Your Brain at Work PDF

Making the science of cognitive fitness work for you Putting It All Together Enrich Your Life, Enrich Your Brain your Brain at work About This Report Your Brain at Work: Making the Science of Cognitive Fitness Work for You has been developed as part of a nationwide workplace program co-sponsored by the Mature Workforce Initiative of The Conference Board and The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives with support from The Atlantic Philanthropies. The Mature Workforce Initiative is committed to helping employers engage and develop mature employees within the rapidly changing multigenerational workplace. Our evolving work is validated by frequent interaction with our 2,000 member companies as we respond to their emerging business issues. Funding for the Initiative is generously provided by The Atlantic Philanthropies. The Conference Board is one of the world's pre-eminent business membership and research organizations. Best known for the Consumer Confidence Index and the Leading Economic Indicators, The Conference Board has, for more than 90 years, equipped the world's leading corporations with practical knowledge through issues-oriented research and senior executive peer-to-peer meetings. The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives is a nonprofit organization of more than 265 neuroscientists who are committed to advancing public awareness of the progress and promise of brain research and to disseminating information about the brain in an accessible fashion. The Dana Alliance, supported entirely by the Dana Foundation, does not fund research or give grants. The Atlantic Philanthropies are dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people through grant-making. Atlantic focuses on critical social problems related to aging, disadvantaged children and youth, population health, and reconciliation and human rights. Your Brain at Work 1 introduction Put your brain to work and it will work for you What you do every day matters to your brain. The choices you make, your level of physical and mental activity, your social life, diet, and sleep habits—all these things can affect cognitive fitness: a state in which we are performing well men- tally, emotionally, and functionally. Your Brain at Work connects the latest research to practical sugges- tions for incorporating healthy brain habits at work and at home. Good choices can help you maintain cog- nitive vitality in every area and at every stage of your life. Because you are working, you’ve already taken the first step. A brain at work is a brain that works. The mental and social stimulation of the workplace help keep your brain fit. If you already have a wellness or fit- ness program at work, this material can add a brain health component to it, or become the basis for a new wellness program. On your own, you can use this booklet as a personal cognitive fitness tool kit. Your Brain at Work includes basic brain facts, a readiness quiz to deter- mine what sort of brain lifestyle you’re living, chapters on brain health, and an action plan to help you use this information wisely and well. Brain health is a lifelong com- mitment, and it’s never too early to begin. Or too late. Practicing cogni- tive fitness will help you stay on top of your game, on the job and off. In this booklet, we are going to show you how. We’ve all seen the news: we can affect how our brains work.Neuroscience tells us that we can increase our chances of maintaining our mental edge and functional independence throughout our lives. How? By working to keep our brains fit the way we work to keep our bodies healthy. 2 Your Brain at Work contents Table of Contents 3 Readiness Quiz 4 Meet Your Brain If you don’t know your cerebrum from your cerebellum, have no fear 8 What Does It Mean to Be “Brain Fit”? It’s true after all: use it or lose it 12 Move Your Body When you work out your body, your brain benefits 16 Meet, Greet & Be Social Your brain needs social connections 20 Work Your Brain They’re called brainteasers for a reason… 24 Feed Your Brain Food for thought: diet matters 26 Stress Management Relax! It’s only your brain we’re talking about 30 Sleep, Rest Well To sleep, perchance to retain new information 36 How Can You Put It All Together? Enrich your life, enrich your brain 40 Summary: It’s Never Too Late or Too Early to Begin 41 An Action Plan for Brain Health 43 Glossary 4 26 12 16 20 3024 8 Your Brain at Work 3 Readiness Quiz Answer these questions, and read on to find out why your answers are important, and where they put you on the continuum of brain health. At the end of the book, you’ll get an action plan that will help you incorporate diet, exercise, and cognitive stimulation into a healthier brain lifestyle. 1. How much did you move today? Include every time you were ambulatory, from jogging on a treadmill to walking around your office. ____________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 2. How many social interactions did you have today? Include contacts with your co-workers. _______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 3. Did you practice any new skills on the computer at work today? Work a crossword puzzle? Do an ordinary task in a new way? ________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 4. If you are like most people, you probably do three things at once. But do you know what recent studies have revealed about multitasking? ______ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 5. Did you eat any blueberries today? Fish aside, do you know what foods are brain-healthy? ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 6. How much sleep did you get last night? Was it uninterrupted sleep? Do you often feel drowsy during the day? _____________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ your brain 4 Your Brain at Work your brain Meet Your Brain Some of the brain areas involved in cognitive processes are shown here (and described at right). Credit information: Image courtesy NINDS/National Institutes of Health. cerebral cortex frontal lobes cerebellum temporal lobes occipal lobes parietal lobes sensory areas motor cortex your brain Your Brain at Work 5 If you don’t know your cerebrum from your cerebellum, have no fear In the past decade alone, neuroscience has revolutionizedour understanding of the normal structure and function- ing of the brain, how it changes as we age, and what can go wrong in neurologic or psychiatric disease states. At the same time, the brain is truly one of the last frontiers in biological science, still rife with mysteries about its inner workings. Cerebral cortex: the brain’s heavily folded outer layer of gray matter, critical to cognitive processing Sulci: the shallow grooves in the cortex; the central sulcus divides the two hemispheres Gyri: the ridges on the cortex Cerebellum: facilitates movement, coordination, balance, and posture, and appears to be involved in some types of learning Frontal lobe: controls higher thought processes and executive function Parietal lobe: perceives and interprets bodily sensations such as touch, pressure, pain, and temperature Temporal lobe: involved in memory processing and interpreting sounds Occipital lobe: seat of the visual cortex, which detects and interprets visual stimuli Hippocampus: part of the brain that developed early in evolutionary history; involved in learning and short-term or working memory Motor cortex: part of the cerebral cortex that controls movement 6 Your Brain at Work your brain What’s clear is that each of us has a brain that is unique. The overall anatomy and location of key brain structures is similar across the population, but the pattern of connections among nerve cells — the synapses by which brain cells talk to one another — is the singular product of our individual life experiences. Each of our brains, no matter our age, is a work in progress. It responds and adapts and literally rewires itself in accordance with what we put into it — what we learn, what we say, what we do, how we interact with others, and even what we eat. Scientists call this “plastici- ty.” It’s the reason we can affect our cognitive function when we take the steps to do so. Take learning, for example. When we learn something new, and we learn it well, our brain literally creates a particular pattern of synaptic con- nections for that learning. It’s as if the phone number of your boss or the route to your parents’ house stakes out its own piece of real estate in the brain — but it’s more of a highway than a building lot. Each new experience we encounter, if it is repeated often enough, will be represented in the brain with its own signature pathway of nerve connections. These connections interlink and may overlap with many (sometimes many thousand) other pathways that are in some way associated with that experience. This is why repeating something we want to learn, or associating it with other things that will jog our memo- ry, can improve the “laying down” and later recall of the thing we’re trying to remember. Synapses that don’t continue to be activated fade away. If your boss’ number changes, or your parents move, the associated neural real estate will likely be up for sale, at least after a while. This is the “use it or lose it” concept. Some things may be indelibly carved into our neural circuits — like real estate permanently designated for a specific use. You may still remember the phone number of the home you grew up in, even if you haven’t used it in years. So, too, emotionally charged memories may be especially strong and enduring. Your Brain at Work 7 your brain A classic example from the annals of brain science showing how experience can shape the brain is a 2000 study performed on London cab drivers,1 who have highly refined abilities for navigating a large, complex city. Using mag- netic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers at University College, London, found that cab drivers’ hippocampuses — part of the brain involved in spatial memory and navigation — were significantly larger compared with those of other people. The longer the taxi driver had been on the job, the larger his hip- pocampus was. A number of studies have docu- mented changes in the part of the brain’s motor cortex that maps activity in the hand among musicians who play string instruments or the piano; it is even possible to determine what instrument an individual plays by looking at the pattern of structural change in the motor cortex.2 Other studies suggest that practicing a skill in the mind’s eye only — visual- izing a specific series of finger movements, for example, rather than actually performing them — has a corresponding effect on brain structure in the rele- vant region. Such studies have become classic examples of how one’s life experiences literally shape and reshape the brain. Drive a Cab, Expand Your Brain What Does It Mean to Be “Brain Fit”? Notes from the lab Research studies in many coun- tries have found four factors that may predict maintenance of cognitive function. 1. Increased mental activity 2. Increased physical activity 3. Increased levels of social engagement 4. Control of vascular risk by: a. Controlling weight b. Monitoring cholesterol c. Monitoring blood pressure d. Not smoking Your Brain at Work 9 brain fitness Everyone knows what a fit body looks like, but fit brains,which don’t boast rippled muscles or six-packs, are tougher to distinguish. Brain fitness is a state of mind in which we are performing well cognitively and emotionally. When we’re cognitively fit, we’re maintaining our mental edge, staying sharp, aging successfully. Brain fitness is not only the absence of disease, either Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia; it is also the preservation of emotional and cog- nitive well-being throughout our working years and beyond. Your brain at work is in a win-win situation. Any cognitive stimulation you receive in your workplace is like a daily workout for your brain. And the more fit your brain is, the better prepared you are likely to be to cope efficiently with the daily challenges of life and work. Developing a healthy brain attitude and lifestyle has benefits at every stage of life, in virtually every aspect of our lives. The sooner we begin, the better, but we can reap the benefits regardless of when we start, just as physical exercise can improve physical health at any age. Whether you are in your 30s or your 50s or even older, you may be able to improve your cognitive vitality. It’s true after all: use it or lose it 10 Your Brain at Work brain fitness “If we maintain cognitive function over time, then we are more likely to be functionally independent.” Marilyn Albert, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, Director