Pursuing a youthful mind, body, and soul. - The 15 Minute Fix

Exercising your sense of taste is important too

11/24/2014

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I have spent a lot of time writing about the importance of maintaining and tracking your sense of smell, and as important as that is, I don't want to forget about sense of taste. Conventional wisdom has it that sense of smell is an integral part of our ability to taste. However, This research by Donald Katz and Joost Maier, neuroscientists at Brandeis University, and University of Utah professor Matt Wachowiak shows that the taste-smell processing system is a two-way street. “We discovered in this experiment that the sensory systems don’t work in isolation from each other," said Katz. “One part of the cortex takes direct input from the nose, and one part from the tongue, and while it’s convenient to think that the nose and taste receptors operate independently, they don’t.”

This is another great example of how the sensory perception system is integrally linked at a very deep level. The study showed olfactory nerves receive and process information even when the subjects (rats!) aren't not sniffing or even inhaling the associated scent.

Of course my takeaway on this is that the study further supports the idea of working to maintain all of your senses as an integral sensory system. Don't just work on maintaining or improving your hearing or sense of smell (for example) - cross train across all of your senses. Each sense will benefit from the strengthening of the neural processing associated with another sense. In a similar vein, Dr. Katz summarized the importance of regarding the sensory system as a single system: “It doesn't make sense to probe one system separately from the other. Just like in a chorus, you can't appreciate the fullness of the music if you hear only the bass or the tenor in isolation.”

Age well my friends....

Good tips on how to take care of your sense of smell

11/21/2014

I recently reread this great article published in the Wall Street Journal last year. It is a great summary of what it's like to lose one's sense of smell, some tips on how to deal with loss of sense of smell, some tips on how to repair sense of smell, and the general importance of smell. It also has this great infographic:

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source: WSJ.com

Here's my list of how to take care of your sense of smell:

Exercise your sense of smell. Training your brain and olfactory nerves to differentiate between scents and to identify often ignored scents will improve your sense of smell.

Make environmental changes. Examples include:

Eat food with nutrients that promote a good sense of smell, primarily foods high in zinc and antioxidants.
Stay hydrated - drink plenty of water and use a humidifier at night if you live in a dry climate.
Keep your general fitness level up and get plenty of sleep.
If you have allergies, consult a reputable specialist and devise a plan for managing them.
Wear a protective mask when using toxic chemicals.
Don’t stick things up your nose.
Avoid prolonged exposure to really bad smells.
Avoid exposure to cadmium and nickel as they the impair sense of smell.
If you smoke, STOP!

Age well my friends!

Relax To See Better

11/20/2014

I enjoyed reading this article - it has some good examples of people who were able to naturally improve their vision. Besides referencing the UCR study I wrote about a few weeks ago, it also gives a nice history of eye exercises.

I especially appreciated the author’s point about relaxing into better vision. One of the reasons that Nancy Neff, whose case the article focuses on, had so much success, was that she was able to relax - her eyes “simply held an enormous amount of tension.” I also love her advice on how to approach eye exercises: “Don't make it a chore and a struggle. Make it an adventure."

As I discuss in VISION, eye exercises are not intended to be like weightlifting for your eyes, they should be relaxing, soothing, and healing. And remember, the benefits extend well beyond vision improvement. Use them to lower your stress, improve your cognitive function, and boost your energy levels.

Age well my friends... and relax....

How many scents will you pick up with an improved sense of smell?

11/18/2014

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This fascinating study suggests that the human olfactory system is ca_pable of differentiating between more than a trillion different scents . It’s not that you necessarily need to be able to identify that many different scents, but simply that you are capable of it.

"Our sense of smell is amazing," said Leslie Vosshall, who studies olfaction at the Rockefeller University in New York City. "The whole point of this study is that humans are much better at smelling than we thought."

In addition to the research itself, the study includes the makings of a great sense of smell exercise. The researchers gathered a huge variety of scents and then started mixing them together to make unfamiliar combinations. Study participants were then given three vials at a time - two with the same mixture and the third with a different one. they were then asked to identify the different one. Each participant made 264 comparisons.

You can recreate a version of this at home:

Get a bunch of dixie cups - say 15 (we don’t need to be quite as thorough as the researchers). Set them up in five groups of three.
Put a teaspoon of a base liquid with a scent into the three cups of each group - a different liquid for each group of three. Possible base liquids include: any beverage besides water, vinegar or any other liquid with a scent that you would put in your food, or any non-toxic liquid soap or personal care product.
For each group of three find two more ingredients with a scent (a liquid from the previous list, spices, condiments, etc.) that can be added to the base liquid. Put a small amount of one of the ingredients in two cups and the second ingredient in the third cup. Try to use ingredients that look similar or that will be masked by the base liquid so you can’t see which one is different. You may want to mark the bottom of the third cup to help identify it if you are using similar scents.
Mix the cups up within each group of three (but keeping the groups of three intact).
Work your way through each group of three, smelling each cup (use 3-5 short sharp sniffs to inhale the scent into your nose) and identifying the cup that is different.

Once you have done this a few times you will start to get a feel for how difficult you should make it. Are you going to try to differentiate between lemon and lime (hard) or between cocoa and pepper (easy). Also, don’t be afraid to mix things that don’t belong together - that’s part of the fun!

