“What a day for a day dream.
What a day for a daydreaming boy,
I’m lost in a daydream”

The Lovin’ Spoonful in 1968 said it all.

Do you ever find yourself doodling squares, patterns of lines or squiggles while in a meeting or lecture? Have you ever wondered why you do that and whether it is of any relevance at all?
Chances are that your doodling is helping your brain in the task of listening and paying attention. This is according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in March 2009. People were asked to either doodle and listen to a tape or just listen. Those who doodled had a better recall (roughly 30%) of the information played. So doodling actually helps keep our focus. rather than let our mind wander completely off topic.

Have you also noticed that we all have our certain patterns of doodling? Whether it be flowers or squiggles or stickmen. And they tend to be repeated over and over. What sort of doodler are you?

Doodling may help prevent us from daydreaming. However our brain really isn’t much good at paying attention at the best of times. Our attention span is quite short, around 10 minutes. Though this does vary from person to person and it also changes with age.

One study in 2005 reported that university students were likely to be daydreaming around 5.4 times during a 45-minute presentation. If you are a presenter you need to be doing something different every 10 minutes to keep your audience’s attention. The good news, especially if you are a student who has a lot of boring lecturers, is that we can improve our attention span, with practice. Your mood will also determine your likely attention span. If you are feeling sad or blue, it’s a lot harder to focus. Being in a positive frame of mind makes it far easier to stay on topic and even to have an “A-ha” moment.

We have two types of daydreaming. In the first sort, we are aware that our mind has wandered off and we know what it is that we are thinking about instead. It could be what we need to buy on the way home or a mental note to contact a friend. The second type is called being zoned out. Here you are daydreaming without awareness ie your mind is blank not thinking about anything in particular and we can spend up to 13% of our time in this state.

The value in daydreaming.

In schools it used to be thought that those kids who were always daydreaming were lazy or academically a bit dull. In fact when we daydream our brain becomes quite active in two distinct areas. The first area is our executive suite in our frontal lobes. This area is associated with decision making, planning and organising. The other area is associated with reflection and future visualisation. So daydreaming can be an active creative time for our brain, where we are looking at the bigger picture.

If Archimedes hadn’t decided to take a bath we wouldn’t have had his “Eureka” moment. Without Sir Isaac Newton being in an orchard watching an apple fall, we wouldn’t have had his theory of gravity. Thinking about things without necessarily concentrating, can allow a sudden moment of insight and find an obvious solution to a previously difficult or unsolved problem.

Brain scanning and EEG’s have allowed researchers to watch what actually takes place in the brain at the moment of insight. Analysing a problem methodically may in fact hinder our ability to come up with a creative answer. We use a different set of neural mechanisms and this shows up as a different set of brain wave patterns on EEG.
Just before a moment of insight there is a surge in gamma brain waves in the right hemisphere of our brain. And just prior to that, the alpha brain waves associated with our visual cortex become quiet, as if allowing the other parts of the brain to concentrate better.
In a study published in the Journal of Cognitive science, Dr Bhattacharya showed that the right frontal cortex becomes very active a number of seconds prior to a person becoming aware of the insight. Our brain knows the answer before it reaches our conscious awareness.

So daydreaming is probably a crucial part of creative thought and allows us to enjoy insights, which enhance our general intellect.
Now I won’t need to feel guilty next time I catch myself daydreaming, and I shall be encouraged in my artistic dabbles or doodles, knowing they are helping me to keep on task.

References:
Association for Psychological Science (2007, March 22). Study Focuses On Wandering Minds.
Wiley-Blackwell (2009, March 5). Do Doodle: Doodling Can Help Memory Recall.
University of British Columbia (2009, May 12). Brain’s Problem-solving Function At Work When We Daydream

During a chat with a group of ladies last week, we got onto the topic of of supplements, and which herbs and spices might be beneficial in promoting brain health. One lady advised me that every morning she pours a good dollop of flaxseed oil onto her breakfast cereal along with some L.S.A and psyllium. Plus a heaped teaspoon of turmeric.

Mmm, I remain to be convinced about the taste, although she reassured me she didn’t mind it. So, what is the deal with turmeric and why would she be adding it to her breakfast cereal?

Turmeric or Curcuma longa is an Indian spice and a member of the ginger family. It has a wonderful yellow hue that gives it’s colour to curry, mustard and piccalilli relish.

It was noted some years ago that the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease in India is about one tenth of Western societies. One study in rural North India reported an incidence of 0.62 % in those over the age of 55 years and 1.07% in those aged 65 and older. Compare that to 10% for 65 year olds in our society. There have been a number of reasons postulated as to why this should be. But one of the thoughts is that it is due to the curcumin found in turmeric and in India a huge amount of turmeric is consumed in curries on a daily basis.

The curcuminoids in the turmeric have been associated with a number of significant health benefits and a number of studies have been completed looking at how it may afford protection against neuro-degenerative disease.

Let’s have a look at some of the research.