of Cognitive Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The basics of cognitive fitness lie in fundamental healthy-brain practices, such as physical activity, social interaction, mental stimulation, a brain-friendly diet, healthy sleep patterns, and stress management. Benefits from such practices range from cellular and biochemical changes at the level of neurons and synapses to “whole-brain” changes, such as denser neural networks or more efficient neural processing. These kinds of physiological alter- ations may be manifested as improved cognitive functioning — better memory, faster learning, greater attention and focus — and as emotional well-being. The bottom line is that a brain- healthy lifestyle is a combination of many factors, each of which has its own benefits to the brain. When combined, the benefits are likely to be additive: The more brain-healthy practices you follow, the greater the benefits. Of course, no one can guarantee that adopting a brain-healthy lifestyle will absolutely ensure good cognitive health until your dying day, but the potential benefits of shaping up your brain are increasingly well- documented. In the following pages, we’ll show you how to put these scientific findings to work for you. The Fundamentals of Cognitive Fitness Your Brain at Work 11 brain fitness Cognitive fitness is a state of mind in which we are performing well mentally, emotionally, and functionally. Attaining it entails following healthy- brain practices, such as exercising the mind and body, staying socially connected, eating and sleeping well, and managing stress. physical activity social interaction mental stimulation diet adequate sleep stress management What if simple exercise could boost the rate at which your brain makes new neurons? Columbia University researchers have found provocative evidence that structured aerobic exer- cise does exactly that3 – and we’re not just talking about rodents on a wheel. Neuroscientist Scott Small and his colleagues put 11 adults through 40 minutes of aerobics four times a week for 12 weeks, then measured blood flow in the participants’ brains. Small’s team wanted to know whether the exercise would help generate new neurons in the hippocampus (a process called “neurogenesis”), as had previously been shown to occur in animals. Since there’s no way to measure neu- rogenesis directly in humans, the researchers did a parallel study in mice, examining their brains after they were allowed to exercise freely for two weeks (mice actually like exer- cise). They found blood flow changes in the animals’ brains that correlated with the degree of neurogenesis that had occurred. Then they compared these changes to those in the humans’ brains. The patterns matched closely, convincing scientists that they were seeing the first surro- gate representation of increased neurogenesis in the human hippocampus. What’s more, the blood flow changes in the brain correlated with both cardiopulmonary and cognitive fitness. Conclusion: increased blood flow to the hippocampus may trigger or support new neuron growth, which in turn may improve learning. Physical Activity Move Your BODY! Notes from the lab Your Brain at Work 13 brain fitness When you work out your body, your brain benefits If you haven’t yet heeded the message to get moving,here’s one more good reason to do so: Increasing your level of physical activity is one of the best things you can do for your brain. You don’t have to run a marathon or develop Popeye-like muscles; even a half-hour of moderate physical activity (think: walking briskly) will help. Strive for that much every day. Enhances memory and learning, demonstrated by better perform- ance on a range of cognitive tests. Improves mood and counteracts depression. There is substantial evidence for the antidepressive qualities of regular aerobic exer- cise, and government-funded clinical trials are underway to investigate exercise as a treat- ment for depression, alone or in combination with antidepressant medications. Enlarges blood vessels to pump more blood and oxygen into the brain. Increases levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a growth factor that supports and nourishes brain cells. Ramps up the rate at which new nerve cells are generated in the hippocampus, and increases the volume of the hippocampus. Increases the number of glia, brain cells that support neurons and speed neural processing. How Exercise Helps The last few years have seen an explosion of scientific evidence for the brain benefits of exercise, leaving little doubt that increasing physical activity is Job No. 1 for everyone interested in maintaining cognitive function. Studies in humans and animals have found that exercise: 14 Your Brain at Work brain fitness How much exercise is needed? “There is increasing research in human and animal studies to suggest that physical activity and exercise will protect your mind and brain throughout your lifetime.” Art Kramer, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign The answer continues to be debat- ed, but most experts agree that striving for at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise daily, four or more days a week, is sufficient to improve brain health. Most human studies on the brain benefits of exercise have had people doing aer- obic exercise for 45 minutes to an hour, three or four days a week, but it’s important to keep in mind that any exercise is better than none. If you can’t find an hour to devote to it, think piecemeal: Start with three 10-minute walks over the course of the day. Aerobic exercise such as swimming, cycling, or brisk walking that raises the heart rate for a sus- tained period is best, probably because it floods the brain with oxygen-rich blood. Your Brain at Work 15 brain fitness Use work breaks or lunch times to go for a walk. If you work at home, walk around the block. Skip the elevator and take the stairs. Use commuting time to practice deep breathing and good posture. Park your car a distance from your workplace and hoof it. Stand up and walk around while talking on the phone; you can also do leg lifts, extensions, or arm curls to work your muscles. Visit co-workers in person instead of phoning or emailing. Use the restroom that is farthest from your desk. No time in your workday for working out? Be creative. Fit in a little exercise whenever you can, even while at wo