Brain Fitness for Women

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Sondra Kornblatt. Brain Fitness for Women

Dedication

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. The Weary Brain

Chapter 2. Brain Basics. Does Your Brain Know It's a Girl?

The Basic Brain

A Universe of Neurons

Are There Limits on Neurons?

Connecting the Neurons

Is Your Brain a Boy or a Girl?

Brain Sex Rumors

What Do We really Know?

Chapter 3. Swimming in Different Hormones. Variations Beyond Brain Structure

Hormones

Sexual Hormones

Other Hormones

Men, Women, and Illness

Autoimmune Illnesses

Insomnia

Depression

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Anorexia Nervosa

Migraines

Pain

Are We More than our Hormones?

Chapter 4. The Brain During Menstruation and Menopause

Estrogen, the Wonder Hormone

Hormones on Center Stage for Puberty

Hormones and Aunt Flo (or Your Monthly Visitor)

Premenstrual Haze

Premenstrual Syndrome, Dysphoria, Depression, and More

When There's a Bun in the Oven: Hormonal Changes During Pregnancy

Brain Fog in Pregnancy

Mom's Brain After Baby

The Adventure of Menopause

Adjusting to a Different Brain

Hormone Replacement: Can Nature's Wonder Chemical Be replaced?

Chapter 5. The Dance of Your Body and Brain

Exercising Your Brain (Without Opening a Book)

Exercise Helps You Deal

It's Not What You Know; It's What You Do

Stress Is Actually Accenting the Wrong Syllable

Internal Antistress Responses

External Changes to Stress

Go to Bed: Sleep

Go Ahead, Y-a-w-n

Laughter and Smiling

Sense Your World

Cushion the Brain

Be Safe in Cars and Around Cars

Wear Bicycle and motorcycle Helmets

Stay Upright, Keep Steady

Protect Yourself

Chapter 6. Creative Learning. All Work and No Play Gives Jane a Dull Brain

The Plastic, Elastic Brain

Forget to Remember

You Must Remember This

How to Remember Names

Mnemonics

360 Degrees of Learning

More on the Senses and Learning

Beep! it's Your Birthday

Creativity

Chapter 7. Minding What Matters. How Thoughts, Emotions, and Consciousness Affect the Brain

The Body-Mind in Action

Hey, Body, I'm Here!

Emotions: The Language of the Brain, Body, and Mind

The Reality of Emotions and Their Triggers

Recognizing Emotional Triggers

Dealing with Emotions

To Change Your Visceral Response

To Change Your Meaning or Perception

To Change Both Your Visceral Response and Meaning

Chapter 8. Food. Take Your Brain Out to Dinner

The Skinny on Fats

Bad Fats

Good Fats—increase them

Vegetables

Fruits

Spices

Brain Beverages. Coffee and Caffeine

Green and Black tea

alcohol

soda

Water

Other Foods and the Brain

Antioxidants

Vitamins

Minerals

Enjoy Your Food!

Chapter 9. The Brain and the Environment. Toxins-Schmoxins

Women and Toxins

Becoming a Less Toxic Person

Food

Tobacco

Cell Phones

Beauty Products

Cleaning supplies

New Clothes and Textiles

Plastics, Including Athletic Shoes

There's More?

Chapter 10. Electronics on the Brain. One Second, I Just need to See This Text …

Distractions: The Land of No Return

How to Untether From Technology

Take a Break from the Internet

Withdraw

Just stop

One Task at a Time

Balance your Tech Time

Use Distractions Purposefully

Chapter 11. The Brain and Community. Getting by With a Little Help From Your Friends

Connecting With Friends Connects Your Neurons

Watching and Feeling

Getting and Expressing Nonverbal Messages

Working With Words

Thinking

Feeling

Do Facebook Friends Expand Your Brain?

Create a Reservoir of Brain Function

How to Expand Your People Network and Neural Network

Be Engaged

Plan to Connect

Volunteer

Play Games With Others

Join a Group

Move

Use Technology Well

Address Shyness

Make New Friends and Keep the Old

Chapter 12. Aging, Alzheimer's, and the Brain. Did I Read This Already?

Alzheimer's: When the Brain Loses Hold

How Alzheimer's Affects the Brain

Alzheimer's Research: Does It Keep Your Brain Together?

Life With No Guarantees

Chapter 13. Beyond the Mind. Expanding Your Connection With Nature and Spirit

Meditation Is Easy (Unless It's Not)

How Meditation Helps the Brain

Doing Meditation

How to Meditate

Types of Meditation

How Often to Practice

Prayer and the Brain

Biophilia and the Brain

Beauty

Biophilia and Your Body

love Your Expanding Brain

Chapter 14. Your Dynamic, Sparkling, Brilliant Brain

Notes

Resources

Websites

books

Index

About the Author

To Our Readers

Отрывок из книги

To Milo and Ella for patience, flexibility, and independence

To my parents David and Barbara for love, support, and their perpetual willingness to learn

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For instance, when looking at the corpus callosum, some studies found that it is the same size in men and women, and other studies found that it's bigger in men. Studies also question whether having a larger right hemisphere means increased learning or more difficulty learning. And while the anterior cingulate cortex is the part of the brain that generates worry, this part is also involved with a wide variety of cognitive, motor, and emotional tasks, such as decision-making; so it makes as much sense to say that a larger anterior cingulate cortex means women think better than men, instead of that women worry more.

Cordelia Fine, author of Delusions of Gender, says that these studies are looking at the brain through traditional assumptions. It's just like 1915, she says, when studies “proved” that women couldn't judge political initiatives and couldn't vote, all because they had smaller upper spinal cords. The results of these studies are similarly biased because of what she calls neurosexism. 17

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