The amount of vitamin D in the body is proportionate to cognitive function and the strength of legs.
Function of Vitamin D Vitamin D restores declining body cells. We have about 60 trillion cells. The cells are damaged and decline by aging and others. Vitamin D restores the cells and protects around the cells. Usually nerve cells in the brain and muscle cells are not easily restored, but vitamin D is expected to be able to restore them. How to increase Vitamin D The amount of vitamin D in the blood expected to be effective for our health is 30 ng/ml There are very few people whose vitamin D is more than 30 ng/mL. In a research, there are only 2 people among tested 300 people. 1 slice of salmon (100 grams) contains vitamin D of 40 shiitake mushrooms which is considered containing a lot of vitamin D. In a town in Japan where the cultivation of salmon is popular, there were 30 time more people whose vitamin D is more than 30 ng/mL. The efficient way to intake vitamin D from salmon is eating the skin of salmon as well. Vitamin D is oil soluble and there is a lot of vitamin D between the skin and the flesh of salmon. The skin of salmon has more vitamin D than the flesh.
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Memory gradually starts to fall from 30s.
Q1. Which waking speed makes the risk of dementia higher? (A) Fast (B) Slow A1. (B) Slow If the walking speed is slow, the risk of dementia is 1.77 times higher. The motor area in the brain orders the body to walk fast. The nerve cells in the brain transmit the information to the arms and legs and we can walk fast. But if the nerve cells die, the information can’t be transmitted to the arms and legs, resulting in being unable to walk fast. If the walking speed is slower than 90 cm per second, there is a risk of dementia. That is, if you can’t cross the crosswalk during the green light, there is a risk of dementia. Even if you forget something, if you can remember, that is just forgetfulness. But if you forget that you made a promise itself, that can be a sign of dementia. Q2. Which steps of walking makes the risk of dementia higher? (A) Long steps (B) Short steps A2. (B) Short steps Q3. Which exercise is expected to prevent dementia? (A) Aerobic exercise such as walking (B) Anaerobic exercise such as weight training A3. (A) Aerobic exercise such as walking Aerobic exercise helps produce BDNF which is a kind of protein that activates the brain. BDNF is not only produced in the brain but also is produced by the contraction of the muscles and is transmitted to the brain. BDNF restores the network of the nerve cells in the brain. MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) is a condition that there is a slight decline of cognitive abilities, but no difficulty in daily life. But if a person with MCI doesn’t take any countermeasure, over half of those with MCI are at a risk of developing dementia within 4 years. Q4. Which contains the substance that is expected to prevent dementia? (A) Blue cheese (B) Camembert cheese A4. (B) Camembert cheese The substances contained in camembert cheese such as Oleic amide decreases amyloid beta which causes dementia. People with Alzheimer’s disease store amyloid beta abnormally. Amyloid beta is considered that it emits toxins to kill the nerve cells. Q5. Which contains substances that is expected to prevent dementia? (A) Beer (B) Distilled liquor A5. (A) Beer Hop (iso-α acid) which is bitterness of beer is expected to decrease amyloid beta. Proper amount is 1 to 2 bottles of beer a day. Too much consumption of alcohol progresses dementia. Red wine is rich in polyphenol which has antioxidant effects. Q6. Which should be taken positively to reduce the risk of dementia? (A) Rice (B) Milk A6. (B) Milk According to a research, people who took more vegetables, beans, sea vegetables and milk and took less rice reduced the risk of dementia by 30 %. This research suggests that eating rice is not bad but if you eat more rice, you can’t eat other things, so it is better to reduce the amount of rice (carbohydrate). To prevent dementia, it is important to take various kinds of nutrition through balanced meals. Reading a picture book to a child activates the brain and prevents dementia. Telling new information you have learned recently to your family has also the same effect as reading a picture book. Q7. How long should you take a nap to reduce the risk of dementia by 80 %? (A) 30 minutes (B) One and a half hours A7. (A) 30 minutes Short nap within 30 minutes is effective to prevent dementia. But nap more than 1 hour raises the risk of dementia. Short nap within 30 minutes lowers the stress caused by lack of sleep. When you are sleepy, your brain is stressed and nerve cells in the brain can be damaged. A human being has biological rhythms that they get sleepy 8 hours after waking up. But if you put up with sleepiness and continue what you are doing, that stress weakens the nerve cells in the brain. That is why taking a nap reduces the stress of the brain. 