“The key to effective visualization is to create the most detailed, clear, and vivid a picture to focus on.”
Research shows that the more you focus on the things you desire, the better chance you have at getting them. Thus, knowing what you want and focusing on what you want are essential for success and achieving your best life.
As you might ascertain, having a clear direction of where you’re headed or where you want to go is essential. Without a clear purpose and goals, it can be very easy to get caught up in things that aren’t actually moving you forward in your life’s journey.
For example, struggling comedian and actor, Jim Carrey used to picture himself being the greatest actor in the world. When Carey was still a “wannabe” during one of his appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, he spoke about his early days trying to make it in the entertainment business. He was broke and had no future. But he took a blank check and wrote out $10 million dollars to himself for acting services rendered and dated it five year in the future.
Subsequently, he carried that check in his wallet at all times and looked at it every morning, visualizing receiving $10 million. Five years after he wrote the check to himself, he found out that he was going to earn $10 million from the movie “Dumb and Dumber.”
“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.” Oprah Winfrey
Vision boarding is an excellent way to get clear on your goals. Creating a vision board is a powerful way of getting to know yourself and what it is you truly want in your life.
A vision board is essentially a physical (or digital) manifestation of your goals. Vision boarding involves collecting images or objects that speak to the future you want to create and arranging them on a board for a tangible and aesthetically pleasing reminder of where you’re heading.
The health of Americans is on a bad trajectory, it is declining. Things such as: obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and like health epidemics are growing at a feverish pace.
Healthcare — both preventive and reactive — is becoming harder to obtain. And, unfortunately, the industry focuses more on reactive approaches to disease and pushing pharmaceuticals than preventative approaches to treating diseases.
It’s important to know think proactively about all of the things you spend money on. Some things are critical to living such as food, a roof over your head, and clothes to wear.
However, as a whole, many people tend to spend money on some things that are unnecessary like a new luxury vehicle or a glamorous vacation, and then think that they don’t have enough money to invest in our health.
The biggest and most obvious reason that you should invest in your health is that you only get one body, mind and life! If you fail to take care of your body and mind, sooner or later you will suffer the consequences and they will fail you at a great cost at a later date and time. Thus, you must regularly invest in your health. The several types of investments to make regularly are:
Sleep – 7-8 hrs/night
Food – 50-70% good fats, 20-30% healthy proteins and less than 20% carbohydrates from organic, non-gmo, non-processed and non-added sugar sources
Hydration – Half your body weight in ounces per day, no more than 3 quarts
Exercise – 30 minutes per day of some type of exercise/movement
Stress – Daily stress-reducing and relaxation techniques
Gratitude– Being grateful for your daily blessings and the joy in your life
Spiritual/Mindfulness – Spending time nurturing your faith daily
If you’re not, then you’re spending time regularly neglecting your health.
You’re either getting quality sleep or you’re not.
You’re either eating foods that will nourish and fuel your body or you’re not.
You’re either properly hydrating on a regular basis, or not.
You’re either exercising in some way daily, or you’re not.
You’re either working to reduce stress on a daily basis or you’re not.
You’re either focusing on all of the good in your life and working towards your goals, or not.
You should do something daily to invest back in your health. If not, some day you’re going to wish you had made different choices along the way.
Optimal health is not something you can buy; however, it might just be the most valuable investment you can ever make.
Today be thankful and think of how rich you really are. Your family and friends are priceless, your time is gold, and your health is wealth.
At age 65, you’re eligible to enroll in Medicare and reap some benefits from a program you’ve contributed during your pre-retirement years. But, getting the most out of Medicare can be daunting.
It’s important to understand your options and the rules that apply. For instance, missing your enrollment date may mean penalties or even higher premiums for the rest of your life. At the same time, you don’t want to pay for additional coverage you don’t need, especially if you’re still working.
If you are receiving Social Security, you are automatically enrolled in Medicare Parts A and B (known as Original Medicare) at 65. You’ll receive a Medicare card two or three months before your birthday, and coverage starts on the first day of your birthday month.
Part A covers hospitalization and usually comes with no premiums, assuming you or your spouse paid into Medicare while working.
Part B, which covers medical services, does require premiums, but you have the option of withdrawing if you wish.
