Researchers have found that the process of dementia can start 20 years before behavioral symptoms occur which is why it is important to do these 4 things to boost and protect your memory – to prevent, if possible, or at least delay the onset of dementia.

1. EXERCISE! Even just walking 30 minutes 3 times a week keeps the brain engaged with the rest of the body to keep muscle memory strong.
2. SLEEP! Important events happen during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. There’s a “cleanup crew” (acetylcholine) that goes and removes the debris in your brain (plaques and tangles).
3. DIET! What you eat matters. Dementia has been called type 3 diabetes.  The brain uses 20% of your body’s blood sugar.  It prefers to run on ketone bodies.
   1. Include coconut oil. Its medium chain triglycerides turn into ketone bodies.
   2. Follow the Mediterranean Diet (reduces inflammation).

4. USE IT or LOSE IT! Just as your muscles stay firm and functional by using them, so your brain function stays robust by using it and by generating new neural pathways.
   1. Puzzles of any type (though I hate sudoku)
   2. Learn to play a musical instrument or chess
   3. Learn tai chi or qigong – a two for one (muscle memory and new neural pathways).

Carol Becker, CCHt is a dementia therapist, hypnotherapist and life coach. Learn more at her website – ResourcesByBecker.com

We can all agree that suicide is at an all-time high with our youth.  Why is it happening and how do we as adults help?

When you talk to individuals who have considered/attempted to commit suicide, all the reasons are different.  But the common thread is the OVERWHELMING feeling of DESPAIR (doom, downfall, discouragement, ruin, anguish, unhappiness).

Our youth today are spending more time on electronic devices and not enough time interacting with “real people.”  This may cause a feeling of being all alone in the world. They are subjected to more negative comments, personal attacks and undesirable images than ever before.

Possible solutions?  Limiting time on gaming and Smartphones.  Participating in a confidence building activity (dance, sports, drama, art, music, well, you get the idea).

I leave you with this suggestion… I have gotten the most insight into my daughter’s life and now my grandkids’ lives when we are in the car driving and at the dinner table. We are all so busy making our lives that we forget to “LIVE our LIVES” not just exist. “RELAX! TAKE A BREATH! LISTEN! AND YOU WILL SEE!”

Contributed by Sandra Aguilera. 

As a pastor I have been called to homes immediately following death by suicide. What I witness is a loss felt deeper than any other loss can be felt. It is a loss than sends shock waves through the air of the surrounding community. A death by suicide does not only impact the person that has died it impacts everybody around them too. It changes so many lives forever.

The most common question I am asked by the families and friends who have experienced the loss followed by death by suicide is WHY? Followed closely by the guilt vortex of, “If only I had…”

Death by suicide is an action borne out of desperation, great pain and mental illness. It is not a selfish act. Do not blame yourself if someone close to you commits suicide. It is not your fault.

Where suicide was once packed away in the shadows of society, we are evolving to openly discussing the existence of suicide; Its unrelenting pain and depression that leads up to the final act and the mental illness that accompanies the process.

If you are concerned or have questions, don’t hesitate to contact the National Suicide Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

Ms. Chon Pugh is Lutheran pastor and a private counselor specializing in individual and family issues.