Six Keys to Improving your Brain Health Webinar

Welcome again. Thanks for joining us for our webinar. Six Keys to Improving your Brain Health. As I said before, I’m joined here by Ted Witzig, Jr., our psychologist here at ACCFS. And Ted, this is a fascinating topic. Yeah, especially at this time of year. You know that tomorrow is quitters’ day, right? 

Sure. You know, the second Friday of every January is the day when everybody officially quits their resolutions. You could join that list. And I’m going to hang on for a little bit longer than another week. Yes. But I think it’s important to capture that timestamp here a little bit in the sense that this is a very proactive topic that we’re talking about here. 

This is thinking about how we resolve or purpose to live healthier. And so, you’ll see a lot of the content today is maybe more on the teaching side, maybe more on the instructive side. But really, with that proactive, that preventative type bent. Because our mental health, our brain health, is just as important as our physical health. 

I’m sure there’s a stat out there that says how many resolutions are tied to diet or exercise, and I’m sure it’s pretty high. It’s high, yeah, but speak into that a second. I mean, there’s an interweaving of our bodies with all these different components. It’s so important to think about. 

Absolutely. As Christian people, we are oftentimes thinking about our spiritual health. And then as we think about our bodies that we live in, those are joined together in the sense that our mental health, our physical health, our spiritual health, all those things come together and are processed in our brain. 

And so, we don’t know how all that fits together. That’s one of the mysteries of life, of how we come together. But one of the things we think about here is just the biopsychosocialspiritual model. And I want to take a look here at this verse Psalm 139:14. 

It’s such a beautiful verse. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well. The brain is an organ like no other. And it is highly complex. To understand it is just being unlocked, and there’s much, much more. 

So, let’s talk a little bit about how the brain is made up. Yeah, let’s do that. Because we could geek out here for a little bit, but I think it’s important. So, let’s spend 10 minutes or so and think about facts because this is specifically on the brain. 

So, talk a little bit about it, Ted. So, the brain is about 3 pounds, an adult brain, and it’s made up of 60 percent fat. And in that there are about 86 billion neurons. These are big numbers, and a neuron is an individual brain cell. I love this quote, and I wanted to lay it out here because it really gives a staggering statistic about how the brain is put together. A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons, that’s 100,000 brain cells, and a billion synapses. 

Synapses are where the neurons touch, those connections. And so, you take that grain of sand size out over this whole thing, there are billions of neurons. Every grain of sand, one billion synapses. Yes, a billion synapses. So, there are billions and billions of these connections. 

So, the thing about it is that as we grow, as a baby grows and as a brain grows, the human brain isn’t fully formed until the mid-twenties, about age 25. And what you find then is the frontal lobes, up here, where we do the main amount of control, planning, reasoning, self-control, all those things, are the last parts to fully form. 

And so, as any parent of a teenager can attest to, the bottom parts of the brain form first, and then it forms forward, and so it comes this way. And so that’s why in adolescence you ask, what are you thinking? Yeah, and so there are emotion centers and reasoning centers but the maturity of that and their sense of time. If you think about a three-year-old and their perspective of time and to say, oh, just wait 10 minutes. 

Just wait it out. We’re going to do that next. Are we there? Yeah, they don’t have it. But an adult has those kinds of things. It can see the perspective of how others see them, those kinds of things. I think an interesting thing is just that, sometimes I hear people say we only use 10 percent of our brain. 

And that itself is not true. We are using all of our brains all of the time. And in terms of the capacities of what we could do, of what we could learn and things like that, there’s probably truth in that we could do more and things of that nature. 

But your brain is at work actually 24 hours a day. Even when you are sleeping, your brain is doing various functions. So, I want to go back to this visual, this picture, and you’ve got different components here and we can maybe another time do something where we talk through all the different components. But what you’re showing is all of these interactions of these different components within this. There’s like a map where you can see different functions, different areas, within the brain. That is correct. And in fact, one of the slides at the end of the program will have a link that you can go to for homework about the brain and you can actually go look at pictures and then look at what different parts do and see their different functions. 

And it’s truly amazing. I think what’s helpful for that and then we can move on to this next slide, but I think of the brain as complex and diverse. There are components that need to be there. It’s like our whole body, having all the different pieces that we sometimes exercise or work with, or whatever, the same can be said for the brain. There are different aspects that need to be considered like that. Absolutely. And the brain has not only different parts, but it also has different functions, and they work together. 

So, let’s look at some of them. The first one is that the brain is structural. So, it literally is in two hemispheres or two halves. It has different lobes. So, you’ve got back here parts of your brain that process visual information and balance, you’ve got parts that handle emotion and perception and all those things. 

