Prime Time - Jane Fonda [52]
One final word of advice: Never go to a restaurant or shop for food when you’re hungry. Instead, try eating an apple and drinking a glass of water before you go, and always shop with a list so you won’t find yourself improvising in the fatty-food aisles.
You will find more details about a healthy diet in Appendix IV.
CHAPTER 8
You and Your Brain: Use It or Lose It
“Can’t you give me brains?” asked the Scarecrow.
“You don’t need them,” said the Wizard. “You are learning something every day. A baby has brains, but it doesn’t know much. Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get.”
—The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
THERE WAS THE DAY I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AT A TELEVISION station to be interviewed about the First Annual World Fitness Day in Atlanta. I was seventy-two at the time, and I felt a huge weight of responsibility on my shoulders. What if the event wasn’t successful? I hadn’t slept well for quite a while, worrying about all the terrible things that could go wrong. I was halfway to Culver City for the interview when I called my office to get the address of the station only to discover that I was supposed to be in Burbank—over the mountain and in the valley, in the exact opposite direction! I knew I was supposed to be in Burbank! My office had told me that several times! Why was I headed the wrong way? Because I forgot, that’s why!
That same day I sat on my glasses, destroying them; I forgot the name of the doctor I was supposed to see that afternoon; and, to top it off, I lost my MasterCard. Had I not been deeply into brain research for this book, I would have sworn I was developing Alzheimer’s disease.
But I knew better. All these mishaps were the result of stress on an aging brain. When I was younger, I probably could have managed it fairly well. Sleep deprivation might have caused me to head in the wrong direction even in my thirties, but I probably would have remembered the doctor’s name and not lost the credit card—and I wouldn’t have needed glasses! I’d been feeling stressed for a while, and I knew that stress causes the adrenal glands to produce high levels of cortisol, which dulls the effects of the brain’s hippocampus, where memory is stored and retrieved. The neurons that transmit messages are destroyed. I swear I could feel my neurons disappearing by the minute!
No wonder I experienced one mishap after another. Once the stressful Fitness Day was over—and, as it turned out, very successful—and once I got back to working out and sleeping well, such problems no longer occurred. They will again, I’m sure. But because of what I’ve learned about maintaining a healthy brain, I make a concerted effort to minimize stress in my life through exercise and meditation. If nothing else, perhaps the desire to protect your brain will motivate you to do the same. (See Appendix V, “Guide to Mindful Meditation.”)
Stress isn’t the only thing that’s bad for the brain. So are hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, mini-strokes, exposure to environmental toxins, severe head injuries, smoking, drinking too much, using recreational drugs, eating an unhealthy diet, and inactivity. While we may be genetically predisposed to heart disease and high cholesterol, for example, choosing a healthier lifestyle that includes body and brain workouts can do much to improve our cognitive function. “Cognitive function” means thinking—reasoning,