Let me give you an example:

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Gross, huh?

How about:

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So much potential for crazy combos!

Do this 2-4 times a week for a few months, tracking your combinations and your performance, and you'll be amazed by the improvement in your sense of smell. Hopefully, you can do this as part of a more comprehensive sensory exercise program.

Have fun and age well!

Eye, hearing, and touch exercises for balance

11/12/2014

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I love the slightly out of the box thinking that incorporates peripheral vision exercises into the balance program for seniors described in this article. Both eye exercises and sensory exercises can help develop and maintain balance.

Working on peripheral vision exercises, as discussed in the article, is an excellent way to give your sense of balance a little boost. As you probably know, it is difficult to maintain balance with your eyes closed (just try standing on one foot with your eyes closed). While diminished peripheral vision will not have the same impact on your balance as closing your eyes, it can still lessen your sense of balance. Keep your peripheral vision active.

Balance is also closely related to hearing. A recent Johns Hopkins study found that even mild hearing loss increases the likelihood of falling threefold. Whether or not you try to improve your hearing through auditory exercises, be sure to test your hearing periodically. You should know if you have an increased risk of falling. Even if you scoff at the idea because you think you are too young for it to be a problem, now is the time to prepare your body, senses, and brain for the future - when it will become an issue. Catching hearing loss early will also allow you to take steps to stop or counter it early in the process so that you can avoid many of the associated complications. In addition to balance, hearing loss can lead to or be a sign of depression, loss of social confidence, dementia, other medical problems, and safety issues.

Touch exercises can also be helpful in maintaining good balance, especially when those exercises include a visual component (i.e. see what you feel). Training the brain to use all of the sensory clues at its disposal to help determine the body’s position and orientation in space will help keep you healthy and safe well into old age - and it’s never too early to start preparing.

The 15 Minute Fix: VISION includes exercises specifically designed to develop peripheral vision. The 15 Minute Fix: SENSES includes exercises for hearing and touch along with tests for tracking both, so that you can be aware of any sensory problems well before they become medical or safety issues.

Age well my friends….

Technology That Will Harm Sense Of Smell

11/6/2014

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Scientists are trying to develop smell cancelling technology. While the technology itself is cool, this sounds like a terrible idea. This is not the equivalent of sunglasses, ear protection, or gloves, but for your nose. For that, you would be better off using a protective face mask. Preventing smells from being processed by your brain would only leave you with an incomplete picture of what is going on around you. You would be less aware of danger, you'd have less data with which to form memories, and you could end up with the wrong emotional feeling towards a situation. Additionally, you could end up doing harm to your sense of smell by not allowing it to process smells that are expected to go along with certain tastes and imagery.

I suppose that this technology could be useful in certain extreme situations that are short term in nature and where dangers are well understood by trained professionals. I hope we never see this technology being used just to cover up stinky feet or to keep the fridge smelling fresh.

Age well my friends....

Buy The 15 Minute Fix: SENSES, Support Alzheimer's Research

11/3/2014

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I have written recently about the link between sense of smell and neurological diseases including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and various forms of dementia. While we are still in the early days of our understanding of the link between our senses and brain disorders, I believe the senses have tremendous potential for helping us discover how to diagnose, treat, and eventually cure these conditions.

November is National Alzheimer's Awareness Month, so I'm giving half of my profits from The 15 Minute Fix: SENSES (any edition) for the month of November to the Alzheimer's Association. If you buy SENSES, thank you for your support of The 15 Minute Fix and the Alzheimer's Association. If you decide not to purchase SENSES, I encourage you to go to alz.org and make a donation directly. It's a worthwhile cause and one with the potential to make significant progress in the next decade.

Age well my friends....

Depth Perception Exercises Help Even Without Binocular Vision

11/3/2014

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If you have read VISION, you know that I have poor depth perception. I have two perfectly fine eyes that don’t work well together. I do depth perception exercises and binocular vision training and the results have been good. The world does not look flat to me, I have learned to see 3D movies, I can track a baseball better than I could as a kid, and more. I have trained my eyes and brain to see with binocular vision much of the time. This is still a work in progress though, and when I am tired it is easy to slip back into old habits and just use one eye. However, I have noticed that even when I do this I still have the ability to perceive quite a bit of depth. I don’t have problems driving, doing household chores, or other things that would seem to require depth perception. So what’s going on?

I found this podcast which gives some interesting insight into how we can have depth perception using only one eye. Apparently, the middle temporal area of our brain helps process information from even one eye, in a way that allows for some depth perception. The information is comprised of visual clues and multiple images. Wait - how can there be multiple images with only one eye? Because the one eye is moving, it can establish a sense of depth using perspective, speed, and even processing multiple images as the eye moves.

This is fascinating research that shows another cool way in which the brain can adapt and compensate. So even if you are struggling to get your binocular vision functioning, doing depth perception exercises will still help train your brain to better interpret visual cues to create a sense of depth. There are people who are able to do this at an extraordinary level, the most well known recent case being Isaiah Austin, who, before he was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome, would have likely been a top NBA draft pick, despite having only one eye.

Age well my friends….