Then the brain is also chemical. It has neurotransmitters. You think of things like Dopamine and Serotonin and Norepinephrine. So, it’s chemical, then it’s electrical. And this is one that a lot of people don’t think of except when people have seizures or things of that nature. 

But an electroencephalogram can map that the brain actually processes things at about 20 watts like a 20-watt light bulb. There you go. So, its communications are heavily dependent on electrical links. And then it’s also vascular, meaning that there are blood vessels running throughout, taking oxygen and nutrients back and forth throughout and all these things work together. 

They all intersect and out of that intersection comes something that’s greater than any of those parts. And so, we have memory. A long time ago, hundreds of years ago, they were trying to find out where memories were. And then when they would look at the brain, they were like, okay, is it here? 

You know, the memory of you going on a picnic. Well, the fact is a memory for something is distributed all over the brain like our thinking, emotions, and sensations to feel hot and cold and to feel those different things. And then to have this biological thing going on, but something rises above that which really gives rise to consciousness, to be aware, to be a person, to have an identity. Yeah. And so, while we’re alive, we don’t do anything apart from our brain. Our brain is present with us. But here’s the really important thing for us as Christians. We are more than our brain. Yeah. Okay. Our brain is important as it is. We are more than our brain. And then above that, we have an undying soul that will live on forever. So, it’s truly a beautiful thing. I’ll say something about this also, a lot of times, when they think about it, people don’t view themselves as their liver. 

Okay, and rightly so. And when somebody has a problem with their kidneys or whatever, they generally say, oh, I have a problem with my kidneys. The interesting thing is when people are having difficulty with their brain whether that’s an emotional issue like anxiety or depression or whether their memory isn’t good, they oftentimes say, there’s a problem with me. 

Oh, yeah. Okay. So, what happens in the brain is really closely identified with ourselves and sometimes overly so in a way that produces shame. So, I really appreciate that point with all of these different aspects of the brain, the summation is greater than them all put together. 

Right. This isn’t just an electrical circuit or just the right number of chemicals running through it. Yeah, there is something that goes to that fearfully and wonderfully made piece. There is something God turns into a beautiful something deeper. That’s very core to our being. Absolutely, and that’s why when something happens in our brain that isn’t working well, we find that affects our core. And that could be everything from having an injury, whether it’s a stroke or a head injury, a car accident, whether it’s a thing that shifts across our life, like a woman going through menopause or perimenopause. 

I’m somebody who has migraines at times. And so, that’s going on in the brain and there’s all these different things. Also, as we live, we age. There’s a real sense of, yes, I want to age well, but then there’s also how does my memory work and how do I age well. 

So, let’s look at the question of what brain health is. So definitionally, you’ve got a couple of different organizations here and official definitions. Walk through each of these 10 and just say what brain health is that we’re talking about today? 

Yep, so this first one says brain health is the ability to maintain optimal neurological functioning throughout life which supports physical, mental, and social wellbeing. I wanted to put this one in here because neurological functioning is about your brain and spinal cord. Okay. And then as it goes out, it affects everything that we do some way or another. But here’s the next thing that I would say related to this and the key to this is that brain health supports physical, mental, and social wellbeing. We don’t think about it, but our brain is part of all those things. 

When you’re sitting in church listening to a sermon, your brain is engaged. When you’re having a birthday party or figuring your taxes, whatever it is, your brain is involved. So, with all these things, the purpose of brain health is to support these things. Now the next one the world health organization talks about brain functioning is cognitive, that you’re thinking, sensory, that’s being able to recognize all your five senses, social emotional, being able to relate to others, behavioral, that’s being able to do and live out life in the kinds of ways you want to. And so, what you have is the ability to walk and process and fine motor skills, all those things. But here’s the thing that I wanted to highlight in allowing a person to realize their full potential over the course of their life. 

Because things shift and grow and age over time, okay? Because I’m going to be 52. I’m not 25. Okay? And I know that, and I also know I’m not 75. But all of us, and some of you as you listen to this are in different places, but here’s the thing, to reach your full potential irrespective of the presence or absence of disorders. What we mean here isn’t that there aren’t disorders present. Like for myself, I have migraines. So, the question is, how do I live in a way that helps my brain and body function the best under these conditions? Yeah. So, if somebody has a parent who went on to develop Alzheimer’s dementia or some kind of neurological thing, and they’re saying, okay, whoa, you know what? 

Is that going to happen to me or what can I do about this? And so, one of the things we know from much research that has been done in this area is that there are things we can do to help our cognitive emotional functioning and those kinds of things to delay certain things and try to improve certain things. 

