🧠 Prolonged isolation during lockdown had devastating effects on our brain health.

Social isolation has been robustly proven to hasten dementia and long-term cognitive decline.

Here’s how to reverse pandemic brain ageing 🧵👇
telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness…
❌ Loneliness ages us as badly as 15 cigarettes a day, or drinking a bottle of gin, according to a study at University of California, Berkley.

A 12-year Harvard study found that the thinking skills of those who said they're “lonely” declined 20% more than those who were not
🧬 Only 25% of our ageing, both physical, and mental, is determined by our DNA. The other 75% is lifestyle and our environment.

We have a lot of choice over the latter, enabling us to rebuild our brain resilience and mitigate the effects of lockdown 🔻
🧠Prolonged daily sitting down is the enemy of brain health.

Aerobic exercise produces proteins which provoke the release of a protein called BDNF in the brain.

⚡️This generates new neurones, essentially rejuvenating the brain, a process that takes place until our 90s
Constantly varying bedtimes, unguarded excesses and irregular habits are also bad for brain health.

💤 Older people still need seven or eight hours of sleep, but you don’t need to do this all in one go.

Afternoon naps of no more than an hour are to be encouraged
The Harvard Adult Development Study found that those who had good-quality relationships were happier, healthier and had better brains in the long-term.

🗨️ Social connections are necessary as food or water
💞 Frequent sexual intercourse with a close partner can foster better memory, better verbal fluency and even better numeracy skills.

A study on male rats, put together with a receptive female, found that the number of new cells in the male rat’s brain increased massively
🥬 Three-quarters of all food in shops comes from 5 animals and 12 plants. Looking further afield is beneficial.

By increasing diversity, we resume the lifestyle of our hunter-gatherer ancestors and increase the chance that we ingest all the nutrients vital to brain health
👥Some people’s brains age faster than others mostly because of environment or lifestyle.

But these good habits can bring life-long benefits to brain health

Read more👇 telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness…

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More from @Telegraph

16 Nov
🧠A vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease could be on the horizon after scientists carried out successful trials in animals.

Researchers were able to reverse memory loss in mice and are keen to move quickly to human trials

Thread 🧵👇
telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/1… Image
💉The vaccine trains the immune system to fight a type of sticky amyloid beta protein in the brain.

It accumulates in people with dementia, preventing communication between neurons
🔬Previous drugs to fight Alzheimer’s have also concentrated on reducing amyloid.

But they have shown little success in reducing symptoms, with some even triggering negative side effects Image
Read 9 tweets
15 Nov
⭐️Adele’s One Night Only extravaganza proves she’s at the very top of the showbiz firmament.

It’s a very long way for a girl from Tottenham to have travelled.

But, with all the glitz and glamour it must be asked - has Adele been ‘ruined’ by Hollywood?
telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/… Image
⚖️Adele’s particular glamour has always stemmed from her ability to be both at once: the big-haired, high-glam diva, and the down-to-earth Londoner with the dirty mouth.

In the trailer she promised: “It will look really elegant, and then I’ll tell a load of filthy jokes”
While she delivered on the first part – wearing a lavish black gown for the concert and a sleek white suit for the interview – there was a sad lack of smut in the chat.

❌What we heard instead sounded suspiciously like La-La Land therapy talk
telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/… Image
Read 7 tweets
15 Nov
🚨BREAKING: The Liverpool Women's Hospital bombing has been confirmed as a terror attack

telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/1…
🔴The hospital was the target, Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson from Counter Terrorism North West said
Security services are assisting police investigating the explosion which killed the passenger and injured the driver on Remembrance Sunday.

Read more: telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/1…
Read 17 tweets
14 Nov
📸After Dr Alex George found fame on Love Island in 2018, strangers would stop him in the street. Yet something changed quite starkly last July, when his younger brother Llŷr took his own life.

🗣️“People talk to me a lot less,” says Dr George

Thread 🧵

telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness…
He noticed it almost immediately after his bereavement, which came out of the blue.

The day after Llŷr’s death, a friend took him for a walk on the beach in his native Carmarthenshire.

“It was like everyone just turned around and walked away and didn’t know what to say”
Dr George, who was appointed UK Youth Mental Health Ambassador in February, understands this impulse: the squeamishness that means we send cards when someone dies.

But he is a firm believer that talking is vitally important, no matter how difficult the subject
Read 8 tweets
14 Nov
🔴 Liverpool Women's Hospital: Counter-terror police lead investigation into taxi explosion that kills one

The vehicle exploded outside the hospital at 11am on Sunday morning. Witnesses reported hearing a loud bang before seeing a taxi on fire in the car park.
Police immediately attended, along with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and the North West Regional Ambulance Service.
🟥“Unfortunately, we can confirm that one person has died and another has been taken to hospital where he is being treated for his injuries, which thankfully are not life-threatening."

telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/1…
Read 21 tweets
12 Nov
📱In a series of newly-released messages, the Duchess of Sussex said that senior royals 'fundamentally don't understand' the situation with Thomas Markle

Thread 👇🧵
telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2…
📆At the time, in August 2018, Thomas Markle had been giving a series of media interviews about his daughter after he pulled out of attending her wedding, causing distress to the Duke and Duchess and concern in the Royal household
📱According to newly released text messages, written to Jason Knauf, her then-press secretary as she crafted a letter to her estranged father, the Duchess said she wanted to protect her husband from the "pain" the situation had caused Image
Read 9 tweets

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