Brain Blog

Brain Fitness - a lot out there for Youthing

Written by Rick Maltin

Brains, brain brains it’s all the rage these day – everyone should have one! Rich people may have 2 or more while poorer people must share a single one. I myself have used the same one for quite a while and keep it updated and ready for new stuff. And I make sure that I eat brain food and do the right brain exercises. I also avoid Tin Men and Cowardly Lions!

There has been an explosion recently in interest in ‘brain’ improvements that include special supplements and special exercises. However there is no strong evidence that any of this really works. Where there has been success it is in a very narrow field (i.e. CogniFit Senior Drivers – really gets results).

There are the Nintendo games – face it they are just games!

Here are other real and legitimate brain fitness programs. We also tried Brain Center of America. Good product and even has a combination brain fitness desk.
Some other for your consideration are – Sharp Brains, Vibrant Brains, Lumosity, Mind Sparkle, and Posit Science.

They all stress basically the same problems but with different techniques. I will test them all out and report back.
CogniFit is my current brain fitness program and it’s well done, indeed.

Womens natural health -Youthing on the check out line

Written by Rick Maltin

Well I was standing in a checkout line today (as bored and annoyed at this unproductive time) and stared doing the 'orange juice' bicep curl! I was able to get about 30 reps per arm using a 6 quart OJ container. I must have looked real strange. But that is not the point!

I would like to point out how many opportunities we have every day to do simple, easy and effective conditioning exercises during our rushed daily lives. We all have known people that have regular workouts and gyms but in addition to these heavy exercise regimens – I suggest an simple addition to our lives. There is probability some fitness people out these that can present this better than me but I'll try anyway.

The objective is to make all your body movements count for some fitness value. I had written about this a while ago as this applies to one of my hobbies – flowers. Where I lift, stretch, move and breath as if to make this all exercise!
So throughout your day do the constant workout and next time you're in line – buy some juice and do the Check Out Line Curl!

Fitness for the Road

Written by Rick Maltin

A Good Parking Space or Fitness for the Road?

I have vivid memories of holiday family gatherings in Washington Heights, New York at my grandparent's apartment. We are all arriving at about the same time and in walks my Uncle Frankie (all the way from the Bronx and after he 'dropped' off the wife and kids) and proudly announces – 'Boy did I get a good parking space! Right in front of the building!'

And though the years I've again heard this phrase – a good parking space! As if this was a major achievement to be shared. And I've seen people driving around parking lots (with plenty of open spaces) just to be able NOT to walk! Or waiting (with their engine running) for someone to pull out of one of those 'good spaces.'

What is a 'good parking space?' Well one that delivers the least amount of walking or effort! Well here's my theory – Parking spaces could help deliver daily activity and added up over a lifetime may add to health and success (well perhaps a little bit).

My definition of a good parking space is one that allows for a little brisk walk every time you park. Think about it – if you walk 10 additional minutes for every shopping stop (for 2 stops and at 4 miles an hour that's about 1 plus mile walk every day!).

It's simple to integrate this into our daily lifestyles. It helps us and the environment! And what a great way to balance stress and health.

Talk about natural health! And remember to walk briskly

Fish is brain food and early humans knew it

Written by Rick Maltin

Well I've known this for a while but it's nice to see the evidence mounting up.

Read this interesting article (Read More...) about the connection with the brain size growth and the ancient start of fish into human diet. There is a strong correlation between the almost explosive growth in brain size (5 oz to 10 oz) in less than a few hundred thousand years (lighting speed in evolutionary terms).

Anyone out there knows about P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves? Well Jeeves charge (Bertie) loves and respects Jeeves and thinks he is the smartest man around. One telling comment by Bertie (when asked about how smart is Jeeves) – 'The man practically lives on fish!' Well ole' P.G. knows a thing or two about diet!

Youthing Essentials has done considerable research into brain food and brain supplements. Our brain food is focused on Salmon Fish Oil – strong, natural and bio available.

So do yourself a favor get fish oil, eat some sardines and feel your brain grow.

Written by Rick Maltin

Being dirty may have some benefits for Brain Power

I've always known this but it seems there is some scientific evidence to support my speculations. My things about our bodies have evolved over time. This news report supports this theory and gives some insight into the complexity of health.

A new study finds that naturally occurring bacteria in soil could enhance learning. And as a side benefit, it appears to be a natural anti-anxiety drug, but without the side-effects. This supports the fact that over time our complete bodies (our cells and all the other life connected to us) evolved and took advantage of this situation for brain power and brain food.

"In studies presented Monday at the 110th general meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Diego, mice exposed to Mycobacterium navigated a maze twice as fast, and with less anxiety, as control mice.
In a second experiment the bacteria were removed from the diet of the experimental mice and they were retested. While the mice ran the maze slower than they did when they were ingesting the bacteria, on average they were still faster than the controls."

"The learning that occurred was profound," said Dorothy Matthews of The Sage Colleges in Troy, New York, who conducted the research with her colleague Susan Jenks.
Matthews said it's interesting to speculate that creating learning environments in schools that include time outside where M. vaccae is present may decrease anxiety and improve the ability to learn new tasks.

She said she wouldn't recommend that people go out and deliberately try to ingest the organism.
"When we think about our history as human beings on the planet, for most of our history we were hunter-gatherers, moving around in the soil, following the tracks of animals. And recently we became agricultural as the climate allowed us to do so, but we were still interacting in a very strong way with nature, It's only been a 100 years or so that we moved into cities become disassociated with nature," she said.

"My advice to people who want to see if they could have this affect is to turn your TV off, shut the computer down, go for a walk in the woods, put a garden in, interact with nature in a real way," she said.

Nor would I think that this may be brain supplements or perhaps a better way to reduce stress.

Written by Rick Maltin

Article in LOHAS about Youthing Essentials - Intergrated Wellness

Youthing Essentials had a nice mention and article today in LOHAS (Life Styles of Health and Sustainability). This article presented the Youthing Essentials 'integrated wellness' approach. We are proud of this too! It's also nice to see the media, news outlets and social commentary sites starting to get the messages we have been touting for the last year - optimal health - is a combination of many factors and they all effect how one achieves things in life. We have stressed that health 'components' work much better in combinations and integration and we use terms like integrated health, wellness and business, good health and business and healthy aging to make our point.

Go to LOHAS to read more and surf around - there's lots there.