Cognitive Fitness: A New Approach

Hi everyone,

I've read elsewhere that blueberries have a protective effect on memory.  Walnuts are good for the heart.  As the recent media coverage hinted at, it's what we eat-the kinds of food and how much-that has the most impact on our physical health.

I've bought a container of natural peanut butter and have a spoonful every so often.  I had strawberries as an afternoon snack twice this week and on other days I ate raspberries and blackberries.  Today I have a banana.

It is a victorious feeling to eat healthfully.  It is also a glorious feeling when you've worked out.  The only think better than enjoying a workout is enjoying how you look and feel afterwards.  The positive responses will give you a high.

I know I take it as a compliment when a friend tells me I look athletic.  It's coming from a reputable source: he used to be a college baseball player.

What I wanted to get at in the SharePost was that like a butterfly in the rainforest whose flight impacts other areas of the world, our choices affect other areas of our lives.  I wanted to stress that we don't have to get bummed out or feel inferior because we're not some kind of skinny, tape-measure slip of a woman or a muscled Adonis lifting 100 lb weights every day.

It's the little things that have the biggest impact.

So I hope you get the connection.

The most important take-away is that cognitive fitness could be within our reach.

I'd love to hear your comments on this.

Ciao,

Christina

I agree with you 100% on the importance of exercise. In around 3 years I have managed to lose close to 60 pounds through both exercise and healthy eating. I joined a class called Never Say Diet where they gave a brief presentation on eating healthy eating, gave a recipe for fixing healthy snacks and then did some basic exercises. The class ran once a week for 90 minutes and the cost was $20.00. It ran for 16 weeks. After the class ended I increased my exercise routine on a gradual basis. My exercise routine now entails walking for about one hour, lifting weights twice a week for one hour and then doing basic exercises most people grew up doing in gym class. I have gone from a size 16-18 to a size 8-10. I stand 5 feet 5 inches tall and my weight has gone from around 198 pounds to 130 pounds. I have much more energy now and fell much better! My psychiatrist once told me I look now like I did when he first start treating me in 1983. I am now 49 years old and will turn 50 in March. I still have people come into the giftshop at the hospital where I volunteer and tell me how good I look.

In so closing I would like to recommended to everyone to try to find the time to exercise every day or at least 3-4 days. you can make it simple as you like. It is important to just keep on moving!

I think you are on to something.  I ran 5 miles a day for 20 years, age 17-37.  I was diagnosed with sz at age 37 and hospitalizations and doubling my weight put an end to that.  For years I did no exercise other than shift in my chair and turn the steering wheel on my car.  Finally, I bought an exercise bike and huffed and puffed to do 15 minutes.  Most days for a year I did the 15 minutes.  At the end of that year, I went to a track and ran a mile with no problem.  I joined a health club for a while but when the cost of gas went up, I couldn't afford to drive 16 miles there and back.  I started walking outside and inside occasionally after I quit the gym.  My weight was hard to control, my cholesterol went up to 244, my thyroid function plummeted, and I didn't like what I was seeing in the mirror.

But last December through September of this year, I upped my exercise to 30 minutes, 6 days a week.  I tried to walk outside most of the time and often with a neighbor.  When the weather was bad, I had access to a treadmill at a community center a few blocks from home.  And I walked as fast as I could.  My head began to clear and I began to feel more comfortable around people.

In September, I cut it back to walking fast 5 days a week because my schedule had become so busy!  I was getting more exercise, though, and less couch time, because I was more willing to get out and do stuff.  I don't know if I can attribute it to exercise, but I have also moved into my own apartment 6 months ago and find I am able to do more than I did a couple of years ago.  And I am CALMER.  Yes, Zyprexa makes me feel calm, but so does exercise.  And exercise makes me feel good mentally and physically, especially if I get my heart rate up.

Walking is such an easy thing to do.  I even have a walk-in-place DVD that I use once in a while inside.  I have a stability ball that I work with sometimes.  I have some free weights that I need to use more often.

Is exercise responsible for my getting involved more in life?  I don't know, but that is one of two things I started doing differently.  I also started eating healthy about a year ago.  I have lost 15 lbs.  My doctor says to lose 25 more and I can go off the acid reflux and blood pressure meds.  I think I can do it!

Carolyn