Brought to you by:

Why Is Brain Health So Important to Your Well-being?

Mar 04,2019

The importance of heart health is widely acknowledged and promoted. Everyone knows it’s essential to maintain healthy body weight. So why is it that too few people actively pursue better cognitive health? Brain health is critical to maintaining a healthy and independent life.

Throughout your life, your brain changes and adapts to the many different things you experience and learn. When your brain is healthy, broken connections can be repaired and new ones created. But with age and poor lifestyle, the brain’s natural capabilities can begin to decrease. Many aging adults fear this decline in cognitive function, but it isn’t inevitable.

What are cognitive skills and abilities?

Cognition has to do with how a person perceives, understands, and performs in the world around them. It’s the set of mental abilities and processes that are performed in nearly every action while awake. These include thinking, knowing, remembering, judging and problem-solving. These are higher-level functions of the brain and encompass language, imagination, perception, and planning.

Cognitive skills are brain-based functions needed to carry out any task—from the simplest to the most complex. Your cognitive functioning has less to do with intellectual knowledge and more to do with how you learn, remember, and problem solve.

For example, answering the door involves perception (hearing the doorbell), decision making (deciding whether or not to open the door), motor skills (turning the handle and opening the door), language skills (speaking and understanding language), and social skills (interpreting tone of voice and interacting with another person appropriately).

What happens when cognitive skills decline?

Like most ailments, cognitive disorders are caused by a variety of factors. These can include genetic predispositions, certain medical conditions, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Neurophysiological changes an also result from over-consumption of certain substances like drugs or alcohol, or as the result of physical trauma or injury. A combination of these factors can result in varying degrees of cognitive dysfunction.

Symptoms of cognitive dysfunction can vary widely, but many common signs include:

  • Confusion
  • Poor motor coordination
  • Loss of short-term or long-term memory
  • Impaired judgment
  • Identity confusion

With age, some brain functions tend to decline. This is usually seen with executive functions—abilities that enable goal-oriented behavior like planning. However, cognitive skills aren’t fixed—they can be improved and strengthened through lifestyle and training.


His Greatness Within

Feb 29,2024

His Greatness Within

The path to greater wellness physically, emotionally and spiritually starts with recognizing and embracing the God-given greatness within you. The degree of the flame of desire within you will determine the urgency and steps you take to achieve wellness. Greater wellness is not a destination but a journey…

Read More
The Transformative Power of Forgiveness

Feb 01,2024

The Transformative Power of Forgiveness

I declared this promise at the start of the new year: “You can, and you will experience greater wellness in 2024.” I believe that promise is available to anyone who desires greater wellness.  And, there is no greater transformative power on earth than the supernatural power of forgiveness…

Read More