In Alzheimer’s disease one of the hallmark findings, are of plaques in the brain made of a substance called beta amyloid. The body has it’s own defence system to try and get rid of this in the form of scavenging cells called macrophages. These travel around the brain trying to remove any amyloid it finds. One study looked at the effect of treating these macrophages with curcumin and found that the macrophages were then better able to gobble up the beta amyloid with an improvement rate of 50%.

Curcumin has potent anti-inflammatory and anti oxidant effects. It is thought that inflammation plays a role in the development of Alzheimer’s. This led to studies to see whether anti-inflammatory drugs, and or curcumin through it’s anti-inflammatory effect could be useful in treating beta amyloid build up. One study conducted at UCLA looked at the anti inflammatory effect of curcumin vs ibuprofen (a commonly used anti-inflammatory drug). Using rats with beta amyloid in their brains, both curcumin and the ibuprofen were shown to provide equivalent protection from the inflammatory damage caused by the beta amyloid. The curcumin reduced the number of plaques in the rat brains by up to 80% at low dose and the rats given the curcumin performed better on spatial memory tests compared to the control group. Curcumin can cross the blood brain barrier and binds to amyloid protein fragments, which can then no longer clump together to form plaques.
However follow up clinical trials in patients with Alzheimer’s disease who were prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen unfortunately only produced limited or negative results. Likewise the ADAPT cognitive function tests using Naprosyn similarly showed no benefit in improving cognitive function in older adults. There remains the possibility that the NSAID’s could be useful if taken in the years prior to any cognitive decline. This has yet to be shown.

Curcumin and Vitamin D

Moving back to curcumin and its possible role with Vitamin D. In 2009 UCLA researchers discovered that Vitamin D together with curcumin might help to stimulate the immune system to clear the brain of amyloid beta.
A small study was undertaken with 9 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, 3 healthy controls and one subject with mild cognitive impairment. Blood samples were collected and a type of white cell, monocytes (which can transform into macrophages) were isolated and then incubated with amyloid beta, Vitamin D3 and either natural or synthetic curcumin.
The synthetic curcumin was devised as naturally occurring curcumin was found to be less readily absorbed and so is less potent.

The researchers found that the curcuminoids enhanced the surface binding of amyloid beta to macrophages and that Vitamin D also strongly stimulated the uptake and absorption of amyloid beta by the macrophages in the majority of patients.

A previous study by the same team had demonstrated that MGAT 111 and TLR-3 genes are the genes associated with the immune system’s ability to ingest amyloid beta. Dr Milan Fiala found that there were two types of Alzheimer’s patients: type one who did respond positively to curcuminoids and type two who did not. He noted that as the curcumin and Vitamin D work differently in the immune system, it might be that either a combination of the two or each used alone, might be more effective depending on the individual. He suggests larger and more studies using Vitamin D and curcumin are necessary to see if this would be the case.

How does the curcumin exert its effect?

Dr A Ramamoorthy at the university of Michigan has shown that the curcumin inserts itself into cell membranes, changing the physical properties of the membrane rather than interacting directly with the membrane proteins.
He is is now working on looking at determining the relative potency of a variety of curcuminoids derivatives which could potentially lead to new compounds being formulated as treatments. He is also investigating the effects on how curcumin exerts its effects on the formation of amyloid.

So if eating curry with turmeric may assist in keeping our minds sharp as we age, how much should we be eating? According to Dr Sally Frautschy, Associate Professor of UCLA (who eats curry four times a week), one tablespoon or 200mg per day.

But I think I still prefer to eat my turmeric in curry rather than on my breakfast cereal though.

What about you? How do you take your turmeric?

There has been an exponential increase in the number of people around the world who are obese and or have diabetes, both significant risk factors for dementia.

For many of us the battle of the bulge is seemingly the result of consuming too much fat, being too sedentary, or just simply eating too much.
As we get older our metabolic rate declines, so while we still experience hunger and enjoy our food, we need to reduce our total food intake to keep our weight in the normal range.

We know too that being overweight or obese puts us more at risk of other chronic illness and disease. We increase our risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
But there is something else we need to be aware of as well.

Being overweight or obese doubles our risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
It is associated with having a smaller brain volume.

Having a smaller brain through obesity affects our brain function in specific areas:

In the hippocampus, the area specialised for learning and memory.
In the frontal lobes, our executive suite, concerned with planning, organisation and paying attention.
In the anterior cingulate gyrus, an area involved in decision-making, empathy and emotion.
In the thalamus, an area associated with coordinating other brain areas.

But it is the belly fat that puts us most at risk.
Having a big tummy with stick legs and arms actually puts you at greater risk than someone who is more generally rounded. The implication here, is that you don’t have to be particularly overweight to be at increased risk, if all the extra is sitting around your middle.

A study published last month showed this link. Over 700 subjects from the Framingham Heart Study were recuited. The mean age of the group was 60 years and 70% were women. Dr. S Seshadri and colleagues looked at the association of Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference, waist to hip ratio, CT measured abdominal fat and MRI brain scans looking at total brain volume and other variables, as well as the number of brain infarcts (mini areas of stroke) present. The results showed a strong correlation between central obesity (ie the fat in your abdomen) and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Being obese in middle age, having an elevated systolic blood pressure (that’s the top reading of your blood pressure) and a high total cholesterol each are significant risk factors and individually double your relative risk of dementia. Put them together and you can end up with x6 the risk.

