Brain Fitness Tip of the Week: Anxiety

With all the uncertainty in the economy, more and more people are asking about how to manage anxiety. Although several types of medications can be helpful in coping with anxiety, some of them (drugs in the group of benzodiazepines, such as Valium, Xanax, and Ativan) can actually have a negative impact on your memory. Other patients whom I see simply don’t want to take medicines for their anxiety. Since anxiety and stress can make your memory worse, managing your anxiety should be near the top of your brain fitness list.

Top ways to manage anxiety without medications:

Find out what you’re anxious about, and do something about it. Many patients have vague anxiety and aren’t quite sure what it’s about. See if you can figure it out. Talk to a friend about how you feel. Sometimes just talking about a problem can help make it clear. Another person’s viewpoint may help you to see a problem in another light.

Exercise. Both aerobic (walking, running, bicycling, swimming) and nonaerobic (weight training) can help you manage anxiety. People usually feel less anxious after exercising. If you aren’t exercising now, check with your doctor to make sure it’s OK to start. Even 10-15 minutes a day of walking can make a difference.

Relax and breathe. Researchers long ago noticed that it’s almost impossible to breathe deeply and feel anxious at the same time. Take 10 minutes twice a day to sit quietly, relax the muscles in your neck and back, and breathe fully. If you do this for a week you’ll feel better.

Meditate. Researchers have shown that almost any kind of meditation improves anxiety. I believe that meditation that helps you develop attentional focus will not only relieve stress and anxiety but also improve your memory. Mindfulness meditation is one form of meditation that is very helpful.

Distract yourself. Sometimes you can’t solve a problem but just have to live with it. Even after you exercise and meditate, you may still have to confront a problem over which you have little control. Try to find things that you enjoy doing that can help give you a break from feelilng anxious. Hobbies can often help people distract themselves. Doing something that is intellectually challenging is also good for your brain health.

Sleep and Brain Fitness

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to talk about brain fitness at a meeting of the Miami Rotary. After my talk, there were lots of questions. Several of the questions had to do with sleep and brain fitness. All of the questions seemed pretty good, so I thought I would answer them here in case other folks are interested. The first question is about sleep and brain fitness.

How we sleep changes as we get older. Many people over 50 feel as though that they don’t sleep as well as they used to. Their perception is supported by research evidence. Studies of sleep and aging show that how people sleep change as people get older. The normal cycles of light sleep, deep sleep, and rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep don’t occur in the same way. Deep sleep is often associated with feeling rested when you get up in the morning, and studies show that older people may not get as much deep sleep. It may take you longer to get asleep, and you may wake up more often during the night.

Older adults may get sleepy earlier and take more naps during the day. It’s not unusual for me to see people who complain about waking up too early in the morning. When I ask about their sleep, though, I find out that they go to bed at 9:00 PM and wake up at 3:00 AM. It’s true that’s a little early – but often these folks take a two-hour nap in the afternoon. They get eight hours of sleep, but it’s distributed in a different way. Although it’s sometimes hard to stop taking naps entirely, it’s often helpful to try to keep them to a minimum. If you sleep a lot during the day, you may not sleep very well at night.

So what about brain fitness and sleep? Study after study has shown that sleep deprivation affects your mental abilities and mood. So if you feel as though you can’t concentrate or work as well as you’d like after you don’t get enough sleep, it’s probably true. This may be especially true for tasks that require attention for a long time. Some of those kinds of tasks are harder for older adults to begin with, and may be even harder if you don’t sleep. Don’t think that you can’t function at all if you don’t sleep well – you’ll usually be able to function. But odds are you won’t function as well as you would like.