How does exercise affect blood pressure?

Does exercise raise or lower your blood pressure? While you are exercising, your blood pressure (along with your pulse) goes up, to supply the additional blood flow that your exercising muscles need. Otherwise, regular exercise lowers your blood pressure throughout...

Don’t Know What to Do? Answer 3 Questions.

I’m offering it to you today in hopes that it can help you when everything swirls around in your head or you are facing a transition.    All you have to do is ask yourself three questions:  What is it too late for? What is it too soon for? What is it just the...

10 Conditions Doctors May Miss – and Why.

Colorectal cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer are the three most frequently missed diagnoses in outpatient clinics and academic medical centers, a January 2022 study published in JAMA Network Open found. Heart attack and prostate cancer round out the top five....

Rest: Phil’s Memory Saver

Brainfit reader, Phil Astley shares his experience in the hope that it can help others. “In 2019 I became a senior and was referred to the seniors team at our hospital (concerned about dementia). Their neuropsychologist quickly told me I didn’t have...

How to Deal with Frustration

Frustration is a type of emotional reaction to stress. It’s common to have this feeling when you encounter daily stressors at home, at school, at work, and in relationships. For example, you might get frustrated when your partner forgets to take care of an...

Do you watch the clock at night?

When you should be asleep? You are not alone. Insomnia affects between 4 and 22% of adults and is associated with long-term health problems including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression. So many people are troubled by insomnia, that research at Indiana...

How to Manage Doubting Thoughts.

Do you have doubting thoughts and conversations in your head??   Most of us do.   Usually its one side bringing up doubting thoughts about just about anything. And then the other side replies, offering reassurance and calming advice.   Doubting is an...

Focus-Connect-Rehearse really works!

The week before Christmas I met up with friends for a Christmas lunch. People mingling in a vibrant and celebratory atmosphere, cars stacked into every available car park. During the course of lunch one of my friends  had a medical event. An ambulance was called and...

To stay sharp, learn something new and difficult

For Baby Boomers approaching old age, there is all sorts of advice available how to stay physically and mentally fit. Fear of decline is particularly common in this generation that has long been used to so many advantages their forbears could never fathom. Yet, health...

Does Thinking Make Us Tired?

Have you ever felt like this? As if your brain simply cannot take in one more thing? Has thinking exhausted your brain? Here are the facts: The brain consumes about 20% of the body’s energy, despite representing only 2% of its weight. (Calculated using oxygen...

Viewing Art Improves Mood and Anxiety

Have you visited an online art exhibition lately? An international research team involving the University of Vienna and the Max Planck Institute had 240 participants view an interactive Monet Water Lily art exhibition then fill out a questionnaire about their state of...

Get more out of your daily walk

Incorporate balance exercises, weight training, and vigorous activity into your routine. You already go for a walk every day, which is great for overall health. Regular, brisk walking helps lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, control blood pressure, strengthen muscles, burn...

Noticing MCI? Improve with Positive Thinking.

What is MCI? Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the stage between the expected decline in memory and thinking that happens with age and the more serious decline of dementia. MCI may include problems with memory, language or judgment. People with MCI may be aware that...

Is exercise easy or hard for you? The answer is Dopamine.

Dopamine plays a vital role in why exercise and physical activity feels easy to some, but exhausting to others, a new John Hopkins study reports. What is Dopamine? Dopamine is a chemical released in the brain that makes you feel good. Having the right amount of...