Most articles I come across these days do not provide me new information on maintaining brain health. That happily was not the case with an article that I read this past week. The article provided five tips for brain health, two of which was news to me.
One was to sit up straight. I am not sure how the mechanism of action works on that, but it satisfies my two litmus tests for recommendation: it improves quality of life regardless of whether your brain health improves and there are no adverse side effects. Those two conditions are why I never report on medications. Pharmaceuticals don’t need my help anyways; they spend billions to persuade consumers, or doctors of consumers, to use their products. Sitting up straight has no adverse side effects and, if nothing else, improves your posture.
The other “new” tip actually provides a different angle to something we all know we should be doing: put a little joy in our lives each day. The article refers to daily “successes” that enable us to congratulate ourselves, but that sounds much like infusing a little joy to me. In truth, I have attempted something like this and, in truth, until recently I’ve been failing.
I refer to my attempts with single tasking, which proves to be better for brain health than multitasking. I have a few ambitious projects in the hopper, too many to tackle at once, too ambitious to get much done, even with just one, while I am a full time caregiver. My solution was to jot down ideas as they came to me on clipboards, stow them away until the proper time, which was determined by a daily schedule incorporating the different projects in their own time slots.
The problem with this approach is too little: too little success, too little joy. With the minimum attention devoted to each project I could do no more than tread water on each; often times I felt like I regressed. I have changed my strategy to weekly themes instead. Each week I pick only one project for focusing my attention. This started two weeks before Cindy’s birthday. I focused on categorizing all the photos we had to form slideshows: slideshows for home viewing; a slideshow for her birthday party; slideshows for her eventual memorial service.
Admittedly, this particular project provided a good measure of sorrow. Strangely, I did not find the photos of us as bittersweet as I did the photos of Cindy the Girl Scout or Youth Fellowship leader. Maybe I am moving towards acceptance of my own eventual loss and instead am struck by the community’s eventual loss of a wonderful person. Still, I also experienced joy from the little successes derived from getting that project done. I also was extremely grateful for working on those photos now rather than right before a memorial service.
Of course, you don’t have to rely just on little successes to put a little joy in your day. Each day I try to provide a little joy in Cindy’s life; the most effective stimulus, as always, is the cheerful company of others. The joy comes too late for Cindy’s brain health, with her advanced stage of Alzheimer’s, but her joy is my joy as well. That’s the beauty of empathy.
The Humanity Hiker Facebook page is where I post articles such as the five tips, as that is much easier for me to do. Most people visiting this blog get here through a Facebook link; perhaps you have seen the article already. If you haven’t yet, here is a direct link to: Neuroscience says these five rituals will help your brain stay in peak condition. Make sure you sit up straight while reading it.