If you aren’t yet receiving Social Security, you will need to apply for Medicare during one of the designated annual enrollment periods. Your initial enrollment period lasts for seven months, beginning three months before the month in which you turn 65. To help avoid a potential gap in coverage, consider enrolling during the three months prior to your 65th birthday.
If you’re still working and covered at age 65, you should consider enrolling in Part A anyway, as it is generally premium-free and may cover some expenses not included in your employer’s health plan.
Premiums for Part B may be higher because of your income, so it may be wise to delay enrollment in Part B until after you retire as long as you work for a company with 20 or more employees.
If your company has fewer than 20 employees, consider enrolling in Part B as well because Medicare is considered your primary insurance. You can enroll without penalty at any time during the eight months after you stop working or your employee health coverage ends.
If you miss that window, you may be subject to penalties that, in the case of Part B, could last as long as you remain covered. (For insights on what you can consider doing if you lose your health-care benefits before you turn 65.
Additional coverage includes Part C, known as Medicare Advantage. It includes plans administered by private companies such as health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations. They offer the benefits of Parts A and B, and often include such additional benefits as vision, hearing and dental coverage.
Costs for Part C plans vary according to the insurer. Some plans may require referrals or restrict you to doctors in a network, and you must already have Parts A and B in order to enroll. Another consideration: Some plans may limit their coverage to a certain geographic area, so if you anticipate traveling a great deal or relocating, Medicare Advantage might not be for you.
And, Part D offers prescription drug coverage for both brand-name and generic prescription drugs. You must be enrolled in Medicare to enroll in a Part D plan, which you purchase from a private insurer. Although premiums, deductibles and copays vary by plan, federal law limits your annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs. Before enrolling in Part D, check whether you’re already covered for prescription drugs under a Part C Medicare Advantage plan. You may not need it. And if you decide later on that you need additional coverage or want to change your existing plan, you can do so during designated enrollment periods.
There are services that are not covered by Medicare. Original Medicare (Parts A and B) won’t cover copays, coinsurance or deductibles, nor will it cover medical care when you travel outside the United States. Some services, such as long-term care, acupuncture and cosmetic surgery, also aren’t covered. Some of these services are likely to be covered if you enroll in a Part C plan. Long-term care, however, is not among them.
As an alternative to Part C, you may supplement Original Medicare with Medicare Supplement Insurance, also known as Medigap. Plans providing such coverage follow strict federal and state standards, and costs vary by policy and insurer.
To buy a Medigap policy, you must be enrolled in both Parts A and B. To guarantee availability, you must sign up within six months of enrolling in Part B.
If you have TRICARE (health care program for active-duty and retired service members and their families), you generally must enroll in Part A and Part B when you’re first eligible to keep your TRICARE coverage. However, if you’re an active-duty service member or an active-duty family member, you don’t have to enroll in Part B to keep your TRICARE coverage.
Most people with TRICARE entitled to Part A must have Part B to keep TRICARE drug benefits. If you have TRICARE, you don’t need to join a Medicare drug plan. However, if you do, your Medicare drug plan pays first, and TRICARE pays second.
If you join a Medicare Advantage Plan with drug coverage, your Medicare Advantage Plan and TRICARE may coordinate their benefits if your Medicare Advantage Plan network pharmacy is also a TRICARE network pharmacy. Otherwise, you can file your own claim to get paid back for your out-of-pocket costs. For more information, visit tricare.mil, or call the TRICARE Pharmacy Program at 1-877-363-1303.
To learn more, the official Medicare site, medicare.gov, offers detailed information on signing up; the specifics of Parts A, B, C and D; costs associated with Medicare; penalties for missing enrollment; and other important issues. Go to the site’s “Find Health & Drugs Plans” section to sort through and compare the plans available in your region.
Movement is Medicine: ‘We can use our bodies as a tool to affect the way we think and feel, like a hotline to the mind.” Caroline Williams, researcher and author of ‘Move: How the New Science of Body Movement Can Set Your Mind Free’
“Movement affects your brain; but your brain also affects movement.”
Regular physical activity is an important part of a healthy mind, body and lifestyle. Not only is exercise good for your muscles and bones, but it is also an important part of keeping your brain healthy too. Exercise doesn’t only mean working out or playing sports, it just means moving your body and being active. A few other examples of exercise are: dancing, walking, biking, swimming, or throwing a Frisbee.
