Rising Temperatures and Brain Health: 10 Ways to Stay Safe in the Heat
Rising Temperatures and Brain Health: 10 Ways to Stay Safe in the Heat
While most of us are aware of the summer risks of dehydration, heat exhaustion, and skin cancer, brain health often goes unnoticed as a negative side effect of our warming planet. Heat exposure can devastate the human brain and have potentially damaging long-term effects.
It is crucial to understand the effects of hot weather on the body and know how to protect oneself during the peak summer months. This article will explore some practical tips to help you stay safe in the heat.
With global temperatures increasing in recent years, avoiding extreme heat exposure and keeping cool during extreme high temperatures is more vital than ever. Taking the correct precautions, especially during unusually hot periods or heat waves, will reduce the risk of heat-related conditions including migraines, seizures, stroke, and some forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
Following some essential but simple tips can protect brain health during the hot weather:
10 Ways to Stay Safe in the Heat
1. Stay Hydrated
As temperatures soar, keeping your body hydrated is crucial. Drink plenty of water throughout the day, even if you don’t feel thirsty. Opt for water-rich foods like fruits and vegetables to replenish electrolytes and prevent dehydration.
2. Dress Right
Wear light-colored, loose-fitting clothing made from breathable materials to stay cool in hot weather. Protect yourself from the sun by wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses with UV protection.
3. Find the Shade
When the heat becomes intense, find shade to take a break from direct sunlight. Whether outdoors or indoors, staying in the shade helps lower your body temperature and reduces the risk of heat-related illnesses. Even carrying an umbrella on a sunny day can help beat the heat.
4. Take it Easy Outdoors
During peak heat hours, typically between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., try to avoid strenuous outdoor activities. If you need to exercise or work outside, do so during the cooler morning or evening hours when the sun is less harsh than mid-day.
5. Cool Down Effectively
Use cooling methods like cool showers, damp towels, or fans to lower your body temperature. If you can’t cool down in an air-conditioned area, at least ensure you have a well-ventilated space to prevent overheating.
6. Eat Healthy
Boost your brain’s function by eating healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins, like the foods found in the MIND diet. Foods rich in nutrients support brain health and may even prevent age-related cognitive decline.
7. Brain Exercise
Stimulate your brain regularly with puzzles, games, or activities that require critical thinking and problem-solving. It’s important to keep your mind active to maintain cognitive function, especially during extreme heat.
8. Be Prepared
You should take precautions and protect your brain health in extreme temperatures by planning ahead.
9. Screen Time
Too much exposure to electronic devices like smartphones and computers isn’t good during extreme heat. Mental fatigue from excessive screen time may be exacerbated by heat and the effects of excessive screen time on your body.
10. Sleep Well
Healthy brains require restful sleep. Create a cool and comfortable sleeping environment to ensure you get enough quality sleep during hot nights (and during the days if you are a napper).
Rising Temperatures and Brain Health
While everyone is aware of the potential consequences of rising temperatures on our ecosystem, many of us don’t recognize the impact extreme heat can have on our brain health. Understanding the risks associated with extreme heat and climate change is not only vital for preserving our planet but also for safeguarding our own overall health, including our brain health.
The Brain & Performance Centre’s unique medical program combines hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) with cognitive training, fitness training, and nutrition coaching to help improve the quality of life for people interested in healthy aging and those wanting to keep their brains sharp for as long as possible.
Contact The Brain & Performance Centre to learn more about our programme and how it can help improve your cognitive and physical performance.
Cognitive Function Tests: What They Can Unveil About Our Cognitive Health
The brain is a powerful and complex organ. While it produces our every thought, memory, feeling, and experience, it can also work in unpredictable ways.
After all, the brain comprises a staggering one hundred billion nerve cells making up nearly 60 trillion neural connections. This complexity can sometimes make it challenging to pinpoint why we feel or act as we do; however, there are cognitive function tests that can help gain insights.
Also referred to as cognitive screening tests or cognitive assessments, cognitive function tests can help paint a clearer picture of where your brain health currently stands and, more importantly, where to go from there.
We encourage you to learn about these tests to gain more insight about yourself and guide your health journey.
What Are Cognitive Function Tests?
A cognitive function test is a screening tool that explores your cognitive abilities. It aims to learn how your brain works and helps assess which areas of cognitive functioning are strong and which may need support.
These assessments can diagnose the main symptoms presenting in cases of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or other specific conditions. But for a conclusive diagnosis, other measures, such as imaging and medical tests, are needed as well.
The Functions that Cognitive Tests Can Assess
Remember, there is no one cognitive function test. Rather, there are various types of tests, each one designed to measure one or several specific cognitive functions. These could include the following:
- Attention: Your level of alertness and ability to attend to targets and disregard noise
- Information processing speed: How quickly you process information
- Memory: The level at which you encode and recall information
- Executive functions: Your ability to apply information, compare, and make sound judgments
- Spatial skills: How you lean on visual cues and senses to make decisions
Examples of Cognitive Function Tests
Here are some examples of cognitive function tests that may be performed in a clinical setting:
- Verbal Memory: How well can you recognize, remember, and retrieve words?
- Recall appointment times
- Remember to take medications
- Psychomotor Speed: Can you precisely use tools and perform mental and physical coordination?
- Drive a car
- Play a musical instrument
- Processing Speed: How well do you process information?
- React to possible risks
- Respond to issues accurately
- Simple Visual Attention: How is your ability to track something quickly and accurately?
- Self-regulation
- Simple attention control
- Motor Speed: Are you able to move how you intend to move?
- Manual dexterity actions
Such tests could be included in the following test batteries:
- Neurotrax – A computerized test for cognitive assessment used in research and clinical settings.