10 minutes nap doesn’t affect the sleep at night, but if you sleep too much during the daytime, that affects the sleep at night. When you take a nap, the sleep should be light so you should not darken the room or change clothes but take a nap on the couch. Recommended time of taking a nap is within 8 hours after waking up in the morning and the length is within 30 minutes. Q8. How many hours should you sleep at night to prevent dementia? (A) 5 hours (B) 7 hours A8. (B) 7 hours According to a research, between less than 6 hours, 7 hours and more than 8 hours of sleep, 7 hours sleep lowered the risk of dementia. According to a research for 10 years in US, a game called Brain HQ reduced the risk of dementia by 48 %. Dementia
Red wine, blue-skinned fish, curry and others are famous as food to prevent dementia. The cause of dementia is something like flecks produced in the brain with aging, which is called amyloid beta. Especially the flecks produced in the seahorse of the brain lower the function of memory, leading to dementia. The newest research found a food which suppresses the flecks in the brain. The food effective to prevent dementia is camembert cheese. Camembert cheese contains oleic acid amid and dehydroergosterol which suppress the increase of flecks in the brain (amyloid beta) because these two substances are produced during the process of the fermentation of camembert cheese by white mold. Eating 1 to 2 pieces of camembert cheese a day is effective to prevent dementia. Drinking 3 to 4 glasses of red wine with camembert cheese is more effective. The rate of dementia development of the people who drink 3-4 glasses of red wine a day is one fifth of the people who don’t drink. According to the research reported the last November, the bitterness of beer is effective to prevent dementia. The bitterness effective to prevent dementia is hop origin. A can of beer a day is good amount. The amount of the brain at the age of 20s is about 1200 cc for a man and about 1000 cc for a woman. But nerve cells start to decrease from 20s and the decrease is accelerated at the age of 50, causing shrinkage of the brain and deterioration of the memory. The brain of 70s shrinks by about 180 cc compared to the brain of 20s. in the case of dementia, the brain can shrink by 350 cc (a bottle of beer). But there are people whose memory declines and people whose memory doesn’t decline. What kind of people’s memory doesn’t decline even if their brain shrinks? 7 people whose age are between 60 and 70 were selected randomly and the shrinkage of their brain were checked. The ratio of the shrinkage was 7.3 % to 9.3 %. Then their memory was checked. The brain ages of 3 people out of 7 people were younger than their ages. The secret that their memory has not declined is related to seahorses in the head. The seahorses in the head are the hippocampus. The hippocampus retains information coming into the brain temporarily and sends important information required to be retained to the cerebral cortex. (Fig. 1) It is difficult to make the brain bigger because a lot of nerve cells in the brain die with age. But according to the recent research, it turns out that it is possible to enlarge and increase the nerve cells in the hippocampus. Substance that makes the hippocampus bigger and stops forgetfulness – BDNF BDNF stands for Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and is a kind of protein. BDNF is something like feed to activate the nerve cells of the hippocampus. BDNF is expected to make the hippocampus bigger, improve memory and prevent dementia. In an experiment, BDNF was administered to live nerve cells in the brain and they were cultivated for 3 days. Before the administration of BDNF, they were immature nerve cells (Fig. 2). 1st day they started to move actively and make something like threads. 3rd day they were connected each other and formed network (Fig. 3). Immature nerve cells were activated and formed network to exchange information for 3 days. How to make BDNF in a daily life The secretion of BDNF is more in young people and is less in older people. But the method to increase declined BDNF is receiving attention around the world. The method is makes BDNF using muscles. It is said that exercises increase BDNF in the hippocampus and the muscles also secretes BDNF and the secreted BDNF is transported to the brain through the blood. What kind of exercise effectively increases BDNF? It was found out that aerobic exercise such walking makes the muscles in all the body produce BDNF and increases BDNF by 10 %. The increased BDNF possibly enlarges the hippocampus. How much walking is necessary to increase BDNF? 2 women whose memory was more than their age checked their BDNF in the blood and tried walking for a week. Their BDNF increased by more than 10 %. If you are concerned about forgetfulness, it is necessary to continue walking for 1 year. 78 years old female had dementia since