Journalduweb

Brain Health: 11 Ideas to Keep in Mind
Those episodes of forgetfulness–the name you can’t recall, the missing keys, the quart of milk you didn’t buy–loom larger as you pass your fiftieth birthday.
The brain does change with age. Gradually, it begins to process information more slowly. You don’t learn and retain new facts as well as you used to, and it takes longer to summon things out of the memory bank. This can be unsettling, but it is quite normal and does not usually signal the onset of disease.
Research has consistently found that staying physically active is a key to preserving brain function. Studies have shown that older people who get regular exercise are less likely to decline mentally and/or develop dementia.
Mental Activity and Lifelong Learning
Use it or lose it: the old adage also applies to mental ability. Read, take a class, work a puzzle, pursue an absorbing hobby–whatever makes you think. Exercising the brain can enrich your life, banish boredom, help treat depression, confer a sense of accomplishment, and be a way to make new friends–all good for mental health.
Controlling Blood Pressure
Untreated hypertension can increase the risk of cognitive decline as well as dementia. Lowering high blood pressure is almost certainly as good for the brain as for the heart–whether you control your blood pressure by diet, exercise, and weight loss, or by taking medication.
Preventing/Controlling Diabetes
The evidence that Type 2 diabetes (and possibly even prediabetes) increases the risk of cognitive decline and dementia is strong. This may be because diabetes damages blood vessels, including those in the brain. Also, the high levels of insulin characteristic of Type 2 diabetes appear to go along with declining memory.
Weight Control
Obesity, especially in the abdomen, has been linked to an increased risk of dementia. Since obesity often goes along with other factors that can increase dementia risk–such as diabetes, hypertension, and lack of physical activity–it is hard to know which is the main culprit.
Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs
Despite some anecdotal reports that statin drugs may increase memory loss in some people, studies over the years have not found a link. In fact, some research suggests that statins reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. High blood cholesterol may contribute to the brain plaques typical of Alzheimer’s. People taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may get an additional benefit against dementia.
Raising HDL (”good”) Cholesterol
Several studies have found that HDL positively influences mental performance. One theory: it may help block the formation of plaques in the brain. A 2008 study found that lower levels of HDL before age 60 increase the risk of memory loss in middle age as well as later in life.
Aspirin and Similar Drugs
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen) may help by reducing the chronic inflammation that plays a role in Alzheimer’s. But the picture remains muddy. While early research was promising, most clinical trials have yielded disappointing or conflicting results. However, studies have consistently found that low-dose aspirin does not help the brain.
Healthy Diet
A 2007 review of population studies concluded that a heart-healthy diet based on vegetables, fruits and whole grains is good for cognition and may well help protect against dementia–while a diet rich in saturated or trans fat may have a negative impact. It’s not known which nutrients or phytochemicals are most beneficial. Several recent studies have found a link between fish consumption and reduced risk of cognitive decline. A moderate alcohol intake has also been linked with better cognitive functioning and a reduced risk of dementia.
Dietary Supplements
There’s no solid evidence that vitamins or other supplements (including ginkgo and ginseng) or special “memory formulas” (such as Focus Factor) can prevent mental decline. Exception: a vitamin B12 deficiency can cause confusion and memory loss that can be misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s; large doses of B12 supplements, under a doctor’s supervision, may alleviate this.
Treating Depression
Not only does depression impair mental vitality, it can actually cause severe memory problems.
Bottom Line
Research into memory loss and dementia is intense, and hardly a week passes without some news. Memory problems and dementia often have multiple causes. Protecting your cardiovascular system, as outlined by many of the steps above, is probably your best bet for keeping your mind sharp and disease-free.

Women Smoking
What makes women smoke? There is no one reason perhaps she get mental disorders due to her extra emotional feelings, perhaps her husband, brother or father beats her daily for nothing except for pressurizing her to command them, perhaps she wants to live her own life but she was forced to live a life of terror and misery, perhaps she likes someone very handsome and charming but can not get through it or perhaps her sexual desires are killing her but she is restricted to get out them on any of the guy she likes.
If you are a girl, you have to be shy, you have to be delicate, and you have to be obedient of God. All these stresses with women sex desires can lead her to the drugs, smoking and alcohol addiction. Some women do smoking to control their sex desires. For the time being, they get satisfaction by inhaling the smoke of the cigarette but afterwards they are in the same condition again and they do not know that how much harm they are doing just to control their sexual desires.
It is bitter to hear but a true reality. Here we found a woman so week and helpless. But all the smoker women should think of their selves. If you are a woman and you are smoker than why you do not yourself the worth and best in the world. Your will power and determination will provide you freedom from all the stress and depression created by men for you in this society and it is you who can do something for yourself.
You will leave far behind in the race with men if you will let the cigarette become your companion. You are friend of yourself and your boy is the most important blessing on this earth for yourself. You have to manage your self. So quit smoking and rise again for yourself.
But on the other hand if we talk about the true reasoning and facts then there is some more surprising issue for women who smoke. Some women smoke for pleasure while some women just smoke because they are attracted to the smell of tobacco. Some women smoke to lose weight and some women smoke just in the gatherings of their girl friends.
These are the emotion free reasoning of why women smoke. The women needs more time to quit smoking than men because they have more will for smoking than men. Therapies usually do not work well for women smokers unless or until the therapy is arranged in the presence of psychiatrist.
Smoking has more bad effects on women than men. According to a survey, women have fifteen years less of life who smoke and men only have thirteen years. Women are at more risk because they have all the time hormonal changes and they are the one who have to give birth to the babies.
Being a woman it’s your responsibility to quit cigarette because you meant to be strong to face the world and health issues related to you.