The brain is the control center of the body which makes humans think, and feel. It keeps the heart beating, lungs breathing and allows the body organs to move, and sense. Although there is no magic pill to prevent cognitive decline, nutritionists emphasize that the most important strategy one can follow to boost the brain, memory, and focus is to take a healthy diet plan including a lot of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. Let’s find out the beneficial and harmful foods and drinks for the brain health.  What Is Brain Food? Brain foods are those that are packed with antioxidants, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals and provide the brain with energy. These foods also help in protecting brain cells, which helps ward off the development of brain diseases. A nutritious diet can create a considerable number of essential hormones and neurotransmitters which can influence cognitive abilities. Top 10 Foods for Brain, Memory, & Focus Fatty fish Fatty fish is at the top of the list of brain foods that are rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids. About 60% of the brain is made of fat, and half of that fat consists of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s help to build brain and nerve cells, and these fats are essential for learning and memory. Plus omega-3 fatty acids may slow age-related mental decline and help ward off Alzheimer’s disease.  Read More: Best Foods for Hair Growth: What to Eat, Drink and Avoid Oily fish like tuna, salmon, trout, sardines, mackerel, etc contain omega-3 fatty acids. Among the local fishes, Hilsa fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids including EPA and DHA.  Coffee Coffee’s two main components namely caffeine and antioxidants can help support brain health. Caffeine has a number of positive effects on the brain. It can increase alertness by keeping the brain alert by blocking adenosine (a chemical messenger that makes One feel sleepy). Moreover, this beverage can improve mood by boosting some of the “feel-good” neurotransmitters like dopamine and sharpened concentration.  Turmeric Turmeric is a deep-yellow spice that is a main ingredient in curry powder. It has huge health benefits for the brain as it has curcumin (the active ingredient in turmeric) helps to cross the blood-brain barrier, which means it can directly enter the brain and benefit the cells there. Read More: Best foods for expecting mothers It has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds that can benefit memory, eases depression, and helps new brain cells grow.  Broccoli Broccoli is rich in amazing plant compounds, including antioxidants, and vitamin K. It has a fat-soluble vitamin that is essential for forming sphingolipids (a type of fat) that are massively packed into brain cells and vitamin K intake to improve memory and cognitive status.  Pumpkin seeds One will get powerful antioxidants from pumpkin seeds that protect the body and brain from free-radical damage. One will also get magnesium, iron, zinc, and copper from these seeds.  Zinc is an important element for nerve signaling and zinc deficiency can cause many neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and Parkinson’s disease.  Read More: Heat Stroke Prevention: Best foods, drinks to avoid heat exhaustion Magnesium is also essential for learning and memory and low magnesium levels can cause many neurological diseases such as migraine, depression, and epilepsy. Copper helps control nerve signals and iron deficiency is often characterized by brain fog and impaired brain function. 

