A New York Times review of the new book The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain caught my eye a week or so ago, and the author, Barbara Straunch, had some interesting insights to share relative to what middle-aged brains are actually good at, and how to keep our brains functioning well into the future.

• Our brains are still growing and developing far into adulthood.  Although we do have some compromises in short term memory (Where are my keys anyway? And what is your name?), the middle-aged brain is actually better in many ways than at any other point in our lives.

• Logic, creativity and social skills are all at a high point during those middle years.  Although you might not remember the name of the person to whom you are speaking, you will be an excellent judge of his character.

• We do not, as previously thought, actually lose brain cells as we age.

• Exercise and diet recommendations that benefit your heart are also likely to benefit the health of your brain.  Exercise in particular can actually help strengthen and grow your brain.  So get out there and start moving!

• Although there are benefits to making your brain work hard, crossword puzzles and learning a foreign language hold no particular magic powers in terms of maintaining the health of your brain.  Partaking in vigorous debates on subjects of interest can be just as helpful, so unless you just love the Sunday Times crossword puzzle, you can stop doing it!

• Meeting and engaging with people is healthy for your brain, and your mood!

It is so refreshing to hear that middle age is not necessarily the beginning of a slow slide into senility.  Staying engaged and active in life, both in terms of intellectual pursuits and social involvement, seems to be key to keeping your gray matter from graying.

I am hopeful that by maintaining an active life filled with fulfilling relationships, creative pursuits and lively conversation, I can remain one less consumer of Long Term Care services in New York!

Although un-hip, I am quite interested in doing things to keep myself and my family healthy.  I try mightily to get my children to willingly eat vegetables. I don’t cook red meat. I choose fresh ingredients rather than food-in-a-box whenever possible.  I am embarking on an experiment to be a vegetarian, and I recently gave up caffeine for a month.  I am willing to try new things – within reason.

There was a recent article in the New York Times about the popularity of a fermented tea drink called kombucha.  Apparently this tea can do all kinds of magical things like re-growing hair, calming digestive issues and curing hangovers.  Those who drink it claim that it is quite delish.  Sounds good, right?  I’m in! I could be the first one in the suburbs to partake of this delightful elixir!  How do I get it?

This is where things get a little hairy for me.  Because kombucha is made by immersing a disk of bacteria into brewed tea and letting it sit, unrefrigerated, for up to two weeks.

A disk of bacteria.

In your tea.

On purpose.

I am so not down with that.

I understand the benefits of probiotics.  I eat yogurt (from the refrigerator, thank you very much).  But, I have to admit that I wouldn’t even drink the plain tea if it sat out for two weeks – and the introduction of the bacteria disk into the equation does nothing to improve the situation for me.

I suppose the nature of kombucha is essentially similar to beer.  Fermented substances in a drink are not that uncommon.  And yet, I can’t quite get my head around voluntarily introducing bacteria into a completely acceptable drink like tea.  I guess I don’t brew my own beer either, although I do enjoy drinking it.

There are packaged versions of kombucha available, including one made by Red Bull.  I am slightly more comfortable with the manufactured versions, mostly because I work under the assumption that beverage manufacturers are as terrified of being sued as I am of dying of kombucha poisoning.

I am a big sucker for slick marketing and putting anything, even something utterly disgusting, in a pretty bottle and giving it a fun name goes a long way to drawing my interest.  If I actually went out and purchased a Carpe Diem Kombucha, it would be an ultimate marking success for them.

Ooooo…pretty bottle….fancy name…who cares what’s in it?  I must have it!

I want to be cool and brave enough to jump on this bandwagon and give kombucha a try.  But the reality is that it’s probably beyond my capabilities to be that cool and brave.  And the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is working just fine for me, thanks!

Dr. Berry’s findings, presented last week in San Francisco at the American Heart Association’s Annual Epidemiology and Prevention Conference, are based on an analysis of 1,765 men and women who had physical examinations performed during the 1970’s and 1980’s at the Cooper Institute, the Dallas-based birthplace of the aerobics movement. Put another way: If you’re not fit in your 50’s, your projected life span “is eight years shorter than if you are fit,” Dr. Berry says.

So regular exercise is the most cogent weapon we have to ward off illness and fight disease- as it results in lower blood pressure, healthier cholesterol, and lower blood sugar.

