Brain Health

Did anyone know that January is Alzheimers Awareness Month?

I just recently became aware of this fact, and so here is a post dedicated to brain health! 

My first two years of University I was a dancer. Music and Dance came first in my life, and I loved it. I started realizing that playing music and dancing are things that involve muscle memory, and that our brains work sort of subconsciously once we have learned a step or a pattern.  In my second two years of University I focused more on writing and research, and in one of my classes I ran into a student doing a thesis on dancing and Alzheimer's. Before she even began to explain her theory to me I knew it was a good one. The people getting Alzheimer's right now are the people who grew up going to social dances, their brains know how to dance, without thinking about it. So part of this student's research involved getting Alzheimer's patients up and music playing, and they just knew what to do! Amazing! Her study also noted several cases where while dancing, some of these people would 'come back,' meaning they could remember things and people. What a beautiful thing. 

Along with dancing and music, brain health in general is stimulated by anything that gets you thinking logically or problem-solving. That's exactly what puzzles do for you! According to retired psychologist, Patsi Krakoff, Psy.D., who writes a blog for "Keeping Your Brain Healthy," studies indicate that challenging brain exercises are key to boosting the amount of new brain cells your body creates. So by puzzling out these Pic-a-Pix puzzles, you are boosting your brain health! Can this delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease? I'm not sure if that has been clinically proven yet, but Pic-a-Pix sounds like a pretty fun prescription for boosting brain health!

Because Pic-a-Pix helps brain health, Diane Baher (Pic-a-Pix puzzle book creator) has set up a donation system with the Alzheimer Society of Calgary. She donates $1 from every book sold to the Alzheimer Society. Pretty great to be able to give back to society, and that's a fundamental part of bettering the world.  During this, the Alzheimer's Awareness Month, Diane was at the Okotoks Library for their Family Literacy Day event, pictured above. She had a Pic-a-Pix station set up with information and books for sale. Guest speaker at the event was Jayson Krause, who recently published "52 People," which isn't so much about brain health as relationship health. But in a way, if we have healthy relationships we'll have a healthier brain- it all ties together in the end. His idea for the book started when his best friend died and he realized he hadn't really known him. Thus began a crusade to really get to know people- finding the right questions to ask, and to persuade others to really get to know their loved ones, beyond just the day-to-day blather. I could write a whole 'nother post about just that. :) But here's where I sign off for today...

Sources cited: http://learnpicapix.com/2011/06/06/keeping-your-brain-healthy/; http://www.westernwheel.com/article/20111214/WHE0302/312149998/-1/whe/authors-success-not-so-puzzling; http://www.drivenbypassion.com/52/?page_id=1718 : Jayson Krause's blog.