Nicola PhD Gates - A Brain for Life

In all case studies described in this book, names have all been changed, ages are given as proxies within a five-year range, and other details have been subtly changed. However, the presenting concerns, diagnoses and management strategies have not been altered.

This book is within the self-help genre and is not designed to provide definitive or individual advice, and is not a substitute for appropriate care from a registered medical or health professional.

I dedicate this book to my mother, so she may

continue to bloom, and to my two children, who

fill my life with joy, so that they always thrive.

Contents

Destiny is not a matter of chance, its a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.

WJ Bryan

We generally take our brains for granted. This was poignantly illustrated for me when I was working in rehabilitation at a brain injury unit and a young carpenter was transferred from an acute-care hospital. He had fallen off a roof, landed on his head and sustained a severe traumatic brain injury. Thank goodness he didnt break an arm, his mother commented to me. While she was thinking her son relied on his arms to continue his trade, she had overlooked the fact that his brain was needed to co-ordinate his arms not to mention the muscles for speech and swallowing so that he could eat solid food. As he remained in a coma we were unsure as to his capacity to remember, find something funny, or be himself, let alone move his muscles.

Our brains are amazing. They are responsible for everything, from co-ordinating all our movements, to controlling our heart beat, understanding the sensory world, solving problems, learning, and providing us with a sense of our selves our humour, interests, likes and dislikes. We need our brains and we need them to be healthy so they can work optimally throughout our entire lifespan.

As my career in clinical neuropsychology developed, my interests focused less on rehabilitation of neurocognitive disorders and more on prevention I wanted to stop brain problems before they happened. To further my knowledge I undertook a PhD in neuropsychiatry. During my research, the literature revealed that multiple lifestyle factors significantly contribute to the risks for chronic diseases and neurocognitive disorders like dementia or equally that lifestyle factors could be preventative. I found this information so empowering: it means we can potentially influence our health, disease and dementia risk with our behaviour. As I had one great-grandparent and three grandparents with dementia, this evidence changed how I thought about my future health.

Medical research consistently and continually indicates that many of the risks for chronic diseases, such as dementia, are preventable. You can influence or modify your risk factors to reduce or prevent clinical disease. Absolute prevention is not possible, especially given the complexity of disease and the multiple factors involved, but at the very least you can delay disease onset and reduce disability.

Fundamentally, our lifestyles can have a significant bearing on whether, and for how long, we spend the later years of our life disabled or living fully.

How do we ensure that our brainspan matches our lifespan?

Our brains are significantly influenced by the health of the body and the experiences we have. There are four key steps to achieve optimal brain function and reduce clinical dementia. We need to:

boost brain health (through diet, gut health, heart and more);

build brain reserve (through exercise, mental activity and social connectivity);

reduce brain burden (including stress and depression); and

develop a wise mind (a satisfying life and a positive mindstyle).

By taking care of our brain we also care for our body and mind, and ultimately flourish.

Lifestyle, health, environment and genetic make-up are key factors contributing to clinical dementia resistance or risk, and are inter-related. While there are things over which we have little control (genes, socio-economic position or environment) there are many aspects of lifestyle over which we have full command. Embrace control and accept those options which give us the ability to positively influence our own life course.

Brain health and brain reserve start developing early in life but are consolidated in midlife. Therefore, what we do from around age 30 onwards is important to provide a future buffer against clinical dementia. However, research also shows that maintenance of optimal brain and cognitive health in late life depends on lifestyle too. Additionally, studies also indicate that what you do this year in terms of your lifestyle and mindstyle will influence your brain health and cognitive function next year, suggesting now is a good time to start for tomorrow.

We have an exciting opportunity to make beneficial changes to improve our brain, and thereby also care for our body and mind, as the three are interconnected. Adapting how we live to support a healthy lifestyle and adopting a positive mindstyle are preventative, and although lifestyle changes might be challenging and uncomfortable, they are without medical complications or restrictions. Being healthy has no negative side effects! We will thrive.

In this book I cover the science that shows how our behaviours and actions today affect our brain health and function tomorrow; I will introduce you to men and women whose stories show what its like when we take control of our lives; and finally I outline some practical, achievable strategies for long-term brain health.

In this journey towards optimal brain health we need to start with a positive mindstyle, one of self-compassion and kindness. There is no scorecard to measure your lifestyle against, no pass or fail, so no self-recriminations are necessary. Think of yourself as a beginner or novice at the start of a new (life) course, with opportunities ahead for change. If you catch yourself thinking things are good or bad, try to let go of self-judgement.

Be open to options and feel empowered so that you can make the best decisions for yourself now and for tomorrow. If it seems change is too difficult, pause and rebalance. Do not limit your horizons. Rather than thinking I cant, switch to I will try instead, and continue as if conducting an experiment there is no pass or fail, just new learning. Keep a future focus and take smaller steps, as they can be easier than moving in leaps.

This book is about learning self-care in its truest and purest sense to support your dreams and improve your life. I invite you to take the first step and begin: you might just change your health destiny on the way.

If the carpenter in the story had worn a safety harness he would not have had a head injury. My aim in writing this book is to provide you with a safety harness to protect your brain for your lifespan. It is your most valuable asset.

People alive today will live longer than any previous generation. Many of us, men and women, will live well beyond age 80 but this longevity is only of benefit to us if we have good health in body, brain and mind, and limited disability.

Since the discovery of antibiotics and immunisations, infections and diseases that killed our forebears have been greatly reduced. Today the majority of life-threatening diseases in the developed world are non-communicable: they are largely due to lifestyle rather than to contagion. What a lot of people also do not appreciate is that many well-known risk factors and chronic diseases that affect millions of people, like cardiovascular disease and diabetes type 2, are also linked to dementia.