Vitamin D and Mental Health | Foods for Good Brain | Diet for Healthy Brain

Memory Exercises and Diet:

Getting more of Vitamin D may make you smarter later in life, according to a study. The researchers compared the cognitive performance of more than 3000 Europeans between the age group of 40-79 years and found that those with lower Vitamin D levels did poorly on a task designed to test mental agility.
David Lee said that in order to measure mental agility, they took into account the education level, depression, their level of physical activity and physical performance.

Lee and his team subsequently adjusted these findings to health and other lifestyle related disorders to find a correlation between Vitamin D and congentive power. The researchers were unable to pinpoint the exact reason for the association of Vitamin D with mental agility but presumed that Vitamins played a role in increasing hormonal action on the neurons of the brain. They also emphasized that they don’t recommend basking in the sun (to increase Vitamin D absorption) as this tends to increase the chances of skin cancer.  They advocated that people should use supplements of Vitamin D, to keep the brain well tuned as they age. Since Vitamin D can be produced in our own bodies by the action of sunlight on the skin, many experts believe it to be a hormone more than a Vitamin. Though the research points at another aspect of the Vitamin, it is better known for its ability to enhance the absorption of calcium by the gastrointestinal tract. Deficiency of Vitamin D results in ‘Rickets’ among children and ‘Osteomalacia’ among adults. Both the conditions are characterized by an inability to calcify the bone matrix which inevitably results in softening of the skull bone, bowing of the legs, spinal curvatures and increase in joint size due to swelling and edema.

Sources of Vitamin D: Though exposure of skin to sunlight results in the manufacturing of Vitamin D in the skin, undue exposure to sunlight may result in skin diseases especially cancers. The other sources to Vitamin D include cod liver oil, cold-water fish (like salmon and herring), butter, egg yolk, cheese and milk.

Tips for Healthy Brain:

• Solve a Crossword Puzzle or a Sudoku everyday. This will sharpen your intellect and keep the brain active and agile for long.

Foods for Good Memory:

• As per a study conducted by Fernando Gómez-Pinilla of the University of California, Los Angeles, diet, exercise and sleep can significantly alter ones brain functioning and mental health.  Gomez has analyzed over 160 studies of different foods affecting the brain. As per the study, foods like salmon, walnuts and kiwi fruit are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, which improve learning, memory and help in fighting mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia and dementia.
• Gomez also pointed out that in Okinawa, a Japanese island, people eat fish regularly and exercise. As a result of this their lifespan is one of the longest in the world and they have a very low rate of mental disorders. The study also pointed out that Junk food, fast food and an unhealthy diet affect the brain’s synapses causing learning and memory disorders along with mental ill health.

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