she lost her husband. She was closing her eyes almost all day and was difficult to walk and spent all day in her bed. But she miraculously recovered from the dementia 2 years later in a certain way. She was diagnosed as Lewy Bodies Dementia. Lewy Bodies Dementia (LBD) The development of Lewy Bodies in the neurons of the cerebral cortex or the brain stem impairs the function showing (1) cognitive dysfunction such as a loss of memory or inability to recognize the situation, (2) visual or auditory hallucination, (3) mobility impairment leading to inability to walk due to stiff muscles. The cause of LBD is not understood. There is no cure of LBD and the treatment is symptomatic such as loosening the muscles with medications. But she recovered from the dementia in a certain way. What leaded to dramatic recovery was ballroom dance. Her son had had her try various things seemed effective in dementia, but nothing had been effective. One day when she heard Tango in his car, her fingers started to move with the rhythm. When she was young, she was enjoying ballroom dance with her boyfriend. Her son took her to ballroom dance classes to have her watch their dance. 2 weeks later she told her son that she wanted to dye her hair. One month later she chose and wore a brightly colored shirt and danced with the instructor, and her smile came back. Why ballroom dance helped her recovery from dementia? A lot of researches that ballroom dance is effective in maintaining and improving a cognitive function have been reported recently. The movement of ballroom dance is not only an aerobic exercise but also an intellectual activity which makes you memorize complicating steps and dance not to make a mistake thinking about the steps. Doing an exercise and intellectual activity simultaneously is effective in improving a cognitive function. Another important point leading to her dramatic improvement is that ballroom dance was her sweet memory. So she could continue the dance whilst enjoying it, resulting in the dramatic recovery. One year after starting ballroom dance, she went to Hawaii with her family. According to a research in USA, Recreational Activities that lower the risk of dementia are: (1) Ballroom dance: Decreased by 76 % (2) Board games: Decreased by 74 % (3) Playing musical installments: Decreased by 69 % The similarity among these three activities is that they involve communication with other people.
(1) For Anti-Aging, it is good to eat canned salmon!
Red coloring matter called astaxanthin in salmon has strong antioxidant power so it is considered that it is good for anti-aging. Canned salmon enables you to eat everything including bones and skins. (2) Drinking instant coffee is effective for anti-aging! Coffee contains niacin which is effective for anti-aging, and instant coffee contains more niacin than regular coffee. Drinking 2-3 cups of instant coffee a day gives you sufficient amount to niacin for anti-aging. (3) Eating curry prevents dementia! Curry contains turmeric and Curcumine contained in turmeric decreases the substance causing Alzheimer disease. According to a research, the onset risk rate of Alzheimer disease of Indian people who eat a lot of curry is one fourth of American people. (4) Eating walnuts suppresses allergic symptoms such as pollen allergy Walnuts contain fatty acid of Omega-3 (α-linolenic acid) a lot which suppresses allergies. Eating a handful of walnut a day is effective.
Walking is good for our health. That is what everyone knows. But how long do we have to walk to prevent diseases?
In a research, 500 people have taken physical activity meter with them 24 hours a day for more than 15 years to know how many steps they have to walk to prevent what kind of diseases. They found out that there was a causal relationship between steps per day and occurrence of diseases, and there are 10 diseases which can be prevented by Walking. (1) Cancer (2) Heart disease (3) Stroke (4) Type II Diabetes (5) High blood pressure (6) Cognitive impairment (dementia) (7) Depression (8) Osteoporosis (9) Fracture (10) Dyslipidemia (abnormal amount of cholesterol and/or fat) Cognitive impairment (Dementia) 82 years old female works in her kitchen garden where some kinds of vegetables are grown in the morning earning about 3000 steps. In the afternoon, she goes for walking which earns about 2000 steps. She walks about 5000 steps a day and according to a test, her cognitive ability is as good as the one of 59 years old. The number of steps to prevent cognitive impairment is more than 5000 steps including more than 7.5 minutes of activities which are moderate intensity such as fast walking or light field work. More than 5000 steps a day and moderate-intense activity increase the blood flow of the brain, leading to activating the nerve activity of the hippocampus in the brain, which is associated with memory, resulting in the prevention of cognitive impairment. |
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