What happens in the body and brain during exercise: As your heart rate increases during exercise, blood flow to the brain increases. As blood flow increases, your brain is exposed to more oxygen and nutrients. Exercise also induces the release of beneficial proteins in the brain. These nourishing proteins keep brain cells (also known as neurons) healthy, and promote the growth of new neurons. Neurons are the working building blocks of the brain. As a result, individual neuron health is important to overall brain health.
Studies have shown that the connection between your brain and your body is a “two-way street” and that means physical movement can effectively change your brain for the better, explains Srini Pillay, M.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Your brain plays a major role in your physical and emotional well-being, and it directly affects your ability to exercise. Your brain was designed for survival and avoiding danger (fight, flight or freeze). Regular aerobic exercise can reduce anxiety by making your brain’s “fight, flight or freeze” system less reactive.
One way to trick your brain is doing a Gatorade swish, which misleads your brain into thinking your body is getting a jolt of energy from a sugary beverage, even if it isn’t. The act triggers the brain, which naturally wants to preserve energy for survival, into releasing dopamine to help jump start exercise based on the false promise is sugar, Dr. Jennifer Heisz, explains in Move Your Body; Heal Your Mind.
Movement can improve your cognitive functions and mental health. Regular physical activity and movement benefit more than just the body. They actually augment brain function. Movement supplies brain cells with oxygen, promotes the production of new brain cells, and aids in creating new synapses.
Regular exercise such as aerobic, resistance, flexibility, and balance exercises can reduce depressive symptoms. Exercise can be as effective as medication and psychotherapies.
Regular exercise may boost mood by increasing a brain protein called BDNF that helps nerve fibers grow.
Mindfulness during exercises and workout.
“A 12 minute walk alters metabolites in our blood, molecules that affect the beating of our heart, the breath in our lungs, the neurons in our brain.” explains Annabel Streets, “52,ways to Walk: The Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at a Time.
Physical activity is ignored by experts who are too focused on addressing mental health issues from the neck up. “It’s low hanging fruit,” she says, “brain chemist, thought, behaviors might take years to address on the couch.” Dr. Ellen Vora, a New York psychiatrist.
“The brain is always working against you to not expend energy, but we can override it,” says Dr. Heisz.
Exercise can be turned into a powerful meditation practice states Anita Sweeney, author of “Make Every Move a Meditation: Mindful Movement for Mental Health, Well-Being, and Insight”. Exercise can be turned into a powerful meditative practice by focusing the mind on a single thought, object or sensation during exercise can help bring clarity and peace of mind. For example, focusing on your left foot hitting the pavement can help you focus.
Exercise is essential for those seeking better emotional well-being and better mental health. Both physical exercise and meditative movement are activities that you can do to improve the way you feel.
Studies have found that people who exercise daily are at greatly reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Rudolph Tanzi, Kennedy professor of neurology and cofounder of the McCance Center for Brain Health at MGH, states, “It’s hard to imagine anything better for brain health than daily exercise, and our findings shed new light on the mechanism involved: protecting against neuroinflammation, perhaps the biggest killer of brain neurons as we age.”
“The key to a happy life . . . is a healthy brain.” Wendy Suzuki
Exercise is the most transformative thing that you can do for your brain, says neuroscientist Dr. Wendy Suzuki, professor of Neural Science and Psychology at New York University.
Dr. Suzuki discovered through research and self examination that there is a biological connection between exercise, mindfulness, and action. With exercise, she believes that your body feels more alive and your brain actually performs better. And, Dr. Suzuki states that “you can make yourself smarter. Exercising is one of the most transformative things you can do to improve cognitive abilities, such as learning, thinking, memory, focus and reasoning — all of which can help you become smarter and live longer.”
Dr. Wendy Suzuki, explains the best way to exercise in order to improve brain function pic.twitter.com/MG6pPLU7UM
The way exercise boosts your brain health includes:
It decreases feelings of anxiety – Studies have shown that every time your move your body, a number of beneficial neurotransmitters, including dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and acetylcholine, gets released into your brain. These substances can decrease feelings of anxiety and depression. And, It only takes between 10 and 30 minutes of daily physical activity to instantly lift your mood.
It improves your focus and concentration – A single workout can help improve your ability to shift and focus attention. This is an immediate benefit that can last for at least two hours after 30 minutes of exercise. Activities that increase your heart rate, such as brisk walking, running, swimming, cycling, playing tennis or jumping rope are recommended.
