|
The shocking new Alzheimer's remedy
18th July
Last Wednesday I went round to my Mum and
Dad's for dinner (it was actually lunch, but they
still call it dinner) and ended up spending the day
there.
The day, the night, and the next day actually.
All because my Dad had inexplicably decided to
dig a whole the size of Bulgaria in the back
garden, and wanted some help shifting the earth.
Of course by 'help', he meant watching me push
endless wheelbarrows of the stuff back and forth
to the skip while he shouted helpful instructions...
'No no no... bend your KNEES.'
'Tip it into the skip, not all over the road!'
'Joyce, get his old room ready. He's so slow he
won't be finished till Christmas! AHAHA
HAAAA!'
Honestly, I think I preferred him when he wasn't
taking his dementia prescription.
Anyway, after a morning's labour, prisoner
number 11345 was allowed some lunch/dinner
(delete as appropriate)... which was some roast
salmon followed by pudding.
Because in the Collins Senior household, there's
ALWAYS pudding.
It's like a law.
'A little bit of what you fancy's good for you,'
my Mum said, plonking a third of a defrosted
cheesecake in front of me.
Now, although a third of a familysized
cheesecake was stretching the 'little bit' part of
the slogan to snapping point, I couldn't agree with
my Mum more.
In fact, that slogan is a cornerstone of the Good
Life philosophy for two reasons:
First, denying yourself things you like for the sake
of a Size 0 figure or in the name of good health
will have a negative mental effective.
Eating the things you love makes you happy. It
gives you a lift and can make all of the day's little
niggles disappear. If it's something you enjoy, just
enjoy it! Just take care that you don't turn a treat
into a habit.
Second, many socalled 'bad' foods turn out to be
good, at least in small doses.
A scientist will pop out of his lab pointing to a
clipboard to announce 'chocolate is bad for you'
(which the papers will write up as CHOCOLATE
KILLS!) only for another scientist to declare
'chocolate is good for you' the very next day.
So by cutting out something you love altogether
in the name of good health, you'll not only be
denying yourself a real pleasure, you could also
be missing out certain health benefits.
But surely there are some substances that have
NO positive health effects whatsoever. Something
like tobacco for instance the biggest serial killer
of the plant world.
Well get a load of this...
The evil substance that suddenly has a
good side
According to researchers from Kings College
London, nicotine can be good for the brain.
In fact, it's effects could be so powerful that
nicotine could be used to prevent (or at least slow
down) the onset of Alzheimer's.
Now then, if I think about it, this shouldn't come
as a total surprise. I remember my Granddad
saying how he got a mental buzz from cigarettes,
and how they helped him focus.
And loads of my smoker friends (now nearly all
exsmokers) would say that smoking helped
steady their nerves and helped them think straight.
But I put this down to part of the addiction. If they
weren't getting their fix, their withdrawal systems
would make them feel muddled, irritable and
unfocused.
|
But it seems they really were getting a mental
boost.
In tests, the researchers found that nicotine
improved learning, memory, and performance on
cognitive tasks by up to 15%.
Well, those were the results on rats at least. When
the rats were surrounded by flashing lights and
random sounds, the ones who'd been given the
nicotine found it easier to concentrate on working
their way round a maze than the ones who hadn't.
Maybe that's why there are all those smokers
huddled outside offices. It has nothing to do with
the ban - they just found their way out of the
building first.
Anyway, I think I've heard it all now...
Smoking could do you some good. I never
thought I'd be writing that sentence.
Of course, the negative effects far outweigh this
one positive, but it just goes to show that it's
stupid to write off anything.
Of course, I'm not saying you should go out and
smoke a packet of fags before you sit an exam...
I'm simply saying that we shouldn't believe the
near hysteria that some food fanatics display when
it comes to certain so-called 'bad' foods.
Here's the truth about two more 'evils' that would
make these fanatics faint... |
Don't deny yourself these treats...
- Ice Cream... experts at London's Institute of
Pyschiatry conducted an experiment where
peoples brains were scanned as they ate
vanilla ice cream. And by using a magnetic
resonance imaging machine (don't ask me),
results showed that the ice cream immediately
switched on the brain's pleasure zones.
I didn't even know we HAD pleasure zones ( I
know I know - typical man), but this does
explain the feel-good feeling that comes from
eating ice cream.
And feeling good is an essential part of
controlling your stress levels and maintaining
good health. So let ice cream help you once in
a while!
- Alcohol... tests carried out at the Karolinska
Institute in Stockholm showed that alcohol
taken in moderation over a long period helped
new nerve cells - called neurons - form in the
brain.
And guess what...? The growth of new
neurons could improve memory and learning.
Now, before you get too excited and drag out
that home-brew kit from under the stairs, this
was yet another study conducted on rats.
But it seems there's a clear link between
alcohol and the production of new brain cells
which can't be ignored.
Of course, this doesn't mean you should drink
heavily. Binge-drinking is one of the curses of
modern living, and is harming more people
(especially the young) than ever before.
But to me, this seems to be yet more proof that
drinking sensibly is actually better for you than
trying to cut out drink altogether.
We know that red wine is good for your heart.
And recently it's been shown that whisky has a
similar benefit too.
But now it seems that drinking in moderation is
good for your brain too.
So let's raise a glass to that!
That's all for this today. I'm off to enjoy my new
heathly ice cream and wine diet (copyright R.
Collins)... but strictly in moderation of course.
I'll be back on Sunday, so until then, enjoy your
weekend - and treat yourself to something! |
|
|
|
