Author: admin

Books on Brain Health

Here are some practical books on the care of your brain and how to keep it healthly.

Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

The subtitle of this book is “The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness”

Dr. Daniel G. Amen write an informative and practical book on how to keep your brain healthy and working well. Regardless of what state your brain is in now, it can be improved. Because the brain is so central to our being, improving the brain often will improve our lives. The two main points is good diet and exercise.

Dr. Amen is a clinical neuro scientist and medical director of Amen Clinic for Behavioral Medicine.

More books by Dr. Amen »

The Brain Trust Program:

The subtitle of this book is “A Scientifically Based Three-Part Plan to Improve Memory, Elevate Mood, Enhance Attention, Alleviate Migraine and Menopausal Symptoms, and Boost Mental Energy”

This books describes the care and feeding of the brain as in what to eat and not eat. It contains sets of brain exercises that are scientifically designed to enhance the functioning of your brain. It also covers on Alzheimer’s Disease.

Preventing Alzheimer’s: Ways to Help Prevent, Delay, Detect, and Even Halt Alzheimer’s Disease and OtherForms of Memory Loss

The authors Dr. Shankle (neurologist) and Dr. Amen (psychiatrist) writes in the first chapter, “Alzheimer’s disease (AD) begins an average of 30 years before the first symptoms.”

This books will provide you with prevention strategies that may delay onset long enough so that one never have symptoms.

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

Aerobic exercise is not just good for the heart, it is also good for the brain in more ways than one. That is according to John Ratey, the author of this book who is professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

A User’s Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain

An excerpt from the back cover reads “Ratey clearly and succinctly surveys what scientists now know about the brain and how we use it. He looks at the brain as a malleable organ capable of improvement and change, like any muscle, and examines the way secific motor functions might be applied to overcome neural disorders ranging from everyday shyness to autism.”

Brain Health Foods

According to chapter 4 of the book The Brain Trust Program:, some brain healthy foods are …

  • Fish and Seafood with omega-3 such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines, and anchovies. If you are worried about toxins in fish, keep in mind that smaller fish generally have less toxins.
  • Berries because their anti-oxidant ability to absorb free radicals
  • Spinach and dark-green vegetables for its vitamin B and floic acid
  • Spices like turmeric, ginger, sage, rosemary
  • Coffee and green tea
  • eggs for its vitamin A, E, B-12, and folate
  • avocados because it contains good oils and many vitamins and minerals such as A, C, E, K, magnesium, and potassium
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Wine
According to page 5 of the book
Preventing Alzheimer’s: Ways to Help Prevent, Delay, Detect, and Even Halt Alzheimer’s Disease and OtherForms of Memory Loss
Anti-oxidants like vitamin E, ginkgo biloba, and possibly alpha lipoic acid may delay the onset of Alzheimer. These antioxidants absorbs the free radicals which damage or kill brain cells.

This article on Alzheimer’s Association suggests …

  • dark-skinned fruits and vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, blueberries, blackberries, etc.
  • cold water fish such as halibut, mackerel, salmon, trout, and tuna
  • nuts such as almonds, pecans, and walnuts

It also indicates that vitamin E, C, B12, and folate may be helpful.

Video of Robot Dog

WATCH VIDEO on YouTube »

This mechanised robot dog by Boston Dynamic does a pretty good job of navigating through various terrains such as gravel, snow, and ice. It stumbles a few time when pushed or slipped on ice, but it knows how to recover quite well.

Michael Moore’s Documentary on Health Care: “Sicko”

Michael Moore’s film “Sicko” compares (sometimes with ironic humor) at the US’s broken healthcare system with universal health care systems in other countries such as Canada, Britain, France, and even Cuba.

There are interviews with health care professionals as well as citizens of the various countries. There is a testimonial by an former medical reviewer who denied an insured of medical treatment which subsequently caused the insured his death — and all because of profits. There are many other first-hand accounts of heart-breaking stories where people have been denied treatment and who subsequently died because of it. And most of whom do have health insurance. As is covered in the extra “special features” of the DVD, it is a myth that if you have health insurance you are safe. The number one cause of bankruptcy and homelessness in the US is due to health care bills. And in 75% of those cases, the person did have health insurance.

Well, at least there were some happy parts to the film. Michael Moore took a group of sick people (including some 911 workers) to Cuba. They had not been able to get the care that they needed in the States. But in Cuba, they did. One person almost cried as she found out that she could get an medicinal inhaler for an equivalent of $0.05 — one which would cost $120 in the States.

Alan Greenspan explains to Letterman What He Does

WATCH VIDEO on YouTube »

Here is a funny conversation between Alan Greenspan and David Letterman. Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve Bank Chairman, tries to explains to Letterman what his role is when he was in that position. And I think he did a good job explaining it.

I always like to hear Alan Greenspan speak. Because as he says himself, “I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you’ve probably misunderstood what I’ve said”.

Alan Greenspan’s memoir is The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World