Keep Sharp Quotes

“As a primer, here are the five pillars of brain health: Move, Discover, Relax, Nourish, Connect.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“I should also add something about weight here, because we all know that there’s often a relationship between weight and risk for diabetes. If the risk for Alzheimer’s disease goes up with metabolic disorders, then it makes sense that the risk also rises with unhealthy weight gain that has metabolic consequences. The science now speaks to this fact. Carrying extra weight around the abdomen has been shown to be particularly harmful to the brain. One study that garnered lots of media attention looked at over six thousand individuals aged forty to forty-five and measured the size of their bellies between 1964 and 1973.11 A few decades later, they were evaluated to see who had developed dementia and how that related to their waist size at the start of the study. The correlation between risk of dementia and thicker midsections twenty-seven years earlier was remarkable: Those with the highest level of abdominal fat had an increased risk of dementia of almost three-fold in comparison to those with the lowest abdominal weight. There is plenty of evidence that managing your weight now will go a long way toward preventing brain decline later.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“No matter what your DNA says, a good diet, regular exercise, not smoking, limiting alcohol, and some other surprising lifestyle decisions, can change that destiny.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“The brain can be continuously and consistently enriched throughout your life no matter your age or access to resources.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“the more you understand your memory, the more inspired you’ll be to improve it.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Fear-based messaging will never lead to a long-term effective strategy because it is not the way we are wired.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Any factor—from smoking to high cholesterol levels—that affects the blood flow system in the brain has a significant impact on its function and risk for decline.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“That means that over 90 percent of our health and longevity is in our own hands.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Don't try to inspire people with fear. It doesn't work well, and it doesn't last long. When you scare someone, you activate that person's amygdala, the emotional center of the brain. The reaction is swift and hot, as one would have when confronted with a threat. The problem is that an action that starts in the emotional centers of the brain bypasses the judgment and executive function areas of the brain as well. As a result, the reaction may be intense and immediate, but it is also often uncoordinated and transient.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Recent studies of recreational cyclists aged fifty-five to seventy-nine suggest they have the capacity to do everyday tasks very easily and efficiently because nearly all parts of their body are in remarkably good condition.15 The cyclists also scored high on tests measuring mental agility, mental health, and quality of life.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Recent studies of recreational cyclists aged fifty-five to seventy-nine suggest they have the capacity to do everyday tasks very easily and efficiently because nearly all parts of their body are in remarkably good condition.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Finally, don’t underestimate the power of appropriate touch. Hand holding has been found to decrease levels of the stress hormone cortisol. A friendly touch can also be calming. In other words, the simple act of touching another human is a way of connecting with others to protect ourselves—and them.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“I want to live my life like an incandescent lightbulb. Burn brightly my entire life, and then one day suddenly go out.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“caregiver who also maintains a full- or part-time job, be extra cautious about your time, energy, emotions, and personal needs. You are at a high risk for burnout, but not for reasons you may think. Caregiver burnout is caused less by the rigorous responsibilities of the jobs themselves and more by the fact you tend to neglect your own emotional, physical, and spiritual health. To repeat, put yourself on your to-do list.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“You can likely name all five senses: sight (ophthalmoception), smell (olfacoception), taste (gustaoception), touch (tactioception), and hearing (audioception). But there are others with the “cept” ending, which is Latin for take or receive. The other six senses are also processed in the brain and give us more data about the outside world: Proprioception: A sense of where your body parts are and what they’re doing. Equilibrioception: A sense of balance, otherwise known as your internal GPS. This tells you if you’re sitting, standing, or lying down. It’s located in the inner ear (which is why problems in your inner ear can cause vertigo). Nociception: A sense of pain. Thermo(re)ception: A sense of temperature. Chronoception: A sense of the passage of time. Interoception: A sense of your internal needs, like hunger, thirst, needing to use the bathroom.