A meta-analysis of 10 international studies covering a 10 year period confirmed these findings, revealing that obesity increases the relative risk of dementia for men and women overall by an average of 42% compared to people of normal weight.

However after the age of 65years it appears that the trend is reversed. Annette Fitzpatrick from the University of Seattle reported the results of a study she undertook where she had around 300 people as subjects who did not have dementia. They had their weight at age 50 recorded and then repeated height and weight at age 65yrs to calculate the BMI’s at the different ages.

Over the 5-year follow up, those people classified as obese (BMI >30) were more likely to have developed dementia.
However the older subjects ie 65 years plus, who were underweight (BMI <20)

also

had an increased risk of dementia and the older subjects appeared to have gained a protective effect in later life.

So there appears to be an obesity paradox. There is a change in the predictive ability of BMI with dementia risk with age.

Why should this be?

The answer is yet to be revealed. There has been the suggestion that the onset of weight loss in older life may precede the onset of dementia. Studies have shown that women in particular will show weight loss about 10 years before the first signs of dementia become apparent.

However it is still the case that reducing obesity in midlife (especially central obesity) is crucial to reduce an individual’s overall risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s.

So meanwhile there is a big job ahead of us, to reduce obesity in those Western societies where being overweight has become the norm. The risk if we don’t, is that we will see increased mortality at an earlier age from cardiovascular disease and stroke and the added burden of the increased number of people developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Last week I asked the question whether caffeine really gives us the mental edge. Sadly the evidence appeared to say no, the caffeine in our coffee makes us more alert, but makes no difference to our mental performance. Rats.

This week I came across another study from the University of Bristol (my old instant coffee stomping ground) published in the Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
(Try saying that three times quickly.) This reported that those of us who drink 3-5 cups of coffee a day will develop a tolerance to the stimulatory and anxiety provoking effects of the caffeine. By continuing to drink coffee, all we are doing is merely reversing the effects of caffeine withdrawal.

Given our global love affair with coffee, are there then any benefits from enjoying our caffeine? The short answer is yes.

Scientists are now starting to evaluate the effects of caffeine in the brain in relation to memory and its neuroprotective effects against Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and Parkinson’s.

A special supplement of 22 articles was produced in the May edition of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease called “Looking at therapeutic opportunities for caffeine in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.” A. De Mendonca from the University of Portugal and R. A. Cunha from the University of Coimbra, Portugal provided a summary of the key findings from these articles:

• Caffeine has multiple beneficial effects assisting to normalise brain function and prevent neurodegeneration.
• Caffeine has been shown to reduce beta amyloid production and is neuroprotective.
• Caffeine may be looked at further as a potential disease-modifying agent for Alzheimer’s disease.
• There have been studies showing improved memory performance and cognition in 65yr old women who drink three or more cups of coffee a day. The U.S study showed how coffee by it’s influence on increased neuronal firing, leads to increased short-term memory skills and reaction times.
• The adenosine A2A receptors have been identified as the main target of neuroprotection afforded by drinking coffee.
• Meta-analysis of the available studies has confirmed the data available.
• Epidemiological studies corroborated by Meta-analyses suggest caffeine may have some protective effect against Parkinson’s disease.
• There are a number of methodological issues in study design that will need to be resolved prior to clinical trials being commenced.

In other words, the caffeine in our coffee is looking to be a promising means of protecting our brain from cognitive decline as we get older.

A study published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation in 2008, looked at the protective effect of caffeine in rabbits, where it helped to maintain or stabilise the blood-brain barrier against the damaging effects of high cholesterol. The study showed that the equivalent of caffeine from one cup of coffee would help protect the blood-brain barrier from damage associated with consuming a high fat diet.
And lastly, a study from Finland in 2009 found that people drinking moderate amounts of coffee (3-5 cups a day) showed a lower risk of dementia compared to those who drank either no coffee, or only 1-2 cups a day.

So this is good news for all you coffee drinkers out there who may have been feeling slightly depressed from last week’s blog topic. Now you can feel much more virtuous, knowing that in fact your caffeine fix may be helping to protect your brain from neurodegenerative and cognitive decline. Which isn’t a bad thing. We shall have to wait for more clinical studies to see whether caffeine proves to be a viable therapeutic agent in the future. But it all looks very encouraging so far.

In essence we can drink and enjoy our coffee in the knowledge that:

1. It will make us more alert, though drinking more than several cups regularly each day will lead to caffeine addiction and increasing fatigue.
2 The caffeine itself has no perceived benefits to our everyday performance.
3. Caffeine does appear to have a neuroprotective effect, which may in the future be demonstrated to be a useful, readily available therapeutic tool in the management of dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Meanwhile I am looking forward to enjoying my next cup of really good coffee.