Rest assured… there is a silver lining to all this before you start jogging, digging ditches, or playing singles tennis:  Studies also indicate that exercise’s greatest impact occurs when individuals move from a sedentary lifestyle to embarking on regular moderate exercise regimens.

That’s encouraging. You go, Girl!

So what do we do to slow down? Here are some ways to manage your stress.

• Be realistic about your goals and keep things simple. If you offer to host the annual family Holiday party, don’t go over the top and self cater the entire thing. Take-out side dishes and salads are great fill-ins.

• Express your thoughts in writing. Keeping a journal, blog or diary can be very therapeutic. And if you are not keen of the pen, try recording yourself via a digital voice or video recorder.

• Incorporate some form of exercise into your day and be consistent about it. You don’t have to run the marathon; take a walk with a friend, join the pool at the local Y or shoot some hoops with your kids.

• Massages are the ultimate relaxant. If you don’t believe me, try one for yourself. An aside, did you know that despite the gloomy economy – massage therapy has remained quite popular according to a recent survey from the American Massage Therapy Association?

• Find out if your workplace has any stress-fighting resources in place. Many Employee-Assistance Programs (EAP), wellness programs or health plans provide confidential personal stress-relief plans.

“Aha!” : all those Eureka moments I’ve come to count on as a creative professional in the advertising and marketing field, were really instances of insight reflective of an active mind with some serious neuron brain activity. And though the classically cerebral thought processes of my so analytical spouse are more often associated with “smarts”, researchers mapping the anatomy of the brain’s breakthrough moments reveal that insight is crucial to intellect.

Epiphanies that lead to bursts of mental clarity are often so physical because of the intense activation of alternating electrical currents- that have lead to monumental breakthroughs and revelations in the sciences. Think Einstein imagining trains and lightning when the idea of special relativity hit him like a bolt of lightning. Sir Isaac Newton, lolling in his orchard, espies universal gravitation. And perhaps the one most readily identified with: Archimedes taking his bath came upon his formula calculating density and volume- and, as legend would have us believe, emerged from the tub, exclaiming: “Eureka! I’ve got it!

Daydreaming, scientists have found, is often the brain hard at work; MRI scans indicate intense activation in problem solving areas. Patterns of high frequency neural activity in the right frontal cortex are easily manifested right before an answer to a problem dawns upon the person!

Sudden insights are the fusion of a complex series of brain states that require more neural resources than methodical reasoning!

A person’s frame of mind influences whether she has a Eureka moment.

Your state of mind affects your inclination to insightful thinking.

Your positive mood impacts your likelihood to experience insight.

Which leads me to my exit, as I anticipate the drawing of a luxurious bath… and some brilliant flashes of insight…

Today’s medical announcement would be astounding if it wasn’t almost intuitive; the results clearly demonstrate that lifestyle behaviors do contribute to stroke risk independently of the intermediate risk factors.

We are all aware that the following four behaviors are beneficial to one’s health. Physical activity, moderate alcohol consumption, no smoking, and the daily consumption of five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day can only have a positive impact. The strength of that impact was recently bolstered by a defining EPIC (European Prospective Investigation of Cancer) study conducted in England.

20,040 men and women ages 40 to 79 had a physical exam and completed a detailed health and lifestyle questionnaire upon enrolling in the study. This data determined which participants smoked, drank, were physically active, and whether they ate their fruits and vegetables. The risk of stroke for those who did not practice any of the above mentioned behaviors increased twofold compared with individuals who adopted all four.

“These results provide further incentive and support for the notion that small differences in lifestyle can have a substantial potential impact on risk,” the authors concluded.

Does your age shock you? Do you feel younger than your years describe? You’re not alone. A study of seniors found that, on average, men feel 13 years younger than they actually are, while women felt more like 7 years younger.

The gap between perceived and actual age narrowed during periods of ill health, and increased when the subject was happy and active.

Stay young; enjoy life.

Relax actively. That’s the advice of researchers to the retired and the elderly. Not only is it beneficial for your heart, it’s beneficial for your mind.