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Memories that are not recalled often can begin to fade away because those memories are not being reinforced. Which is why it’s relatively easier to remember the details of what you did more recently than what happened many years ago.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Since 2005, researchers have been finding correlations between diabetes and risk for Alzheimer’s disease, especially when the diabetes is not controlled and a person suffers from chronic high blood sugar.7 Some have gone so far as to refer to Alzheimer’s disease as “type 3 diabetes,” because the disease often involves a disrupted relationship with insulin, the metabolic hormone involved in both types 1 and 2 diabetes. Insulin is the hormone needed to deliver sugar (glucose) into cells for use.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“physical inactivity has been calculated to be the most significant risk factor in cognitive decline and the development of dementia.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Exercise” includes a combination of purposeful aerobic cardio work (e.g., swimming, cycling, jogging, group exercise classes), strength training (e.g., free weights, resistance bands, gym machines, mat Pilates, lunges, squats), and routines that promote flexibility and balance (e.g., stretching, yoga). It also includes leading a physically active life throughout the day (e.g., taking the stairs instead of the elevator; avoiding prolonged sitting; going for walks during breaks; engaging in hobbies such as dancing, hiking, and gardening).”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“We don’t usually think about dementia when we’re entering our prime, but we should, because it provides a remarkable opportunity. Data from longitudinal observational studies accumulated over the past few decades have shown that aside from age, most other risk factors for brain disease can be controlled. That means you indeed have a powerful voice in controlling your risk for decline.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“We tend to worry about our ability to remember names or where we put our keys, but we should also worry about the memory we need to be a great performer in whatever role we fill as a professional, parent”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“His TED talk on the subject, “What Makes a Good Life?” has been viewed more than 29 million times.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“if you remembered everything that comes into your brain, your brain would not work properly and your ability to creatively think and imagine would be diminished. Everyday life would be difficult; sure, you’d be able to recall long lists and cite elegiac love poems, but you’d struggle to grasp abstract concepts and even to recognize faces. There’s”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“In the seconds it takes for you to read this sentence, your brain will have fired off a miraculous number of electrical signals to keep you alive—breathing, moving, feeling, blinking, and thinking. Some of the information zipping through your billions of neurons are traveling faster than the speed of a race car. The human brain is a remarkable organ, an evolutionary marvel. It arguably houses more connections than there are stars in the known galaxy.1 Scientists have said that the brain is the most complex thing we have ever discovered; one of the discoverers of DNA went so far as to call it “the last and grandest biological frontier. The brain,” he said, “boggles the mind.”2”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“it is the skin that contains pain fibers that must be dulled to perform brain surgery; the skull and the brain itself, that organ that innervates the entire body, has no sensory receptors of its own. It is why conducting brain surgery on an awake patient is an option”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“I like an adage I once heard in Okinawa: “I want to live my life like an incandescent lightbulb. Burn brightly my entire life, and then one day suddenly go out.” We want the same for our brains.”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“genes accounted for well under 7 percent of people’s life span”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“A new study in 2018, published in the journal Genetics, revealed that the person we marry factors greater into our longevity than our genetic inheritance does.6 And by a long shot!”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Part 3 takes a look at the challenges of diagnosing and treating brain diseases. What should you do if you notice the early signs? Are they symptoms of another health condition that mimics dementia? Why have our research and clinical trials failed so miserably in coming up with cures and drugs to treat neurodegenerative ailments? What treatments are available at all levels of severity? How can a spouse remain healthy while caring for a partner with dementia (caregivers have a much higher risk of developing the disease)? Dementia is a moving target; caring for someone with the disease can be one of the most challenging jobs ever undertaken. No one learns in formal schooling how to deal with a loved one whose brain is in irreversible decline. For some, the brain changes are slow and subtle, taking years or even more than a decade for symptoms to become pronounced; for others, it’s sudden and rapid. Both circumstances can be difficult and unpredictable”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age

“Brain Food: The GCBH Recommendations on Nourishing Your Brain,”
― Sanjay Gupta, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age