Brain food
DAAN has a number of products designed to help improve brain functioning, including Ginko Biloba and Phostose, a brain tonic.
And here’s some interesting information about how to increase your brain functioning:
So what does TCM have to say about keeping sharp and preparing for tests? Is there a miracle TCM brain food? No, though fish and nuts are popular.
To perform well on exams or any demanding task (assuming you know the material), do not exhaust your brain, rest it occasionally, eat brain-reinforcing foods and get head massage and acupressure.
Many TCM classics say the heart governs blood circulation and thinking processes. But Li Shizhen, a physician in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), separated mind from heart, and assigned it to the brain. In his TCM classic “Ben Cao Gang Mu” (”An Outline Treatise on Medical Herbs”), Li said the brain is the “house of yuan shen (original domination),” similar to “spirit” in the West.
Blood and energy flowing in brain help the “original domination” to see, hear, smell and feel the world through the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and the sense of touch. Thus, we learn, know and analyze the world.
The brain is like a machine, TCM thinking goes, and it ages and dulls with age and overwork; it needs constant maintenance. Memory often declines with age, though this varies. Some people suffer headaches and dizziness that make it difficult to concentrate.
For regular life-long maintenance, the brain needs rest, a good mood, food reinforcement and regular head massage or acupressure.
Unrelenting mental work without rest is very bad for the brain and the rest of the body. Mental over-exertion hastens aging. Rest and sleep are necessary for recovery.
A healthy brain is a happy brain - try to maintain a stable, upbeat mood that is crucial for brain maintenance. Depression and anger damage the brain more seriously than ordinary mental exertion.
Lessen your desires, be friendly to those around you, and control your mood - don’t be too sad or angry when things go badly, don’t be euphoric when things go well - avoid extremes. Bad humor disrupts and disorders the flow of energy and hurts the brain and other organs.
Food gives us energy for daily activities, including mental work. TCM says some foods, especially nuts, can reinforce the brain and delay aging. Nuts include walnuts, peanuts, pine nuts, sesame, almonds, though there are many others.
Staple foods like corn, millet and black-kernal rice; fruits like apples, oranges and bananas; vegetables like spinach and carrots and proteins like fish, shrimp and pork are all good for the brain. A tired, undernourished brain leads to headaches, dizziness, ringing in the ears, mental fuzziness and memory problems.
Regular massage and acupressure stimulates blood circulation in the head and can help relieve problem - but rest is important.
The article also includes some interesting recipes for brain health (though I’ll probably skip the pig heart soup).