So, depending on your situation, some of you are in a preventive mindset or how do I learn about these things? Others are dealing with things and saying, ah, man, I feel really foggy. My thinking isn’t good. What can I do to make sure that my brain and body are functioning the best that it can so that I’m in the best place to handle my anxiety or handle this attention problem I have? 

Or let’s say somebody has a stroke or has a brain injury. What are the things that we can do the best under the circumstances proactively wherever we are at? How do we move to a place of health to best be able to deal with these things you walk through whatever we find ourselves in? 

Exactly and we’ve all got something. So, this is not about you doing these six things and you won’t ever have that again. But here’s the thing. There’s a big difference between if these six things we’re going to go through, if I don’t follow them, my symptoms are significantly worse than when I follow them. Okay. Yeah. And so, I’m not trying to say that I’m the best example of all these things either. I’m just saying, I know for myself, this is the case. Well, and here’s the six things, just to get to that idea of six keys. These are pulled out from a couple of different places or there’s a couple of similar models you can find, but with these six, how do we get our brain, to your point Ted, into the healthiest place so that we can deal with whatever we have to deal with. 

And there’s things we won’t get into. You know, this isn’t going to get as much into the emotional health component about how we navigate our thoughts. There are other resources we have on our website that get into that place. But, for the context today, we’ll walk through each of these one at a time and a few points on each of these. 

Yep. And I will make a note that on our website, we’ll put this PowerPoint on there and the recording of the webinar and within that PowerPoint, there’ll be several links to other websites where you can go deeper. So, we’re going to do a flyover, but if you want to go deeper, there’ll be a lot of resources within that handout on our website later. 

Okay, so let’s start with physical exercise. All right. Usually if we go to the doctor, they’re going to ask how active you are. And so, this has an impact on our brain health. Yeah, absolutely directly in fact and so one of the things that we would say is that exercise not only has an impact on our brain, but it has an impact then on things indirectly, like our heart, blood pressure, which then has an impact on our brain. 

Because of those components. Yeah. So, I want to just mention something right here that heart health and brain health are inextricably linked and so one of the phrases you’ll sometimes hear is whatever good that you do for your heart is good for your brain. If you do something good for your brain, it’s good for your heart because they are inextricably linked. I think one of the things is if you’re not exercising or very minimally, the goal is to just try to do something and to lean into that. 

I’m going to give some recommendations based on what the research says. And I’m not trying to say that you or I are the perfect examples of all these things. We try. But I think one of the things is that you need to work with your health care professionals and where you’re at in your life and age and other conditions as well to figure out what’s best for you, but exercise classes are particularly good. One of the things I’m going to say here is the reason because sometimes we get a two for one or a three for one. Yeah. So, when you do an exercise class, you also get accountability. You also get social interaction, which is going to come up later. 

So, there are reasons for that, but here are some exercise goals, 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise of the current guidelines, and some muscle strengthening activities in two or more days. Again, we’re not trying to tell you that you have to be able to go run a marathon, 26.2 miles? Is that your goal? No, ain’t going to happen. Right? A quitter’s day. I had a goal for two weeks. Yeah. But the thing about it is, you can walk on your treadmill, walk around the block, things of this nature, but we just can’t get around it. 

The reality is exercise is part of what makes our brain work well. And, by the way, as you go to the follow up slides and the links, there’ll be links to things that you can do. There are also links that show more about the science of how this works together. So those of you who are interested in how this all comes together, there’s information there as well. 

So, let’s drill just a little bit here to think about this. So, for that first part some type of aerobics, but then also some type of muscle strengthening. So, try to combine those and it doesn’t have to be overly profound. Just start to walk down that path and maybe it leads you towards more and more over time. But even some simple calisthenics or pushups or sit ups or something like that starts you down that path of intentionally thinking about health. That is correct and the thing to remember with this is that as you do this, it’s good to remember why you’re doing what you’re doing. 

And so, for this, if you walk and you’re saying, okay, I’m walking for my brain today because Ted says I have to, I think one of the things is, it’s not a, you walk today, you’ve got a great brain tomorrow. It’s part of a lifestyle that leads us in a direction. And that direction is we want to be good stewards of this body. And again, for somebody, it might be all they are able to do is things sitting in a chair. For somebody else, it might be going and walking regularly. For somebody else, it might be going to the gym. Based on your age and stage and those kinds of things, you need to figure out what works for you. 

