What hurts the brain? You probably know some of the obvious ones: drugs, excessive alcohol, infections, toxic chemicals, and head injuries. The lesser-known factors include being over-weight; sleep apnea; high blood pressure; diabetes, prediabetes, and high blood sugar levels; drugs for anxiety; highly processed foods that have been sprayed with pesticides and include added sugar and artificial ingredients; having hormones out of whack; too much stress, negativity, and hanging out with people who have bad habits. Reflect on which of these issues are impacting your brain.
什麼會傷害大腦呢？你或許已經知道一些比較明顯的因素：毒品、酗酒、感染、有毒化學物質、腦外傷。比較不為人知會傷害大腦的則有：過重、呼吸終止症、高血壓、糖尿病、前期糖尿病、高血糖、抗憂鬱藥物、精緻加工食物(有防腐劑、糖及其他人工調味調色等成份)、服用提振精神的荷爾蒙、壓力太大、負面思考、和有壞習慣的人鬼混。反省看看以上的因素有哪些是影響了你的大腦了。
Warren Buffett has two rules of investing: Rule #1 Never lose money. Rule #2 Never forget Rule #1. In the same way, the most important rules of brain health are as follows: Rule #1 Never lose brain cells. Rule #2 Never forget rule #1. Losing brain cells is much harder to recover from than any financial loss.
巴菲特的兩大投資原則是：原則一、不要虧錢。原則二、永遠不要忘記原則一。 同樣地，大腦健康的兩大原則是：原則一、不要損傷腦細胞。原則二、永遠不要忘記原則一。腦細胞一旦損傷了，遠遠比損失金錢還難恢復。
At Amen Clinics we developed the mnemonic BRIGHT MINDS to help you remember the 11 major risk factors that steal brain cells and lead to cognitive impairment….
Amen Clinics 把11種主要的風險因素，用英文字頭組成BRIGHT MINDS供大家記得：
…11 BRIGHT MINDS…
聰明腦的11項風險因素：
Blood fow 血液順暢程度
Retirement/Aging 退休/年紀
Inflammation 發炎
Genetics 基因遺傳
Mental health 心理健康
Immunity/Infections 免疫與感染
Neurohormone issues 神經荷爾蒙
Diabesity 糖尿病程度
Sleep issues 睡眠品質
Head trauma 腦創傷
Toxins 毒物
開始做對大腦有益的事：
Blood flow: walk like you are late for 45 minutes at least four times a week
Retirement/Aging: engage in 15 minutes of new learning every day
Inflammation: floss your teeth regularly to avoid periodontal disease
Genetics: know your family history risk factors and start preventing them as soon as possible
Head trauma: protect your head (stop texting and driving)
Toxins: detoxify your body by taking regular saunas
Mental health: whenever you are sad, mad, nervous, or out of control, write down your negative thoughts and ask, “Is it really true?”
Immunity/Infections: know and optimize your vitamin D level
Neurohormone issues: test your hormones yearly and work with your doctor to optimize them
Diabesity: eat a brain-healthy diet
Sleep issues: aim for seven hours of sleep a night
Blood fow 血液順暢程度：(要運動)每天快走45分鐘，每週至少4天。咖啡因會緊縮血管，不要喝太多咖啡(可樂也有咖啡因)。適當喝水。
Retirement/Aging 退休/年紀：要退而不休，每天至少花15分鐘學習新東西。
Inflammation 發炎：經常用牙線潔牙，避免牙周病(定期洗牙)。多吃富含omega-3的油脂(EPA及DHA，魚油中有)
Genetics 基因遺傳：理解自己的家族有沒有遺傳性腦疾病，及早預防。
Head trauma 腦創傷：防止腦外傷(不要一邊開車一邊用手機)
Toxins 毒物：遠離毒品。戒菸、遠離二手菸。戒酒。小心化粧品。經常泡泡溫泉來流汗排毒。
Mental health 心理健康：每當感到悲哀、瘋狂、緊張或情緒失控的時候，把負面的想法寫下來反問自己，這是真的嗎？維持正常的社交，但是近朱者赤近墨者黑。
Immunity/Infections 免疫與感染：攝取足夠的維他命D(每天曬太陽15-30分鐘)
Neurohormone issues 神經荷爾蒙：每年測一次，如果需要則按照醫囑改善。
Diabesity 糖尿病程度：保持均衡飲食的好習慣。多吃饍食纖維(蔬果)，改善腸胃道健康，透過腦腸軸，使大腦更健康。
Sleep issues 睡眠品質：每夜睡足7小時。
……
Start every day with “today is going to be a great day.”
每天一早告訴自己，今天又將是得意的一天。
……
除了以上的提示，其實還有很多事項是會影響到大腦的健康。個人的建議是，先把前述的事項當作是優先要做好的，那麼大腦的健康(其實也是身體的健康)，雖不中亦不遠矣。
大腦是一個器官，它會因為我們費心神去照顧它，而變得更健康。大腦更健康，也代表身體更健康，這讓幸福的人生，有了很好的基礎。
戒菸、戒酒、睡好、吃得健康、運動、終身學習、與君子交，這些都是老生常談了，可是我們都努力做到了嗎？That is the question.
*: Daniel G. Amen, “Change your brain every day,” 2023, WordServe Literary Group
2024/1/21 Change your brain every day Damakey