It promotes the growth of new brain cells – One of the most significant benefits of exercise, scientists have found, is that it promotes neurogenesis, or the birth of new brain cells. This is essential to improving cognitive function. Exercise also can improve the health and function of the synapses between neurons in this region, allowing brain cells to better communicate.
It protects your brain from aging and neurodegenerative diseases – Imagine your brain as a muscle: the more workout you put into it, the stronger and bigger it gets. Longitudinal studies in humans suggest that regular exercise can increase the size of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, both of which are susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. So while exercising won’t completely prevent or cure normal cognitive decline in aging, doing it consistently can help reduce or delay the onset of it.
So, get up and start your brain transformation journey.
Dr. Suzuki encourages people to get active and go to the gym since the science clearly demonstrates how working out boosts your mood and memory — and protects your brain against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
To get the brain-changing benefits of exercise, you should do at least three to four 30-minute workout sessions a week, explains Dr. Suzuki. You’ll also get the most benefits out of aerobic exercise, which increases the heart rate and pumps more oxygen into the brain.
Essentially, exercise can improve your brain functions today and protect your brain from neurodegenerative diseases as you age.
It’s essential to look ahead with optimism and a positive outlook as you age.
With advance aging, you should adopt an optimistic and positive mind-set and focus on new discoveries and experiences. It’s more important than ever as you age to follow a healthy lifestyle, remain positive and passionate about life, stay connected with family and friends, and look forward to better days ahead.
You must consistently attempt to find things that continue to be meaningful and engaging. These meaningful activities can include traveling around the world, spiritual pursuits, hobbies such as reading or painting, lifelong learning, or spending more time with loved ones. Experts suggest planning for purposeful activities before transitioning to retirement, and to embrace this change and follow where their passions lie.
Try to keep the mind active by challenging yourself to learn something new every week or month, or try something you’ve always wanted to.
Embrace thoughts such as, “As I age, I’ll keep learning,” says Vonetta Dotson, an associate professor of psychology and gerontology at Georgia State University. Feeding yourself a rich diet of positive messages can in itself brighten your outlook.
“Anytime we do something and try new things, it helps to reinforce this feeling of positivity,” Dotson said. “And keep those social connections. When you socialize, your focus is diverted. When you’re by yourself, you may ruminate” about your current and future physical and mental deterioration.”
Better yet, learning something new enables your brain to form new pathways. This helps you stave off gloomy thoughts about the aging process.
“By engaging in rewarding and meaningful activities and staying mentally active, we can retrain our brains,” said Kevin Manning, a neuropsychologist and associate professor of psychiatry at UConn Health. “These activities can enhance our self-efficacy, lessen fears of decline and sharpen our cognitive functioning.”
Ideally, passion drives you to take action. Why sign up for a course on current events or foreign affairs if you find the state of the world dispiriting and you dread consuming the news?
To channel your activity in a more uplifting direction, set short-term goals. If you’re learning a musical instrument, aim to perform a simple piece in one month.
When you embrace a purpose that gives you something to do that’s meaningful,” it focuses your efforts and displaces fears of aging. It’s one of several keys to healthy aging.
The key to healthy aging is a physically, socially, mentally and spiritually active lifestyle and mindset.
The goal of mindfulness is to wake up to the inner workings of our mental, emotional, and physical processes.
Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us, according to the website Mindfulness.com.
Mindfulness encompasses two key ingredients: awareness and acceptance, according to Psychology Today. Awareness is the knowledge and ability to focus attention on one’s inner processes and experiences, such as the experience of the present moment. Acceptance is the ability to observe and accept—rather than judge or avoid—those streams of thought.
Whenever you bring awareness to what you’re directly experiencing via your senses, or to your state of mind via your thoughts and emotions, you’re being mindful. And there’s growing research showing that when you train your brain to be mindful, you’re actually remodeling the physical structure of your brain.
Mindfulness is a technique of deliberately focusing your attention and not let yourself be distracted by other thoughts constantly running through your head; you clear “noise” from your mind.
Mindfulness is the idea to become more self-aware. You pay attention to your thoughts, feelings, and sensations in that moment — without purposefully deciding whether they’re good or bad, and without becoming overwhelmed or overly reactive.
In short, you tune in to what you’re feeling and what’s real right now. “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally,” says Kabat-Zinn, creator of the research-backed stress-reduction program Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) . “And then I sometimes add, in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.”