And I would say doing something is better than nothing. Finding something that you like doing, like swimming. Yeah, so for me I like listening to podcasts when I walk, okay, so that’s a two for one, right? It’s a way to learn and also get something going. And other people like to go do something with a partner. And we’re just going to be different as far as that goes. I want to capitalize on one other thing you said and then we’ll move on to the next one. It’s going to ebb and flow as time goes on, right? Oh, for sure. A neighbor of mine is an older gentleman, and he used to run all his life. And it looked more like an hour and 15, maybe even two and a half hours a week type thing. But as he got older, he found that all he could do sometimes was just get up and walk around the block. Yeah. And yet he was getting up and walking around the block and I’m not saying this is a direct causation, but he stayed mentally sharp until the end of his life. Because there’s part of just that habit, that discipline and he was usually listening to something as he was doing it. But think about how you make this work for you in a way that takes one step in the right direction one percent, five percent in the right way. 

Yep. I think one of the things is that you would make a really strong case to say if there was one thing you wanted to do for your brain health to help it along would be exercise because of all of the different other benefits. Now that’s not to say the other ones aren’t there but it goes to heart, blood pressure, body weight, blood sugar, all of that. 

There’s a reason why the doctor asked that, right? There’s a reason why this is a question that often comes up. Okay, so we’re going to go from exercise to probably the second most commonly asked question is, how are your eating habits, or what’s your food intake like? Because eating smart equals thinking better. 

So, how we eat has a direct impact. Absolutely. So, when we talk about health and food, one of the things is that different people have different needs. So, I’m answering the question about what the healthiest things for your brain are. If somebody else has another condition they need to take that into consideration, but if you do research on what are the healthiest things for your brain, you’re going to find these common kinds of foods like olive oils, nuts, walnuts and salmon, fatty fish, leafy green vegetables, those kinds of things. 

There are two diets, the Mediterranean diet and the one that came out of that called MIND diet which is the Mediterranean DASH diet intervention for neurodegenerative delay, and both are considered brain healthy and heart healthy. Again, what you’re going to find is that they’re working on those correlations there for listening. And what they tend to do is highlight healthy fats which are good for your brain. And so, therefore, again, I am not advocating the kind of mindset that says you can never enjoy your birthday cake or things of that nature. 

Really, the issue is we don’t want to look at food in such stark contrast that it becomes its own problem. But we do want to do it this way and say I need to move and lean this direction. One of the intervening variables that they find is that food is also something that can really help in the reduction of inflammation. 

Yeah, speak to that a little bit there. What’s the meaning of that? So, our body is designed to have inflammation, especially when you have an injury, it’s why it swells, okay? And so, inflammation in response to an injury is a correct response. The problem is that two things are creating an overabundance of inflammation in our bodies and in particular in our brains, and that is the typical American diet that uses a lot of the unhealthy foods and tends to amplify inflammation. The other thing is chronic stress amplifies, and the fact is American society, and most Americans are living in a way that does not allow their bodies and brains to experience the kind of quietness that reduces the inflammation. So, again, anything we can do to quiet that food is one aspect that can start to help the brain and body. 

Again, there are additional resources about that. But the problem is, I think most of us, if we go to the doctor, and they say, you need to eat better, you nod your head and say, okay, sure. Sounds good. Until the choice is in front of us. You’ve got the chocolate cake in one hand or the walnuts in the other, right? You’re like, okay, how much am I willing to invest? And so that point is there. I think that the third point says it is sometimes going to cost a little bit more. It’s going to be a little bit more time and effort, but you have to view it as an investment. 

It’s like you take your car to get oil changed, tires rotated, some of those kinds of things. Because if you don’t, you end up alongside the road somewhere. Yeah, and we’re talking a little bit of a similar concept. Exactly, cost to help. And I think one of the things is that you can look at it as an investment. Then what you’re doing is you’re looking at taking care of and stewarding and living into life and that’s what we want to do. Again, we’re not doing it to worship our bodies. We’re not doing it to worship food. We’re doing it to make sure that our system has what it needs to do the work and to live things out the way we can. Again, each of you is going to have your own dietary needs, body types, genetics, and all those different kinds of things. 

So, you’re going to have to modify that. I will say that the research on that bottom bullet about alcohol and smoking, will tell you that there’s no case to be made for smoking, and what research is showing alcohol’s effect on the brain, particularly moderate to high use, it is just neurotoxic, for sure. 

And right now, there’s a real debate about any alcohol at all. Again, those are lifestyle choices you have to make, but I’m just saying that from a brain perspective. It becomes really hard though here, Ted, right? Because now we’re talking about long-term investments. Right, it’s not like you’re going to change your diet in two days from now and instantly your IQ is going to go up five points. 

That’s correct. But this is saying I am investing in a long-term health model. And that’s why like with cutting out alcohol if somebody has a glass of wine at Christmas or on a special occasion, that’s not what we’re talking about here. What we’re talking about is long-term consistent use. Moderate to high use of alcohol is neurotoxic for sure. Yeah. And, again, if we know that every time we walk by the potato chip aisle in the grocery store, it’s not good, and the advertisers are doing their thing. We might have to figure out just a different walking pattern. 