This news is the conclusion of numerous studies concerning how exercise affects the brain. Exercise causes a chain of reactions that release chemicals into the bloodstream, while regular aerobic workouts build up the presence of these chemicals. The results are startling. Far from the usual shrinking that accompanies aging, the brain begins to grow.

Children have flourishing brains that branch out new neurons with an exuberant frequency. The adult brain begins trimming back unused neurons, and some also die on their own. Until these recent studies, scientists believed that these dead neurons could never regrow. Now they know differently.

In a study by Columbia University’s Scott Small and the Salk Institute’s Fred Gage, subjects asked to exercise regularly seemed to sprout new neurons; the more fit they became the more neurons they grew. The neurons appeared in the section of the brain dedicated to learning and memory, one of the first sections to age. “It’s not just a matter of slowing down the aging process,” explained Arthur Kramer, of the University of Illinois. “It’s a matter of reversing it.”

Exercise does more than just grow a bigger brain. A research group at the University of Washington found that people who exercise three or more times a week have a 30% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Nor did the exercise have to be an intense aerobic workout. Lead researcher Dr. Eric Larson said that a 15-minute walk three times a week was enough to reduce the risk. A similar study found that five to six hours of vigorous physical activity each week led to a 40% decrease in risk of developing Parkinson’s Disease.

Scientists don’t know why this happens, and they haven’t yet zeroed in on the best exercises. But until they figure it out, one thing remains clear: being a couch potato is bad for the brain. So move!

With aging, comes reduced hormone levels. Does reversing the hormone levels reverse aging?
Not exactly, but it might come close.
Human growth hormone is a hormone that predominantly increases height. While doing so, it also increases muscle mass and bone density. HGH is at its highest levels during childhood and puberty. As we mature, the levels decrease, beginning a sharp decline at around age 30. At around that time, bone density declines, muscle mass reduces, and physical disorders like diabetes increase.
Until now, some of the more desperate aging generation have taken HGH in the hope of reversing aging, but research has not corroborated their theory.
But now, something new is in the air. According to Natalie Angier of the NY Times: “In a clinical trial of 21 healthy men ranging in age from 61 to 81, researchers found that after six months of injections of a genetically engineered version of the natural body hormone, the men emerged with bodies that by many measures were almost 20 years younger than the ones they started with.”
Aging was measured only in the distribution of body weight. The men were found to have increased muscle mass and decreased fat. The scientists hypothesize that some bulk went to internal organs, which shrink with age, but aren’t sure. The men’s skin also increased in thickness and youth, and bone density increased.
Of course, the significance of this improvement is debatable. HGH is known to increase muscles mass and reduce fat, but without really increasing strength. And what’s the point of muscle without strength? Similarly, the change in appearance was not correlated to an increase in performance of organs or body.
And as with all drugs, there were the side effects. HGH can cause swelling in the face, arms, and legs; arthritis; diabetes; hardened arteries, high blood pressure, and heart failure; and abnormal growth of bones and organs, among others.

Sometimes it seems like everything causes cancer. Then it seems like everything prevents it. What advice should you follow and what can you regard skeptically until further research actually proves something? Here are a few lifestyle tips for cancer prevention. All are well proven to correlate with reduced cancer risks.
1. A little alcohol affects men and women differently. Men actually benefit from a small daily intake of spirits, while women should not exceed a single drink a day, if even that much.
2. Avoid processed meats at all cost, and limit your consumption of all red meat. Fish and fowl are rich in all the proteins you need without the unhealthy fats that come along with.
3. Along the same lines, try to avoid overdosing on sodium and salt, which most people do. The average salt intake is already well above the necessary limit, so any reduction on your part can only be good.
4. Whole, unprocessed foods are your best bet. Fruits, veggies, and things that grow from the ground are healthy. Foods with ingredients you can’t pronounce or that don’t resemble any naturally occurring edible should be shunned. And while you’re at it, aim for a variety of veggies and fruits. Different foods have different vitamins and minerals, so take in as much as possible.
5.  Exercise. About 30 minutes of activity per day, enough to get your heart rate up, should do the trick.
6. Avoid fat, especially saturated and hydrogenated. Hydrogenated fats, found in margarine and most junk foods, are directly linked to cancer risks. Processed sugar is also a known evil. Reduce your calorie intake as much as possible, a strategy linked to longer life overall.