![]() This book is less about improving intelligence or IQ and more about both propagating new brain cells and making the ones you have work more efficiently. Let me say at the outset: I am certainly a fan of excellent education, but this is not what Keep Sharp is all about. (I’ll get to the bad habits later they don’t necessarily kill brain cells, but when they are abused, they can alter the brain, especially its memory powers.) Indeed, every day of your life, you can make your brain better, faster, fitter, and, yes, sharper. It was a staggeringly optimistic change in how we view the master control system of our bodies. By the time I finished my neurosurgery training in 2000, there was plenty of evidence that we could nurture the birth of new brain cells (called neurogenesis) and even increase the size of our brains. It seemed to me that the brain wouldn’t just wither away unless it was no longer being used. ![]() After all, we continue to have novel thoughts, deep experiences, vivid memories, and new learning throughout our lives. Perhaps it was the eternal optimist in me, but I never believed that our brain cells simply stopped growing and regenerating. We were born with a fixed set and that was it throughout life, we’d slowly drain the cache (and accelerate that killing off with bad habits like drinking too much alcohol and smoking marijuana-the truth about that later). Years later, when I was in medical school in the early 1990s, the conventional wisdom was that brain cells, such as neurons, were incapable of regenerating. ![]() For me, those early explorations into the world of brain biology were at once demystifying and magical. It still astonishes me that our memories-the very fabric of who we are-can be reduced to invisible neurochemical signals between tiny areas of the brain. Before long, I was fixated on the brain, and specifically memory. I started reading everything I could about medicine and the human body. Having never spent much time with surgeons before then, I was hooked. I watched as those doctors were able to return my grandfather to good health after opening up his carotid artery to restore the blood flow to his brain and prevent future strokes. I felt very grown-up as they patiently explained what had happened. I spent a lot of time at the hospital and was that annoying kid who asked the doctors a lot of questions. It was the first time I became fascinated by the intricate and mysterious functioning of the brain. Simply put, he could receive verbal and written communication easily, but he could not respond in those same ways. He was suddenly unable to speak or write but seemed to understand what people said and could read without difficulty. ![]() We were very close, and witnessing his brain function change so quickly was jarring. When I chose medicine, I was thirteen years old and my grandfather had just suffered a stroke. My earliest aspiration was to be a writer, likely triggered by a boyhood crush I had on a grade school English teacher. Unlike most of my colleagues, I didn’t grow up with a deep-seated desire to be a doctor, let alone a brain surgeon. The brain is wider than the sky… … deeper than the sea. Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age Introduction Excerpt. Sanjay Gupta offers “the book all of us need, young and old” (Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Code Breaker) with insights from top scientists all over the world, whose cutting-edge research can help you heighten and protect brain function and maintain cognitive health at any age. Throughout our life, we look for ways to keep our minds sharp and effortlessly productive. Keep your brain young, healthy, and sharp with this science-driven guide to protecting your mind from decline by neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Keep Sharp is the “must-read owner’s manual” (Arianna Huffington) you’ll need to keep your brain young and healthy regardless of your age! He likewise provides you with a personalized twelve-week program featuring practical strategies to strengthen your brain every day. Gupta also addresses brain disease, particularly Alzheimer’s, answers all your questions about the signs and symptoms, and shows how to ward against it and stay healthy while caring for a partner in cognitive decline. Discover what we can learn from “super-brained” people who are in their eighties and nineties with no signs of slowing down-and whether there are truly any benefits to drugs, supplements, and vitamins.ĭr. Keep Sharp debunks common myths about aging and mental decline, explores whether there’s a “best” diet or exercise regimen for the brain, and explains whether it’s healthier to play video games that test memory and processing speed or to engage in more social interaction. Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age Summary
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