.
• Constantly prioritize. Every time you complete something, redetermine your priorities before continuing on to the next task.
• Identify distractions, and remove them. What stops your flow of work? Is it e-mails? Set aside time for yourself to check e-mails. Check them every hour if you can, or at least every fifteen minutes so you have a solid block of time to work between e-mails.
• Reward yourself, but only if you really deserve it. If you buy yourself ice cream every time you complete a project you're going to eat too much ice cream and not be much more productive than you ordinarily would. Treat yourself if you double your productivity, or if you perform something exceedingly well. You may not always reach your requisite for a reward, but that's what makes the reward, well, rewarding.
• Delegate if you can. Can someone else answer the phone for you so you wont lose momentum? Can you give smaller tasks to an assistant so you can focus on the bigger one? Can parts of what you're working on be split up among more than one person?
• Separate personal from business.  Many of us use our personal phones for business, which can cause our boundaries to deteriorate between work and free time. Yes, it's annoying to everyone at home when you take a work call. But, it's also annoying to everyone at work when you take a personal call. Set aside time during the day to deal with personal e-mails and matters and focus on work when you are at work.

Just about everyone know that feeling of forgetting something.  That unsettling feeling that sinks in as you leave for vacation or just before you leave the office for the day.  Or maybe you never even get the feeling and memory just washes away cleanly.  Either way, you've forgotten something and it's frustrating!  The human brain only has about 7 slots available for short term memory.  Try to cram much more than that and you're bound to lose something.  Since this is the 7th sentence you've probably already forgotten the title of this blog.

To conquer this cognitive limitation your brain must convert short term memories to long term ones. However, it's not always easy. More than ever we're expected to keep up with many different tasks at once; multitasking has become a vital component to just about any job these days. Try some of the following tips to boost your brain power.

1.  Don't multitask if you want to remember! If a long term project slips into your short term to-do list your brain might not convert it to long term memory.
2. Focus! Give your brain time to process the information- try to involve as many senses with an object or event if you really want to remember it. No, you can't smell this blog or taste these tips, but you can trace the words with your hands and say the words out loud.
3. Repeat! Repetition is what solidifies memory. Repeat something three times and it should be stored in your brain; just make sure the repetitions are spaced out a bit rather than cramming.
4. Grouping: The reason we can remember a ten digit phone number is because we group it into three categories so that they each only take up one slot in our short term memory. Try to group information to help yourself remember it. And if you can't group at least organize, the brain remembers things that are organized in a logical way.
5. Rest and relax! Got lots of sleep, turn off your phone and remove yourself from stimulus for a period of time each day. The reason we forget is because our brain is so overloaded with information and never has time to rest during the waking hours. Try to sit up in bed and reflect on the events of that day--not only will you sleep better but you'll retain those memories better.
6. Continue learning! It may seem like silly advice but too many adults have a know-it-all complex. If you think you've already learned everything you need to know your brain won't stay as sharp because it won't be challenged and when it comes time to learn new information you won't be able to do it as well. Take a continuing education class, take guitar lessons, read about art history, teach yourself to do something crafty.
7. Make connections! The more connections you can make in your brain the better you'll be able to retain the information. Try to connect the new information with something stored in your long term memory. If you want to remember a green coat you saw in the store make associations: Is it green like a turtle, does it feel like your favorite blanket, does it smell like wool? 

Since there's only seven tips you should have no problem remembering them, right?