The Brainpower Plan

Jordan K. Davis

Description

This book details the newly discovered ability of the brain to restore, renew and regenerate. Dr. Davis puts all the valuable information he has gleaned over thirty years as a neurosurgeon to use in this book which covers the all-too-prevalent, disastrous choices that can diminish the brain's power and with it, the quality of life. Dr. Davis tells readers that if they take the information and follow his advice, they will see improvement in as little as three weeks.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Diététique
• diététique
• Nutrition
• Fitness
• Health
• Diet

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781591206217
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE
B RAINPOWER
PLAN
THE
B RAINPOWER
PLAN
21 Days to Better Brain Health
Jordan K. Davis, M.D.
 
The information contained in this book is based upon the research and personal and professional experiences of the author. It is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician or other healthcare provider. Any attempt to diagnose and treat an illness should be done under the direction of a healthcare professional.
The publisher does not advocate the use of any particular healthcare protocol but believes the information in this book should be available to the public. The publisher and author are not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of the suggestions, preparations, or procedures discussed in this book. Should the reader have any questions concerning the appropriateness of any procedures or preparation mentioned, the author and the publisher strongly suggest consulting a professional healthcare advisor.
Basic Health Publications, Inc.
28812 Top of the World Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
800-575-8890
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Davis, Jordan K.
The brainpower plan : 21 days to better brain health / Jordan K. Davis.
     p. cm.
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  ISBN-13: 978-1-59120-621-7
  ISBN-10: 1-59120-153-5
1. Brain—Diseases—Prevention—Popular works. 2. Brain—Diseases—Nutritional aspects—Popular works. 3. Brain—Aging—Prevention—Popular works. 4. Self-care, Health. I. Title.
   RC386.2.D38     2005
   616.8—dc22
2005026012
Copyright © 2006 by Jordan K. Davis, M.D.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.
Editor: Roberta W. Waddell
Typesetting/Book design: Gary A. Rosenberg
Cover design: Mike Stromberg
Printed in the United States of America
10    9    8    7    6    5    4    3    2    1
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Human Brain
2. Diseases of the Brain—Strokes
3. Diseases of the Brain—Alzheimer’s Disease
4. Diseases of the Brain—Parkinson’s Disease
5. The Brainpower Risk-Assessment Test
6. Your Nutritional Defense: Five Super Strategies for Brain Health
7. Brainpower Supplements
8. Environmental Toxins: The Enemies You Should Know
9. Hormonal Harmony
10. Lifestyle and Brain Health
11. Obesity and the Brain
12. The Brainpower Plan
Future Visions—Starting Now
Glossary
Resources
References
About the Author
To my wife, Gale, who encouraged me to write about brain health years ago.
I also want to honor my parents without whose guidance I would never have gone as far as I have.
They pushed me to excel through many hardships in my life.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the lives of all those people who taught me the parameters by which I continue to live. In the field of neurosurgery I want to offer special recognition to the following: J. G. Galbraith, M.D., G. Harsh, M.D., S. Graham, M.D., D. Sweeney, M.D., B. Landers, M.D., and D. Brown, M.D. Their clinical judgment and surgical skills have provided an ongoing challenge for me to emulate throughout my career. They were all strong therapeutic weapons against whatever neurological condition, disease, or lesion assaulted their patients. They were true gentlemen.
I would like to thank several people who made this book possible. First, I am indebted to my wife, Gale, who has been a continuous source of encouragement, and the fire to light this project. Then to my publisher, Norman Goldfind, the editor, Roberta Waddell, and the copyeditor, Susan Andrews, for bringing this enormous work to print. Also, I want to acknowledge my son, Randall S. Davis, M.D., a physician-scientist who dedicates himself daily as a hematologist/oncologist researching leukemia and lymphoma at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. To my oldest daughter, Merrill, who is a constant source of beauty and encouragement, and to my youngest child, Jules, who knew about nutrient foods and alternative methods in high school and asked me to attend a conference on alternative health lifestyles. This was the beginning.
Introduction
A s a neurosurgeon studying the human brain and treating its dysfunctions for more than thirty years, I know its critical importance to our health. Most people are not aware of the brain’s many intricate functions, or that its high performance depends on how you conduct your life. A lifestyle that ignores the brain will promote its premature demise. As people grow older, the brain begins to decline before the body, but oxygen, a nutrient-rich diet, frequent mental stimulation, and added supplements can increase its power.
