BrainHealth & ClinicSpeak: How are your New Year's resolutions going?

How is your Brain Health going? #BrainHealth #ClinicSpeak #MSBlog

"We are now well into the second week of the New Year; how is the focus on  your brain health going? I managed quite well in week 1. I had 4 consecutive alcohol-free days, but didn't achieve the Chief Medical Officers' new guidelines of 14 units, or less, of alcohol in the week week (see below). I managed to reduce my intake of processed carbohydrates and calories in general and I did 5 aerobic exercise sessions of greater than 30 minutes. My push to improve my sleep failed; I had set-out to get at least 6 hours sleep per night in the week and 7-8 hours per night on the weekend; I estimated that I averaged ~5 hours per night in the week. I will focus on sleep this week."

"The aim of our Brain Health challenge is being able to look our patients in the eye and say if we can do it so can you."

"Regarding diet and intermittent ketosis; we are still researching the issue and will come back to you on this. However, I can say at present that there is no evidence on ketosis and its impact on MS. The suggestion that it may be neuroprotective is pure speculation at present and remains a reasonable hypothesis. Until we have properly controlled studies going onto a ketogenic diet to manage your MS is not recommended."


On regular drinking New weekly guideline [this applies for people who drink regularly or frequently i.e. most weeks]. The Chief Medical Officers’ guideline for both men and women is that:

  1. You are safest not to drink regularly more than 14 units per week, to keep health risks from drinking alcohol to a low level. 
  2. If you do drink as much as 14 units per week, it is best to spread this evenly over 3 days or more. If you have one or two heavy drinking sessions, you increase your risks of death from long term illnesses and from accidents and injuries.
  3. The risk of developing a range of illnesses (including, for example, cancers of the mouth, throat and breast) increases with any amount you drink on a regular basis. 
  4. If you wish to cut down the amount you’re drinking, a good way to help achieve this is to have several drink-free days each week.

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