This week we added a new Category to the site: Brain Health – Mental Health. I started a writeup on the topic, and haven’t made enough progress to brag about, but more will come. The goal is to layout those factors which should be avoided or corrected in our diet, environment or activities and explain the factors that enhance brain health, life and function. There is some overlap with this topic and our other category Attitude and Thinking, but I think we can justify having both, with the understanding that this new category has more to do with the physical health of the organ, while the other has more to do with learning how to run the brain to best advantage – more like a user’s manual for straight thinking and emotional health.

The physical health of the brain is a staring point for everything else in life. Unfortunately, whether our brains get built right in the first place is very much dependent on what our mother was doing while we were in the womb and how we were fed as infants and children. It also depends on our genetic inheritance, but its formation is highly sensitive to nutritional and environmental factors during the pre- and neo-natal periods. By the time we get to the adult and senior age levels we have been living with our limitations for quite some time, and have habituated our learning and behavior patterns and emotional responses. But, it is never too late to work on improving what we have by providing brain-healthy nutrition, supplements and life patterns.

Perhaps the most significant place to start is to eat the kinds of fats that the brain needs to repair cell membranes and reduce or prevent inflammation. The essential fatty acids linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic are necessary for brain development in children, and if deficient, permanent learning disabilities result. They are also required throughout life for proper function of the brain. The fats found in fish,  EPA and particularly DHA are heavily involved in the health and operation of neurons and other cells of the brain, and have very strong anti-inflammatory properties throughout the body, including the brain. We will be working on this topic intensively in the next few weeks – more to come

Good Living – Frank