The human potential requires a new vision and a new attitude for healthy longevity. The past is riddled with myths, misinformation, and ignorance, all in the name of science, but in the past ten years, the amazing advances in evidence-based medicine have provided much useful health information. Beyond all the scientific progress, it is actually about you and the reality of self-participation and motivation, and the wise choices that protect the health of the brain—almost everything will depend on how you apply the information in this book to your life. Many people worry about dying and a life after death when they should instead be concerned about living in good health while they are alive.
Your destiny can be driven by ignorance or by knowledge. To enter a future without premature degenerative diseases, which will leave you frail and depleted, depends entirely on you. Being an active participant—a person armed with the knowledge of how to prevent such problems as smoking and epidemic obesity, two prime examples of risks for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and strokes—can only help to keep you healthy.
Today’s environmental conditions are brutal for your body and brain. They can be lessened, even eradicated, by your full awareness and willingness to take positive action. Some people wish to self-destruct and there is little or nothing a physician can do about the 20 million or so depressed Americans who have willfully chosen to dismiss their responsibility for a healthy life. They do not have a vision of themselves as healthy people with healthy social interactions, which involves the need to be and think as a positive being. Caring and being cared about are vital to personal survival.
The magical brain goes both ways. It is influenced by good health and it is structured to respond to illness and poor health. Can you become ill from copious and constant data? Some psychologists think so. Information overload, while not an illness, has a negative effect on the brain and perhaps even on how people think. Too much information (TMI) has created anxiety, confusion, depression, irritability, and finally exhaustion. The bombardment of information includes negative news on TV and in newspapers, and is compounded by cell phones, e-mail, faxes, pagers, and Palm Pilots. A recent study links the onset of depression to the time spent using a computer, and another study in Britain, conducted by Dr. Glenn Wilson, psychiatrist at Kings College, London, for TNS Research and commissioned by Hewlett-Packard, found that workers who were frequently distracted by e-mails, phone calls, and text messages experienced a ten-point drop in their IQ levels. When you just can’t keep up, your brain is basically malfunctioning. How do you cope with all this sensory overload? You must take the time to rest and recharge. You control the switch to all the electronic data, and off means you can begin to restore your brainpower.
The science journal, Nature , recently reported on a study from twenty worldwide institutions, which discovered that the number of human genes had been previously overstated at 100,000. The actual number has been reduced to 20,000–25,000. This is extremely important because gene identification can accelerate the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, which can, in turn, lead to prevention, reversal, even cures. Refining the gene sequence makes the process more accurate and is responsible for the reduced number of genes. In this case, less is more. Although 15 to 20 percent of our lifespan is determined by genes, only you determine the outcome of your health.
Neuroscience has offered a new model with the discovery of brain plasticity, nerve regeneration, and replacement by stem-cell implantation. There are many facts in this book, but minimal speculation on some of the scientific studies. I do not guess about scientific outcomes, and never speculate when recommending supplements or medications.
No one should ever accept a predestined fate of neurological deficiency, illness, or the loss of brainpower. This book offers an accurate health directive to elevate your brain on several levels, including the ingestion of nutrient-rich foods, with specific supplementation to treat Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, and to prevent strokes. Many people may not believe they can avoid the nursing-facility experience. A healthy diet, exercise, mental stimulation, and vitamins, for example, can stave off many degenerative illnesses. Strokes, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease are centered in a dysfunction of the brain, and while none of these is an absolute fate for anyone, each promotes premature aging.
I believe that aging of the brain and body is a deficiency disease, and that it is critical to take a preventive attitude concerning lifestyles, rather than attempt to treat a devastating illness after the battle is lost. It is out-of-date thinking to regard these diseases as natural occurrences to aging, just as cancers shouldn’t be considered an expected occurrence.
This book will give you a sense of reality about your brain health. It is my purpose to make you