Or that’s the discipline point. Yeah. So, let’s go on to the third one then. Okay. So, we’ve talked about exercise. We’ve talked about food and nutrition. The third one gets kind of similar, but this is the medical health piece, right? Knowing your medical health, perhaps knowing your family’s medical health, and just stepping into that again with this proactive approach. 

There is significant research going on right now that is looking at various factors and seeking to predict outcomes. Now they’re in population research that takes big samples, and it says, hey, these things relate to this, do this and it’s beneficial, these things don’t do. It doesn’t mean for any one person how it will be. 

We all have heard of that person that ate bacon and eggs for three meals a day. Those stories stand out, right? They did all those things. Well, that’s an outlier in its own way. That person didn’t care for their body, but what we’re looking at here, and I will just say at the end, one of the things I’m going to ask you to do is take a brain care scale score. 

And one of the things that’s going to do is ask your numbers on some key measures. Okay. And so, one of the things they’ve found is that there are some key measures that when they’re at a good level or bad level, they can go scope out 40 years in the future and say, what difference does this make? 

And so, first of all, some of you just need to go get your physical, get your blood work done. I mean, some people are like it’s their badge of honor not to get it. And knowing your numbers, I would say is one of the things that you do that’s a stewardship for yourself, and I will tell you it’s the people in your life. 

Yeah, Arlan, you need to know your numbers for Katie. Yeah, you need to know your numbers for your three kids. Yeah, okay that’s part of the reason you know your numbers and it’s not saying I can promise the outcome of my health or anybody’s health, but this is one of those things that we can know ahead of time. Now your own medical history some of you have different conditions that run in your family and it’s because of that you’re going to need to be aware of the of A or B, you know some heart disease or some kinds of cancers or whatever. 

But the four numbers that I really want to highlight here are blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and weight. 

Keeping blood pressure under control and it doesn’t matter so much the number. The key is making sure it’s controlled. Okay? If you have to, do something to deal with it. The key is getting those numbers where your practitioner says they should be for you. Blood sugar is the same thing. You should know what your A1C is or what that range is to make sure it’s in a healthy level. Because again, the outcomes of blood sugar and diabetes change the vessel structure, metabolism, all those things. Cholesterol is fat. Again, we need to remember the brain was 60% fat. Yeah. There’s bad cholesterol and there’s good. There are healthy things, unhealthy things. There are ranges for all these things. So, it’s not about all or nothing. But what we’re trying to do is lower one thing and amplify another as we’re working on these. 

And then your overall weight. Again, there are different body types. It’s not about just saying that you have to be at this particular number, but you need to be where your health care practitioner says is healthy for you. And so those are key things. I think one of the other things is, if you do have a family history of certain kinds of conditions, being out in front oftentimes wakes people up. But I think one of the other things is some people say, what can I do? 

And I would say this, we’re trying to lean into a healthy lifestyle. The goal isn’t to live life out of fear. Okay, yeah, and that’s an easy thing to fall into at times. Oh, no I don’t, and I have to, and the goal is to live in a way that moves us towards living in abundance. And so, the goal isn’t to fear these things, but it’s to live in a healthy way. A resolution for this year might be saying I need to create a good relationship with a health care provider like a family doctor or someone I’m going to go to regularly and that they’re going to educate me or help me know what to look for. 

Because you can go down the route and say well, okay, I’m going to make Web MD my best friend and all this research or we can lean into the expertise that’s around us and let them help guide us. I mean, it’s when you go to those places and you have that long form you have to fill out, right? It’s like multiple pages of what’s your health, you know, all of this kind of stuff. But there’s a reason for that. Because it’s trying to think through what are potentialities that we need to be mindful of and things to be tracking. I’ll tell you; Katie and I were just having a conversation with one of our family members and she found out something in her family medical history that she had totally never known. 

You know, a history of some type of condition. She’s like, okay, so now that’s on my radar. I’m not fearful of it. Yep. Okay. But now I’m at least aware that there was someone in the family that had this, and the doctor, if you have a good health care provider, they’re thinking along those lines as well. 

That’s right. Because early intervention is what we’re trying to seek. And again, we want to do the best we can with them, but our bodies are temporary in the sense that they’re going to be renewed. We’re going to have renewed bodies, but these are not. And that’s the tension. We’re trying to do the best we can, but we’re being good stewards. You said that word stewards, but we also know that it’s up to God. And we lean our faith upon him ultimately. Absolutely. And a 75-year-old, if you’re 75 and your job is not to compare yourself to a 25-year-old, even your 25-year-old self. It’s to try at your time of life to do the things best for that. 

