Herbal remedy

Start an herb garden. Fresh herbs add flavor without fat and calories. Plus, gardening can be a fun, relaxing hobby, helping with stress management. Basil and rosemary are two easy plants to start with.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Don't forget to work out your brain

Find a new mind teaser and spend at least 15 minutes a day giving your brain a work out. It must be something new and challenging, not something you're already good at. This is National Memory Screening Day, part of National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Schedule some fun

Make a date to go bowling. No, it's not aerobic, but it's more active than sitting on the sofa watching reruns. Besides, it's social and fun which helps fight depression, dementia and stress. If not bowling, walking or canoeing. The idea is to get up, get out and get connected.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Brain food

Eat fish, nuts and dark green vegetables this weekend to help keep your brain healthy. Halibut, trout and salmon; almonds, pecans and walnuts; kale, spinach and broccoli all appear to protect brain cells. Click here to find out more about brain health and preventing Alzheimer's Disease.

Heart-head connection

Whatever good things you do for your heart, you also do for your brain. Controlling blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes improves blood flow to the brain and may help prevent dementia and Alzheimer's Disease. Be active, don't smoke, eat a low fat diet, maintain a healthy body weight and get regular checkups.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Memory: lost and found

Everyone has lost their sun glasses or car keys; it's a concern if you can't retrace your steps to find them or start accusing others of stealing everytime items are misplaced. Forgetting momentarily and remembering later is normal; frequent confusion and forgetfullness with no recall of recent events, isn't. Your family doctor can do a simple, in-office memory screening if you have concerns.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer   

Memory on your mind?

If you or someone you know is having trouble remembering the steps in a routine process, such as following a recipe, doing laundry or paying bills bring it up with a physician. It may be an early sign of Alzheimer's Disease. Click here for more signs of a possible memory disorder.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month

Wear purple in support of finding a cure for this mind robbing disease. Boost your brain power: learn something new (a computer skill, card game, how to knit); do something routine, differently (brush your teeth or practice writing with the other hand); memorize a passage from a book, the lyrics to a song. Click here to learn more from the Florida Gulf Coast Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

On cholesterol, good and bad news for body and brain

So let's start with the good: Women who did as little as one extra hour a week of moderate physical activity — like a brisk walk — had lower levels of harmful cholesterol than those who exercised less, according to a nine-year study of almost 9,000 fairly sedentary middle-aged adults. The study is one of the first to find a link between exercise and significant decreases in LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol, said the lead author, Keri L. Monda, a postdoctoral fellow in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina. The study did not find the decreases in men.

The better news: The impact is even greater for post-menopausal women, proving it's never too late to start exercising. And it gets even better -- black women see a greater improvement than white women, a good thing since black women tend to have higher cholesterol levels.

The study appears in the Journal of Lipid Research.

Now for the bad news:

We've known for a while that high cholesterol in midlife is linked with dementia in later years. Now it turns out that cholesterol levels need to be only slightly elevated to show this problem.

A study that followed 9,844 members of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Medical Group found those whose total blood cholesterol had been high between ages 40 and 45 were 57 percent more likely to have developed Alzheimer’s disease.

But even those with borderline cholesterol -- over 200 milligrams per deciliter -- were at 50 percent greater risk of vascular dementia those those whose numbers were under control.

The study is online in Dementia & Geriatric Cognitive Disorders.

Back to the good news: You can control your cholesterol levels, though it will take some work. Yes, that means proper diet, exercise, getting your weight under control and if all that doesn't do enough, perhaps medication. See your doctor, know your numbers, swing into action now to keep your brain functioning later. Here are some tips from the American Heart Association.

Charlotte Sutton, health and medicine editor

[Photo: Goodshoot Image]