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    Q: What can I do to keep my brain sharp?
    A: 
        - Get your heart rate up for at least 30 minutes continuously for 120 minutes total per week. Endurance training (aerobic exercise) without breathing polluted air (automotive emissions) has been shown to encourage neural plasticity and regeneration.
        - Take up a team or social sport. Social interaction and team sports increase neurogenesis, and may improve hand-eye coordination, which may have cognitive benefit including the thickness of the brain area emotional welbeing.
        - Calorie restriction, intermittent fasting, and time-restricted eating encourage neurogenesis. It also reduces the likelihood and severity of diabetes symptoms.
        - Reduce refined sugar in your diet to decrease oxidative damage to brain cells, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. 
        - Twenty-four hour water-only fasts once a month have also been proven to increase longevity and neurogenesis.
        - Reducing your calorie intake by 50%-60% on two non-consecutive days of the week for two to three months or on an ongoing basis.
        - Reduce your calorie intake by 20% every day for two weeks. Repeat this 2-week diet three to four times a year.
        - It's better limit eating to meals between 8 AM and 8 PM, or even noon to 8 PM.
        - Get more quality sleep to promote neural "cleaning" in the glymphatic system, which flushes out toxins in the brain (the tau proteins and beta amyloid plaques). If you miss a night of sleep it reduces your IQ. Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep a night, and nap if it suits you.
        - Having consistent sleep times and making sure you're getting sufficient quality and length of sleep supports brain resilience over time.
        - If you naturally wake up at the same time on weekends (or vacations) and that is the same time that you wake up during the week, you're probably getting enough quality sleep. If you need to sleep-in on vacations, or take long naps, you’re probably not. Try practicing mindfulness or yoga nidra before bed at night. Here's a 15 minute youtube audio recording to guide you through the stages of yoga nidra.