So, let’s go to the fourth one. This is sleep and relaxation. And actually, I’ll just build this point, and I’ll turn over to you Ted, but it’s just what we talked about. It seems like, at least in my experience, this is one of those easy to put off and go that superhuman thing and be like, oh, I don’t need sleep, or I don’t need to rest, or I don’t need to relax because we can figure it all out, or we can do it ourselves, or we can be self-sufficient, but the reality is there’s an investment here that shows us number one, we can go spiritual that puts stewardship up on its proper place and takes ourselves and our own abilities out of the center of the world and says, okay. It’s okay to sleep sometimes. It’s okay to take care of ourselves sometimes. It’s okay to rest within reason and have that balance so speak a little bit more of what we’ve seen in this area of sleep and relaxation.  

Yep. So, it’s oftentimes been a badge of honor to be too busy to sleep and to power through with just more coffee, you know, and those kinds of things. And again, you know what, there are times and places that those kinds of things happen. But on an ongoing basis, what we’re really looking at is developing a good cadence of sleep and addressing sleep related problems. Yeah. It’s important to see, and I think one of the most interesting things is to understand in the Jewish way of life, things started slowing down at sundown. 

Yeah, okay. And I think one of the things that we could take from that is from God’s perspective the time that we sleep, he’s holding the universe together. Well, he’s holding the universe together when we’re awake. But what happens is for us it’s almost like if I’m not doing it, it’s not getting done and we fall into a habit. And so, one of the things that he’s teaching us is to rest. 

We take breaks and I want to encourage people to do that. Oftentimes, a large percentage of the population has problems with things like insomnia, things like sleep apnea, and I would encourage you to find ways to deal with those. Or reach out for help. There are professionals that walk through that. 

Absolutely. And I think what happens is a lot of people want it but here’s the thing, we want sleep when we want sleep, and we don’t want sleep when we don’t want sleep. And so, what happens is that our body tends to need to go into sleep and to come out of sleep, okay? And so, we each have different kinds of cycles and those kinds of things. But so, when we look at this, you might have a day or two that you have some trouble, and your family has a wedding coming up this weekend. You might be having trouble sleeping. That happens. And we’re not really looking at it from that standpoint. But here’s the thing we want to say is that sleep is one of those things that allows your brain to consolidate memory. 

Okay, so if you want to know what helps memory. Adequate sleep. Also, during both sleep and exercise there are parts of time where your brain is shedding out other things. It’s getting rid of things that need to get out of the brain. So, we need to sleep. I would encourage you to view your sleep as a fuel source for the things that you care about.  

It is easy to view it as optional. Yeah. I just want to build on one point there, that idea of getting to sleep. And so, I don’t know if the term is sleep hygiene or what it is, but just how you prepare for sleep. You can’t look at screens right up to sleep and then lay down a bit and expect to fall asleep. How do you start to slow your mind down? How do you start to shift your eyes from that? You know that there is proper light? I remember talking to someone once who studied some of this and is your room dark? Is the right type of sound that helps you move into sleep and it’s the pattern as much as the amount. Your body trains itself into a pattern to say, this is how I get ready to sleep. And that’s important. Absolutely. You know, and those are things you can think about, research, study a little bit. But to your point, we think, oh, it’s just a flip of a switch. Yeah. And there’s a little bit more involved with that. 

Yep. But the point is to make it a priority. And across the life cycle, one of the things that they find is that teenagers are notorious for not getting enough sleep. Okay. And so, when you take not enough sleep on top of that formation of the brain and on top of the emotion and things like that, you get meltdowns, you get bad behavior. Well, it’s not that different for adults. And again, across the age span, this changes, and different people’s sleep patterns change. But I would also say that finding a good routine is part of that.  

So, this one is the concept of relaxation. Stress reduction is really important and it’s easier to say that we need to relax than it often is to do, and so there are things like meditation, mindfulness, to be able to let go of the busyness and the noise that’s up here and to quiet ourselves. We really appreciate that there are many good forms of Christian practices and spiritual disciplines that help with this. And so, some of the things in our spiritual formation tools we have in the resources that really are about quieting the mind. Here’s the problem. Most people are overly busy, and they will do that when they have time. 

Yeah. Now, it’s a good thing that my wife isn’t here, but she might listen later. Well, don’t tell her I’m doing this. But the thing about it is really seductive, when I have time. Yeah. When I have time. I’ll relax when it’s all done. There are just two more things to get done. And the thing about it is research is very clear on this, that taking those breaks to quiet ourselves increases focus, increases our ability to problem solve, lowers our stress, the emotion center of our brain, the right side, the balance between the thinking part and the emotion part, which helps us actually to live out life the way that we want to live it. 

