英語書籍:Boost Your Brain(節選3)

英語書籍:Boost Your Brain(節選1)
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/yingyuziliao/185310.html

英語書籍:Boost Your Brain(節選2)
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/yingyuziliao/185350.html


BOOST YOUR BRAIN by Majid Fotuhi, M.D., Ph.D. (ZT)

The Brain Center in a Book

When patients come to see me at the NeurExpand Brain Center, they
often report being forgetful, foggy, and slow. "I'm not as sharp as
I used to be," they tell me. Some are young. Some are old. They know
they're not performing at their peak, but they have no idea why, or
how to get their mental mojo back. Most--if not all--worry that
they're experiencing the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease.

I'm often able to tell them that their cognitive issues aren't
Alzheimer's disease but are instead related to changes in the size
of their brains. Typically, they are amazed. They've known that they
should eat better, lose weight, and watch their blood pressure and
cholesterol. They know that stroke and heart disease are devastating
conditions--and often avoidable--and that stress might be burdening
their bodies in ways they don't even understand. "But no one ever
told me that these things could be shrinking my brain," they say.
And nobody, without a doubt, has ever told them how to "grow" their
brains.

Suddenly, in place of an abstract notion of improving their health,
they have a very real goal. It's as if a lightbulb snaps on.  Those
bacon double cheeseburgers they load up on aren't just making them
unhealthy; they're shrinking their brains. And the once-treadmill-
now-clothing-rack in the corner of their basements? That, they
realize for the first time, represents a missed opportunity not just
to minimize their waistlines, but also to boost their brains' size
by generating new neurons and rejuvenating existing ones. When I
describe for them the science behind meditation or brain wave
training, they're able to visualize trading the choppy waves of
their stressed-out brains for the smoother, healthier waves of a
brain humming along in the optimal frequency range.

They get it. And they're almost always eager to get started. They
want to hit the gym, revamp their diets, sleep better, dial down the
stress in their lives, and retrain their brains. But what exactly do
they need to do? How often? How much? And for how long? To make it
work, they need details.

Most likely no one has ever told them how to care for their brains,
so at the Brain Center I start by educating them on the basics of
brain health--giving them a condensed version of the book you're
about to read. They learn about all the factors that contribute to
brain size and fitness, and about the vital role played by oxygen,
BDNF, and healthy brain activity. I explain that the one-size-fits-
all approach will not work and that we need to assess each person's
current brain health and make a plan with that in mind.

After considering their current brain health (you'll calculate your
brain fitness level in chapter 3), I develop for them personalized
treatment plans, which incorporate the expertise of my seasoned team
of health care professionals. In addition to being seen by me, they
spend time with a neuropsychologist, a dietitian, an exercise
physiologist, a sleep specialist, a brain wave trainer, and a "brain
coach." They may also attend memory boot camp sessions--learning
tips to stretch their memorization skills--or drumming sessions
aimed at training their brain waves to oscillate in harmony. They
might even enroll in a neuro-friendly physical fitness program I've
developed.

All of it happens within the walls of my Brain Center and all with
one goal in mind: enhancing the brain's performance by expanding its
size.

As my patients can tell you, it works. Every day I hear from
patients who report significant improvement in memory, clarity, and
creativity. I hope to one day bring the services provided by my
Brain Center to people of all ages nationally. It's a concept I
believe will revolutionize the way we view brain health and fitness
as well as how we prevent and treat the memory and cognitive
problems that typically come with aging.

That's the vision. And while I can't magically squeeze a
full-service Brain Center into the pages of this book, you will find
within its pages the tools you need to grow your brain--with
benefits that begin now and carry on into the future.

In chapter 3, you'll begin the process of creating your own
twelve-week brain performance enhancement plan. By chapter 8, you'll
know enough about the science behind a bigger brain to start putting
your knowledge into action. Over a three-month period, you'll
implement my brain fitness strategies and track your progress,
rating yourself each week in critical brain fitness categories.
Within weeks, you will have vastly enhanced your brain performance
and will feel the effects in your daily life. In fact, you'll likely
feel better than you have in years.

But I want more than that for you. I want this book to change your
life.

That's a tall order. It will take change and resolve on your part--a
mindset you'll be far more likely to embrace once you truly
understand what your actions (or inactions) do for your brain.

By the time you turn the final page of this book and complete your
twelve-week brain fitness program, you "will" have a bigger brain.
I hope, too, that you'll have radically altered the way you think
about what you eat, how you spend your day (and night), and the
choices you make that affect your emotional well-being.

It all goes back to that near-universal worry of yours. Will you
always struggle like this? You don't have to. The power to change is
within you. If you embrace the opportunity today and every day, you
"will" grow your brain. It's as simple as that.


CHAPTER ONE

YOUR MARVELOUS MIND:
A GROWING MACHINE

My fascination with the brain--how it develops in utero and then in
childhood, how it matures in early adulthood and then begins to
shrink by midlife, how it shrivels in late life--took root during my
days as a student at Harvard Medical School. I have cherished
memories of those days. Some, though, stand out vividly in my
mind--like the day I first delivered a baby.

It could have been just another day in the life of a medical
student. Certainly, it started much like any other, with me waking
before dawn in my small Coolidge Corner apartment, bundling up
against the frigid cold, and then setting out for my two-mile
bicycle commute through the snowy streets of Boston. My destination
was the maternity ward at Beth Israel Medical Center, where I was
midway through a three-month obstetrics rotation as part of my basic
clinical training.

As I had every day for the prior six weeks, I would spend the next
twelve hours attending to patients in various stages of labor,
checking their progress, and answering their questions. A third-year
medical student, I had already acquired a reasonable base of
knowledge about the human body, thanks to long days of lectures
followed by late nights cramming my brain with the details of
everything from the biochemical processes of sugar metabolism, to
cancer-causing cell mutations, to the bioethics of medicine. In my
second year I had completed a general surgery rotation, starting
first as an observer and then slowly, slowly carrying out minor
surgical tasks of increasing difficulty, learning by doing under
close supervision. In my obstetrics rotation, I'd already observed
as many as two hundred deliveries and assisted in twenty.