The best way to look after your brain

A leading professor reveals you CAN take action to protect yourself from Alzheimer’s, stroke and other neurological conditions...

IT’S an organ which pretty much controls the rest of our body in terms of how we move, what we do and even how we think. But most of us are not doing enough to protect the brain, simply because we don’t know enough about it.

For example, if you are from a family where you are genetically predisposed to get a condition like Alzheimer’s or dementia, did you know there are things you can do that could delay the onset of the disease or even prevent you from getting it altogether?

Professor Tim Lynch is Clinical Lead for the National Neurology Programme and Clinical Director of the Dublin Neurological Institute. He is also part of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland, which is campaigning for more funding to meet the needs of patients who suffer from neurological conditions.

Professor Lynch is also campaigning for more education in schools so we learn what the brain does and how to protect ourselves from medical issues such as stroke and even Parkinson’s

disease. ‘The brain is an important organ but most of us don’t have an in-depth knowledge about how we use it,’ he says.

‘There is a deep ignorance pervading our society when it comes to how the brain and mind works. I would like to improve that knowledge so people know how to keep their brains healthy and well for a long time.

‘By doing this we can help prevent lots of neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s, strokes and Parkinson’s disease. To give a brief example, in the Junior Certificate science curriculum there is no discussion of the brain at all — it does not appear in our science book. So when our kids are learning about the body they learn about the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, you name it, but they don’t actually discuss the brain.

‘That’s kind of ridiculous because children are using their brains to learn about these things and yet there is no mention of the organ that is helping them to do this.

‘The brain gets remodelled and generates new connections when it learns something new, so children are using attention and concentration to learn, yet neither they nor their teachers understand the neurological science behind that. They could take advantage of that neuroscience to maximise or improve their memories, but for some strange reason we don’t seem to do that in Ireland.

‘As a result, most people in Ireland don’t really have an understanding of how the brain works, how we think, how we move and so on. Hence when people have neurological problems, often there isn’t recognition that it is worthwhile dealing with them and seeing how we can improve their situation.’

Professor Lynch says even if you have an inherited illness in your family, treatments and therapies are improving at such speed that development can be slowed and even stopped entirely in some cases.

‘The Neurological Alliance of Ireland is trying to point out that there needs to be a bit of a push to support services dealing with the brain and mind disorders,’ he says. ‘As a parallel to this, education and information about the brain is also important.’

There are a number of easy steps you can take to help keep your own brain healthy and even stop the likes of dementia in its tracks.

‘There are things you can do to prevent Alzheimer’s and dementia,’ Professor Lynch says. ‘People don’t like discussing Alzheimer’s because it is such a ghastly thing. I know because my father died from Alzheimer’s. If you look at the figures, unfortunately at the age of 85, 45% of the population have Alzheimer’s. Those are appalling statistics.

‘We are all living longer — the average lifespan for men is about 78 or 79 years in Ireland but for women it is about 83 or 84 years.

WHEN you think about that, it means you will have half the female population with Alzheimer’s at the age 85. So if you could do something to stop the onset of that by five years, you would say, “I’d go for that, I’d buy into that.”

‘Alzheimer’s is in my family so it means I am potentially in trouble — what can I do to offset that risk?’

A healthy body can help your brain stay fit too, but it’s not a simple as just going to the gym.

‘We know simply taking exercise is healthy for the brain because it keeps us fit, not only from a cardiovascular point of view, but each time we exercise we develop new connections in our brain,’ Professor Lynch says.

‘In our brains there are about 100million neurons and each of those neurons has connections or synapses. Trillions of them. But when we do something new and give the brain a new task, a new challenge, we generate a new connection each time.

‘Every time you do something that is fun and motivating you generate a new connection in the language area of your brain.’

In fact, a recent Harvard study on mice proved that the same exercise will only ward off the onset of dementia, not prevent it.

‘You have to try new things,’ Professor Lynch says. ‘In a study at Harvard a number of years ago they took mice and gave them the genes that give humans Alzheimer’s.

‘One set of mice didn’t have any exercise equipment and got Alzheimer’s — when they looked at the changes in their brains, they were consistent with Alzheimer’s.

‘The second set of mice had a standard exercise regime that delayed the onset of Alzheimer’s, but the mice still got the illness and their brains showed the same changes as the first group.

‘The third set of mice had their exercises and environment changed on a daily basis. They were given new challenges, new things to explore, new things to play with and exercise on. This set of mice didn’t get Alzheimer’s and when they examined their brains they didn’t have the same changes that the first two sets had.’

‘These mice all had the same genes that give you Alzheimer’s, they should all have developed Alzheimer’s disease. There was a delay with exercise but when the mice were given novelty, a new challenge, it kept the brain fresh and invigorated.