Yeah. So, prioritize it. And as we prioritize it, again, that spiritual component, we’re putting God on his throne, even more so. I mean, there’s almost something like letting go of control and saying, okay, I’m going to turn myself over to rest and to sleep because he’s commanded me to and it’s going to be healthy for our bodies as well. 

Yep. Fifth one. Okay mental fitness. So, a little bit of this idea of physical fitness but just on the mental side. Okay, so we need to use our brain mental capacities and continue exercising that muscle, you know, treat it as a muscle. So, if you think about it as the brain is growing, little kids right from birth are exploring and touching and everything’s going in the mouth and they’re looking around and what their little brains are doing are making connections and building more synapses, and that does several things. 

Number one is that helps to create a well-rounded and healthy brain that can do all the different functions that we do. As we age, we tend to fall into ruts. We’re no longer in school. We do this thing of, hey, you know what, I did my time, kind of a thing. I want to encourage everyone to have the mindset of being a lifelong learner. 

Okay? And a lifelong learner means to continue with mental calisthenics, like physical exercise. And again, part of this is done by challenging the brain. Okay, it learns and grows and things of that nature. The fact is, we tend to get in our ruts and like to stay in them, but when we can do things that challenge the brain, that’s why you’ve all heard of things like doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku. 

What happens is it’s not only just looking at numbers, but also using logic, it is using deduction, it’s using reasoning power. But also, things like playing an instrument, right? Learning an instrument. One of the things that they talk about is that it’s hard to learn a language as an adult. And again, what’s it doing? It’s stretching. Yeah. It’s pushing and pulling it. None of these things mean you have to become the best at it. Enjoying the arts and artistic experiences. I mean, again, what is it? Oh, it’s new. It’s opening the mind. So, we’re seeking things that challenge the mind to process, to remember, to shift, to calculate, to connect. 

And so, there are a lot of online and digital games and things of that nature that will do these kinds of things. And so, a lot of them are free, some of them have cost. But the concept is whether you’re doing it. We’re trying to not put the brain on autopilot. 

Yeah, we’re trying to keep the brain engaged. I mean, sometimes they say my brain hurts. That’s the point you were stretching it a little bit. And it could be something small. My mom is getting a little bit older in age and I’m helping her take care of some things but one of the things that I encourage her strongly to do is to balance the checkbook. 

I need her to do some math and balance the checkbook because it just forces her to do some things that she normally wouldn’t do. She’d use her brain, right? And that kind of thing. Or something that I forced myself into, even though it’s not natural, I usually find myself reading some longer classical type novels. Because it’s going to stretch me, I’m not going to get as much out of it, probably not be quite as enjoyable as another book I could pick off the shelf. But yeah, it forces me to just broaden and use that mental fitness. It does. And this depends on where you’re at in your life and what your interests are. All those different things. It’s going to be different across people. So, find something that appeals to you so it’s not total drudgery, but that pushes you to have that lifelong learning mental fitness type aspect. Yep, absolutely. Okay.  

The last one then that we’re going to talk about is social interaction, engaging with others. Our relationships have a large impact on our brain, our health, and our wellbeing. For overall health and growth, what are some of the things that they are finding in this space? The human brain is designed to socially connect and that’s ultimately part of that image of God, the relational component. 

The thing about it is what they’re finding is that social connection not only plays deeply into our emotional life, but it plays deeply into how people progress, particularly in aging and over time. Social isolation is a plague across the world. In the United States, it’s a plague. We have a couple of figures here. 

One is that over half of U.S. adults report feeling like no one knows them well. Okay, think about it. Half of the people are socially isolated and feel lonely. The surgeon general of the United States just put out a huge report that loneliness as a public health problem. 

In fact, one study found that loneliness, chronic loneliness, had the same impact on health as smoking 15 cigarettes. I’m not talking about the teenagers who thought they had plans tonight and they don’t and they’re feeling lonely in their room. That’s a one-night thing, we can all feel that. 

I think this is where churches play such a big portion of that and even our church nursing homes and things like that to make sure people are connecting back and forth and this is really important. Because it’s to remember that we’re bought that we’re members together but it’s hard for us to even make the connection that going to lunch with somebody and brain health might be connected.  

But actually, you can look further at the neuroscience of this and some of the other links. The fact is social connection shows up on these lists of what is preventative and healthy for brain health on all these lists there. It’s just there and some of us are more apt to make relationships than others. And it’s not about number, it’s more about quality. It’s not saying you have to have 5 to 10 good relationships. One to 2 that you can connect with and have some level of interaction is a huge thing. That’s a huge difference in the trajectory, and I think what happens is that a lot of times we look at the difference between solitude, which most people find helpful, and loneliness. They’re like, if I’m alone and I’m reading, I have this quietness solitude. The difference between the two is feeling socially alienated. 