Abed bhai –Fazle Hasan Abed – and I go back to 1986 when the informal-formal education debate had become important in the development world. I was then with Unicef and Bangladesh was getting into the initiative in a big way. However, there was a big debate on the issue and many were opposed to informal education. This came most from those who sought validation in the official system and anything that was not governmental was considered less. Although in the 1971 liberation war, it’s the informal sector –common people – who played a very significant role, if not the most significant, they are erased from official and academic  historical narratives.  Our denial of the informal is rooted in the “invader as savior” mentality whereupon we have looked to the raja/sharakar bahadur as the primary source of legitimacy. READ: Sir Fazle Hasan Abed honoured with Dutch Knighthood Thus the debate between the formal and the informal is often about the political imagination of power. Does it belong to the people or the amlas. This includes the education sector. Within Unicef also, most supported the GOB. I was one of the few who supported the informal space. My experience of 1971 was a major factor I presume.   The China conversation In 1989, a team went from Bangladesh to China to a major UN conference on education. Cole Dodge of Unicef, Abed bhai of BRAC and several others including myself were there. When Abed bhai made his presentation on informal education,  it was met with some skepticism as too ambitious. But to me it was obvious that a bigger battle was on about the role and nature of the state and society.     As we visited the villages of Guangzhou,  it became obvious that these villages had much greater freedom than people outside China would think. In fact, the official China seemed quite absent here. This included not only multi-child families which Beijing had officially banned but even ancestral worship. Large urns carrying ashes of the dead were in earthen holes poking out of mountain earth. Abed bhai asked me on the bus back what I thought of it all.   “They have managed to mobilize people without interfering too much with their lives," was my response.  He smiled and said,”They have not imposed the formal system on the villages. They have kept the doors open. And that has worked. “ READ: Sir Fazle Hasan Abed honoured in Singapore Diaspora Convention He was capturing the wisdom learnt from his own experience.  As a freedom fighter he had organized the blowing up of the Karachi port using mercenaries in 1971 but at the request of PM Tajuddin Ahmed donated the money to the Mujibnagar government fund as it was more needed.  The 1971 Government was itself an excellent example of mixing  the formal and the informal. Abed bhai understood that lesson in the 70s also when the ORS campaign became such a success.  Later the informal education programme also worked and was ultimately undertaken by the GOB itself. It  shows that it’s this alliance between the two socio- cultural spaces that makes things work best.  

​​​​​​​Memory is a very important element to move forward in human life. People may lose memory for a variety of reasons. Sometimes memory loss can occur for a short time and sometimes it can be long term. So, knowing the reasons for memory loss will help prevent it. Further, the proper knowledge of symptoms will help anyone to seek help before the problem becomes worse. What is memory loss? Usually, memory loss is defined as unusual forgetfulness. When a person cannot remember new events and cannot recall one or more past memories, a memory loss may occur. It can stay for a short time and then resolve by itself. Or, it can happen for a long time and may not go away and depending on the reason it may get worse overtime. In severe cases, this kind of memory impairment may hamper the daily living activity  Read:Covid-19 Brain Fog: How to improve memory power and brain health after Covid Type of memory loss Scientists have found three types of memory loss: short term memory loss, long term memory loss and mild Cognitive Impairment. All of these memory loss problems have their own symptoms and causes. Short term memory loss Usually, the short-term memory stores the information for 30 seconds and with the short term memory loss problem people may forget the things that have happened recently. Although it is a normal event for the aging person, it can also indicate something more serious.  Symptoms of short-term memory loss There are some common problems that might indicate that someone is facing short term memory loss. People with this problem tend to forget recent events. For example, forgetting something that has been seen or read recently and forgetting recent events. Sometimes people also tend to forget that he/she already asked a question.  Read: Covid-19 Antibody Test: What You Need to Know Long term memory loss Human brain’s long-term memory stores the information over time. Further, it has unlimited storage of events, facts, etc.  However, this unlimited memory can weaken with age, which is normal. With age the brain’s usual processing speed may get slow and sometimes it can be challenging for multitasking. Although the processing speed is reduced, memory, knowledge and skill stay steady. The usual age-related problems include facing trouble finding the right word, losing things often, and occasionally forgetting appointments, names, but remembering them later. These symptoms are totally fine, but losing skills can be a signal of serious problems. Symptoms of long-term memory loss There are few top reasons that indicate a person is facing long-term memory loss. If anyone faces new problems with speaking and writing, such as struggling with vocabulary, this might be a symptom of long-term memory loss. Further, changes in mood or behavior, confused about time or place and facing difficulties completing familiar daily tasks. All these are the most common symptoms of long term memory loss. Read:The link between the COVID-19 vaccine and pregnancy Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) Some older people may face problems with memory that are noticeable, but are not serious to affect daily function. This kind of memory loss problem is called mild cognitive impairment. However, mild cognitive impairment is not that severe like the memory loss caused by Alzheimer’s or dementia disease. As a result, people with mild cognitive impairment don’t face personality change problems that are usually faced by the Alzheimer patient.