- CNS Vital Signs – A computerized batter for cognitive assessment used broadly in clinical settings.
- CANTAB – Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, administered on a tablet.
Other short screening tests of cognitive functions include:
- MOCA – Montreal Cognitive Assessment. A short paper and pencil test available so on Tablet.
- MMSE – Mini Mental State Examination. A short paper and pencil test.
- Mini-Cog: A short computerized cognitive screening test.
Why Take a Cognitive Function Test?
A cognitive function test may be performed if there are signs and symptoms of cognitive decline or impairment. Someone may also want to gain more information about their cognitive health.
Maybe you’ve noticed changes in yourself or your loved one; perhaps you have a family history of cognitive decline and want insight into your own brain health. These are valid reasons to seek a test.
Think of these test results as insightful data. Cognitive function tests may help unveil areas you may want to improve. We want to emphasize that results from these assessments shouldn’t make you feel incapable or point out your shortcomings; they’re to help you learn more about your brain capabilities and encourage a discussion with your medical team.
What Cognitive Function Tests Show
As noted earlier, cognitive function tests look for cognitive strengths and potential areas of decline. You can use cognitive test results to initiate a conversation with your doctor, who can help you plan the next steps.
According to Dr. Gil Suzin, Head of the Neurocognitive Unit at The Brain & Performance Centre: “The goal is to paint an overall picture of the patient’s health to understand factors that may drive cognitive decline.”
Since each person is different, taking a deeper dive with a professional is essential. Just like you can’t Google your symptoms to diagnose yourself, you can’t take a cognitive test to diagnose any conditions.
Your health specialist may order additional tests or look into your medical history to clarify your situation and determine any support you may need.
What Cognitive Function Tests Do Not Show
Cognitive function tests do not show:
- Why you might have cognitive impairment
- What areas of the brain carry the impairment
- What condition may be causing cognitive impairment
- Whether the impairment is hereditary or acquired
Only a physician or neuropsychologist can address these areas.
How to Prepare for Your Upcoming Cognitive Function Test
You don’t need to prepare for a cognitive test; studying isn’t necessary.
You can rest assured because cognitive function tests consist of simple questions and tasks. The assessment is designed to learn more about you and offers a meaningful workout to your brain. So, relax and go in as yourself.
What to Expect During the Cognitive Test
The test will entail a series of questions and exercises. Cognitive function tests typically cover the following:
- Recall and memory: Being asked to recall objects, places, or people you were shown and/or being asked to describe an event
- Analytical thinking: Solving puzzles via rules and noting relationships between objects or figures
- Attention: Using visual and auditory speed to concentrate and finish tasks
How Long Do the Tests Typically Take?
It depends on the type of test you take, but a cognitive function test typically takes between 25 minutes to 1.5 hours to complete.
Can Cognitive Impairment be Reversed?
With the right protocols and medical team by your side, you can reverse some forms of cognitive impairment. Research illustrates that a variety of therapies, which may include hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), can help:
- Drive the body’s regenerative mechanisms.
- Improve and restore cognitive brain functions.
One study specifically discovered the main improvements involve “attention, information processing speed, and executive functions, which normally decline with aging.”
Your Cognitive Health Matters: Stay Proactive with The Brain & Performance Centre
Every decision we make each day impacts our cognitive well-being, and staying proactive is one of those decisions. If you want to be proactive, you can restore cognitive function with the The Brain & Performance Centre, which is founded on decades of research that enhances performance and brings relief to our clients.
With our unique protocol and cognitive training, The Brain & Performance Centre targets the main cognitive domains known to decline during aging, including:
- Memory
- Attention
- Information processing speed
- Executive functions (i.e., response inhibition, cognitive flexibility)
- Fine motor speed & coordination
We assess your cognition at the beginning of the programme and again at the end to accurately measure your improvements.
Start your journey with The Brain & Performance Centre today!
Can Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Improve Memory Function?
Recent research led by Dr. Gil Suzin, head of neurocognitive operations at The Brain & Performance Centre, found evidence that oxygen is a rate limiting factor for memory enhancement even in healthy young subjects without memory or neurological impairments. The results of this study indicate that memory function is a continuum that does not reach its maximal ceiling effect at the normal sea level environment even in healthy young individuals.
The research group recruited 56 participants between the ages of 20 and 39. They then randomly assigned each person either to increased oxygen supply using hyperbaric oxygen (two atmospheres of 100% oxygen) or to a control group treated with normal air at normal pressure (1 ATA).
The participants then did a battery of tests that evaluated performance of major cognitive domains, including information processing speed, episodic memory, working memory, cognitive flexibility and attention.
From all the evaluated domains, study participants who received hyperbaric oxygen experienced an improvement in their episodic memory. This group demonstrated a better learning curve, which they demonstrated through the total number of words they recalled from a list of words read repetitively. They also showed higher memory resilience by preserving more words after an interference (an intermediate list of words).
In the study, published in the journal Biomedicals, researchers suggest that:
“the understanding that oxygen is a rate limiting factor for episodic memory even in healthy young adults and the insight that memory can be further enhanced while being in a hyper-oxygenized environment can be important for future development of interventional tools that can be used in daily clinical practice.”
For instance, there is cumulative evidence that patients coming to HBOT recover long-term repressed traumatic memories, and in some of the hyperbaric centres, recovery of repressed memory was added as a potential side effect to the informed consent. Surfacing of inaccessible memories can be crucial for treating diseases like PTSD and other amnestic conditions where knowing the history is essential.
Understanding the biology responsible for our ability to recall specific experiences and also understanding that this ability can be enhanced by HBOT, gives us a powerful tool that can be used for those who needs it.
For more information about how Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy can improve memory function,
or to schedule a consultation, contact The Brain & Performance Centre, JLT, Dubai U.A.E.