Okay. And that aloneness versus something that is a painful experience. And so, I do think that’s where it is something to be tended. And again, it’s also why as people age and as spouses pass away, as friends pass away, things like that, it can take effort to connect. 

But that’s where, again, the church family and the intergenerational relationships are important. Or, again, you can tie these in with other things at certain points with this idea of, maybe this is a book club learning type setting with social interaction or an exercise group that exercises and does things together. Or a healthy eating group or whatever, you know, that’s there’s a way to do the two, three, or four type thing and that’s where in some of the congregate living situations, there’s a puzzle room where people go down to sit, and they talk about what’s going on. Putting a puzzle together, mental fitness, social interaction, it’s hard to imagine that it’s the accumulation of the small things that end up being the big things here. 

And I think we’re going to move towards resources here in the few minutes we have left. And if you have questions, you can chat those in. We’ll be glad to try to look at those here towards the end as well. But I think the opportunity here is to go back and think through each of these six components and just think like, what is one small thing you can start to do to step into that level of health? 

We can get overwhelmed whenever we have a list of things we have to do or whatever, we can get overwhelmed very easily and then we can like dive and start, but is it possible to, like I said, find one good healthcare provider if you don’t have one or start doing one crossword puzzle a week or something like that just to get healthy habits started. 

And I think that sense of overwhelm to action. One of the things that I would encourage you to do is go to this link at the McCance Center for Brain Health. They have developed something called the brain care score and it goes through many of these different things that we’ve talked about today. 

It’ll ask about your blood pressure, eating habits, and social connections and actually give you a score. But the score isn’t whether you’re a good person or a bad person. Your score looks at it and says, okay, so this is where you’re at. Now here are the next steps to helping this. Okay, or it might be the next step to talk to somebody about that. And so, it’s a way to move from oh, I got to do all these things, to hey, you know what, in these areas I’m doing really good. And so, in preparation for this I did my brain care score. And when I did it, good person bad person, it didn’t tell me I had to run a marathon. 

Okay, that’s not what it said, but the flip side is I also have a couple things now that I know if I’m going to grow in this particular area, I know the two things that I need to work on next. The other thing, there are different organizations that have devoted themselves to research around this. 

The six pillars of brain health were put together by the Global Council on Brain Health. It’s been a popular model that’s gone out to a number of places. And then there are other models that are close. But you’re going to see these various kinds of things and we’re just not going to get away from it. 

Diet and exercise are on each one, sleep is on each one, social connection is on each one. These are the themes you’re going to find, and we would all love for this silver bullet to be it. Yeah, lastly is to just know about your brain. It is truly a remarkable organ. There are other websites where you can look up things about the brain, but I like this one because it’s just helpful sometimes to understand that if you find out somebody had a stroke or whatever. Oh, it was on their right side, right about here. So, what does that part of the brain do? What is it about? And so, it’s helpful to understand.  

So, there are some resources here listed. There’s more, like I said, on the handout on the website. There’s a piece of learning and research that needs to happen. But I think the point here that we’ve tried to make is that this is an investment in your health. 

Yep. Absolutely. And if it’s important, it’s worth investing. Right. If there are any questions out there, feel free to unmute and ask them live, or if you haven’t, you can chat them in. Otherwise, while we wait for that, Ted, any final thoughts or things to share?  

I will just share that my hope is what this does is help you see whether you’re dealing with a disorder, whether you’re dealing with prevention or even trying to optimize, whether you’re trying to help somebody else, all those different things. 

One of the things we’ll find is that when the brain is nourished, exercised, has adequate sleep, those things then we’re in the best place to handle life, to handle the stress, to handle the anxiety, to handle the health condition. And we all have these things. 

We want to walk like Christ, we want to live out the fruit of the Spirit. I’ll tell you that when I have not slept, when I have been run ragged, when I’m stressed and I’m just eating whatever I can throw in because I can’t get from here to there. You know what? There’s not a fruit of the Spirit score, but I’ll just say the fruit of the Spirit score is going down.  

Okay. So, I think you speak for all of us. I mean, the reality is, we can be good stewards. Yeah. And that’s what we’re being called into. Yeah, well, thanks for sharing and being part of this today. 

And let’s not make this quitter’s day tomorrow, but let’s proactively lean into the abundant life God has called us to and just take small steps towards improving your brain health. And our prayer and our hope are that some of this information today can be helpful to you as you step down that path. 

So, blessings on the rest of your day. Thanks everybody. Thanks for being part of it.