your magnificent mind
Last night, I had the pleasure of watching a terrific program on PBS hosted by Dr. Daniel Amen and focusing on his new book and self-discovery program about brain health called “The Magnificent Mind.” Dr. Amen is a psychiatrist from California who offers a fresh approach to therapy — change your habits and your diet and add natural supplements and herbs to your regime before adding prescription drugs.
Dr. Daniel Amen studies the brain.
He runs programs around the world under the umbrella of the Amen Clinics, and his book, Magnificent Mind at Any Age, is definitely worth checking out. I found the television program particularly interesting as my father had Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) as did his sister — and so it is a concern in our family. Fortunately, according to Dr. Amen, your likeliness of getting AD is 80% based on your brain health and lifestyle, and only 20% is based on genetics. That was wonderful news for me to hear.
Dr. Amen goes on to describe how important balance is in our lives. As a feng shui enthusiast and a believer in the importance of moderation in practically everything I do, I am a big supporter of balance. Where does balance fit into your life? Is it important to you?
Dr. Amen focuses on the importance of balance between your physical fitness/health and your brain’s level of fitness or health. Improving your physical health is relatively straight forward and reaffirms the importance of regular exercise — 30 minutes three or four times each week — as well as eating with our health in mind.
To improve your “brain health,” Dr. Amen stresses the importance of eating a healthy diet that is high in lean protein and fish oil. He recommends that we each take a multi-vitamin and an Omega 3 supplement daily. He also says that eating more frequent, smaller meals is much more preferable than eating large meals less often during our day. I’m good with that, as that is how we eat on the Curves weight management plan, and yes, it’s working for me.
Dr. Amen also says that alcohol in moderation is OK (thumbs up to that, as we wine enthusiasts would have trouble with abstention.) But stay away from tobacco and all illegal drugs. Get enough sleep on a regular basis. And keep stimulating your mind. Whether it is doing puzzles, reading, discovering the world or learning a new language, if we keep the mind fresh and alert, we significantly reduce our risk of getting AD and other mental illnesses including depression.
If you’re interested in seeing how your memory checks out, take Dr. Amen’s free memory test online at: http://www.amenclinics.com/my-brain-health/test-your-brain/memory-screen-test
Happy Birthday to you as well, oh great wizard. As time moves along I’m sure we’ll find lots of interesting quirks that we have in common! Being Prairie gals is just the tip of the berg, isn’t it?
Thanks, Bev. Sounds interesting indeed.
I just signed up for a one day workshop on May 30th in Winnipeg called “Boost Your Brain Power”. It promises to share recent research on keeping your brain healthy plus provide some brain gym exercises. I thought it sounded fun! I will share with you what I learn.
Welcome to the tribe, and thanks for posting, Bonnie. And Happy Birthday! Mine is this week also. I knew we had a lot in common besides being prairie gals. (Bonnie is from SK.)
Enjoy the week — and stay balanced!
What a wonderful topic to celebrate my 41st birthday (you posted on my birthday! so I couldn’t resist commenting). Balance is key to everything I do. Symmetry in my knitting and writing; juggling work and home; creating a healthy meal for my family…they all involve balance, don’t they?
Thanks for posting the review and insight.
Thanks for the comment, Juliana. I will check out the book.
I agree that the many schools of FS are different and confusing. I cannot get myself to adhere to the classical approach as it is too strict for me. For me, the intuitive approach seems to work best.
I look forward to hearing from you again.
I agree, balance is certainly the key. Our immediate environment plays an important part in providing us with a sense of place and also, it plays a part in how we relate to the outside world. Feng Shui, properly applied, can support us to improve all areas of our life.
However, there are many different styles of Feng Shui and it can be rather confusing as to what’s real. So I wrote a book titled The Feng Shui Way. I draw this to your attention because it is unique in that it explains the basic premise (without the nonsense) behind each method and demystifies Feng Shui. More information is available at http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/TheFengShuiWay.html
If you have any questions I am most willing to offer my views on this topic.