Mindfulness – Live in the day; Live in the now.
Mindfulness is available to you in every moment, whether through meditations or mindful moment practices like taking time to pause and breathe when the phone rings instead of rushing to answer it.
Breathe in and out a few times. If your mind wanders, just notice that, accept that your mind has wandered, and refocus on your breathing. That’s a bare bones example of mindfulness. “Mindfulness is really important in times like this,” says Auguste H. Fortin VI, MD, MPH, a Yale Medicine internal medicine specialist who has recommended mindfulness practices to help cope with their illnesses.
Mindfulness is a practice that involves three components:
Paying attention to what is happening in the present moment
Doing this purposely and deliberately, with resolve
Maintaining the attitude that you will stay with your mindfulness experience, whether it’s pleasant or unpleasant
As you spend time practicing mindfulness, you’ll probably find yourself feeling kinder, calmer, and more patient. These shifts in your experience are likely to generate changes in other parts of your life as well.
Mindfulness can help you maximize your enjoyment of life and help you wind down. Its benefits include lowering stress levels, reducing harmful ruminating, and protecting against depression and anxiety. Research even suggests that mindfulness can help people better cope with rejection and social isolation.
“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.” Lao Tzu
“Making a plan to eat healthy can keep you healthy and active for longer.” National Institute on Health
“Aging—not cancer or heart disease—is the world’s leading cause of death and suffering. In spite of this, we accept the aging process as inevitable”, writes Dr. Andrew Steel, longevity expert and author of “Ageless: The new science of getting older without getting old“.
Dr. Steel suggest a list of proven life-extenders, such as don’t smoke, exercise, get vaccinated, take care of your teeth.
Strauss Zelnick, author of Becoming Ageless, and who successfully rejuvenated his metabolic health believes that, “You can eat to be younger.” He implores his readers to focus on what He calls “Forever Fuel.” He suggests that you do not have to forego eating your favorite foods; you’re just getting the best versions of them.
Unlimited Foods—Lean Protein, Salads, and Vegetables—eat as much as you want. I love bison, light tuna, chicken, eggs, grass-fed beef.
Limited Foods—Some fruits and dried fruits, nuts, and cheese—in moderation.
Highly restricted foods—no processed foods, fried foods, or added sugars. Processed foods account for 70% of the calories that Americans take in. They don’t just make you fat; they age you.
While humans wither and become frail after a mere seven or so decades, capturing the trait known as ‘negligible senescence ‘ has become the holy grail of aging research. A 2015 study, published by the Mayo Clinic, found that using a combination of existing drugs reversed a number of signs of aging, including improving heart function”, according to the Guardian.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, adds that, “During medical school we were taught that aging is a natural process and that people can simply die of old age. The thinking was that age wasn’t just a turning of the clock but an accumulation of mutations, cancer, arthritis, heart disease and dementia. Have you ever wondered, however, if it was possible to address those diseases not just individually, but collectively, by addressing the underlying process of aging itself.”
The role of carbs and added sugars
When you have sugar molecules in your system, they bombard the body’s cells like a meteor shower—glomming onto fats and proteins in a process known as glycation. This forms advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which cause protein fibers to become stiff and malformed. The connective-tissue damage and chronic inflammation resulting from sustained high blood sugar can lead to debilitating conditions, such as cataracts, Alzheimer’s, vascular tightening, and diseases of the pancreas and liver.
From a dietary standpoint, forswearing white sugar, high-fructose corn syrup—which studies have shown increases the rate of glycation by 10 times, compared with glucose—and simple carbs is a no-brainer. “Even though all carbs get converted into sugar, when you eat the good ones, like brown rice and whole-grain bread, you get less glucose, and you get it more slowly,” Karcher says.
Carbohydrates (Carbs) — like fiber, starches, and sugars — are important for your health. They are your body’s main source of energy and are a basic nutrient your body turns into glucose, or blood sugar, to make energy for your body to work. But eating too many carbs can cause your body to store the excess as fat.
The fruit, vegetables, dairy, and grain food groups all contain carbohydrates. Sweeteners like sugar, honey, and syrup and foods with added sugars like candy, soft drinks, and cookies also contain carbohydrates.
You should try to get most of your carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, dairy, and whole grains rather than added sugars or refined grains.
Nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, and fats can help you stay healthy as you age.
Many foods with carbohydrates also supply fiber. Fiber is a type of carbohydrate that your body cannot digest. It is found in many foods that come from plants, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, and whole grains. Eating food with fiber can help prevent stomach or intestinal problems, such as constipation. It might also help lower cholesterol and blood sugar.
A very low-carb diet, like keto, triggers your body into nutritional ketosis. This stored energy is released in the form of chemicals called ketones. Your liver starts to make ketones — a fuel that kicks in when your body uses up glucose and glycogen, and doesn’t have enough sugar to run on. It does this by breaking down the energy reserves stored in fat.
These chemicals, ketones, help cells—especially brain cells—keep working at full capacity. Some researchers think that because ketones are a more efficient energy source than glucose, they may protect against aging-related decline in the central nervous system that might cause dementia and other disorders.
Ketones also may inhibit the development of cancer because malignant cells cannot effectively obtain energy from ketones. In addition, studies show that ketones may help protect against inflammatory diseases such as arthritis. Ketones also reduce the level of insulin in the blood, which could protect against type 2 diabetes.
But too many ketones in the blood can have harmful health effects.
While there’s insufficient evidence to recommend any type of calorie-restriction or fasting diet. A lot more needs to be learned about their effectiveness and safety, especially in older adults. In the meanwhile, there’s plenty of evidence for other actions you can take to stay healthy as you age:
Eat a balanced diet with nutritious food in moderate amounts. Avoid or limit consuming refined sugars and carbs, and processed foods.
Engage in regular physical exercise (150 minutes per week).
Drink alcohol in moderation or not at all.
Don’t smoke or take illegal drugs.
Maintain an active social lifestyle and build close relationships.
Get a good night’s sleep.
Finally, older adults may have different vitamin and mineral needs than younger adults. Find recommended amounts and information on calcium, sodium, vitamin D, and more.
“People are living longer, staying healthier longer and accomplishing things late in life that once seemed possible only at younger ages.” –David Brooks, The New York Times
The American Heart Association recommends no more than six teaspoons of added sugar a day. The sugar found in whole foods like fruits and veggies, says Kimber Stanhope, PhD, a nutritional biologist at the University of California, Davis. “These naturally occurring sugars come packaged with good-for-you vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients.” Eliminating or reducing your intake of added sugar and carbs can result in you gaining some significant healthy aging benefits, according to the American Heart Association.
“Exercise is the most important activity we can do to keep our brains healthy, it’s important to simply move, whether that be casual walking or a workout.” Sanjay Gumpta
It important to understand that you can proactively take steps to avoid, delay, and mitigate dementia and mental decline as you age. Just thirty minutes daily of moderate physical activity, such as walking around the block, can make a significant difference in improving your brain health.
In the process of neurogenesis, creating brain cells does not stop when you age and get older. Neuroscientific research shows that the brain can make new brain cells, and forge new neural connections, at any age.
Additionally, adequate sleep also has a major effect on brain health. Recent research has shown that your brain remains very active while you sleep, because it can make full use of the energy that is diverted elsewhere when you are awake.
When you sleep, the brain turns information into knowledge, consolidates your memories, and cleans itself. This is why everyone needs at least eight hours of sleep, states Gumpta and you shouldn’t convince yourself that you don’t.
“There is a rinse cycle that happens in your brain when you sleep,” says Gumpta. “You are basically clearing out metabolic waste. That happens when you are awake, but the process is close to 60 per cent more efficient when you are asleep.
Key takeaway is that staying physically active, proper diet. adequate sleep and social interaction are all key to longer life.
Calculating net worth involves adding up all your assets and subtracting all your liabilities. The resulting sum is your net worth.
The value of your primary residence is not included in your net worth calculation. In addition, any mortgage or other loan on the residence does not count as a liability up to the fair market value of the residence. If the loan is for more than the fair market value of the residence (i.e., if your mortgage is underwater), then the loan amount that is over the fair market value counts as a liability under the net worth test.
Further, any increase in the loan amount in the 60 days prior to your purchase of the securities (even if the loan amount does not exceed the value of the residence) will count as a liability as well. The reason for this is to prevent net worth from being artificially inflated through converting home equity into cash or other assets.
The following table sets forth examples of calculations under the net worth test for being an accredited investor:
