Six ways to support your brain health
The brain is the master organ in the body, you think with it, you eat and move with it. Your brain weighs on average about 1.3 kgs with an average of 86 billion neurons (brain cells)! If stretched out, your nerve fibres would reach approximately 150,000 - 180,000 kilometres in length. Now that’s a lot of brain matter to look after!
If you haven’t already, you may want to check out my post on how stress changes your brain. There are many simple things you can do each day to support your brain health through diet and lifestyle.
Ensure downtime – Brain waves indicate the type of electrical activity in your brain and how your brain cells communicate with each other. During relaxation and meditation, brain waves change from beta waves to predominantly theta and alpha waves, which give a sense of calm and reduced anxiety (1). Ensure to have some downtime in a relaxed environment, where your nervous system is not activated, such as reading a book, having a bath, being out in nature or practising mindfulness.
Meditation - Meditation is one of the best ways to repair stress-induced damage to the brain. A 20-minute meditation has been shown to remodel the brain after just 8 weeks of daily practise (2). Brain scans done on regular meditators shows a different brain structure, including smaller amygdala volume (3).
Sleep - Sleep is key to a healthy brain. Sleep is the time when your brain detoxifies via its glymphatic system. This is when the brain flushes out waste products built up during the day including beta-amyloid clearance which is a protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease (4). Sleep for a minimum of 7 hours per night to ensure a full sleep cycle.
Eat healthy fats - Our brain tissue is made from fat and our nerves are coated in a fatty sheath that helps them to communicate better. It is, therefore, no wonder our brain and nervous system needs healthy fats to function properly. Include healthy fats into your diet from foods such as walnuts, macadamia nuts, ghee, organic grass-fed butter, flax seeds, chia seeds, organic eggs and fatty fish such as salmon or sardines.
Antioxidants – Antioxidants help the brain by protecting brain cells from damage. Think of them as the brains defence system. Age-related cognitive decline is thought to occur from the brain’s inability to produce antioxidants as a defence system against oxidative damage (5). Ensure to top up your brains defence system with foods high in antioxidants such as strawberries, blueberries, blackcurrants, turmeric, pomegranate, cacao, citrus fruits, and chamomile tea.
Natural nootropics – herbal medicine has been used for centuries to improve brain health and nootropics are certainly gaining more attention and popularity. Gotu Kola, Panax Ginseng and Ginkgo biloba have long been used to improve memory thanks to the antioxidant and neuroprotection ability of these plants. Nootropic herbs such as Lavender, Bacopa and Lion’s Mane improve focus and cognition, while herbs such as Rhodiola and Withania are potent adaptogens, modulating neurotransmitters to improve your mood and stress resilience (5).
If you want to deep dive further into your own brain health or would like support to improve your cognition, memory and brain health, book in for a free 15-minute discovery call.
References:
1. Kaur, C., & Singh, P. (2015). EEG Derived Neuronal Dynamics during Meditation: Progress and Challenges. Advances in preventive medicine, 2015, 614723. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/614723
2. Hölzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Evans, K. C., Hoge, E. A., Dusek, J. A., Morgan, L., Pitman, R. K., & Lazar, S. W. (2010). Stress reduction correlates with structural changes in the amygdala. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 5(1), 11–17. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsp034
3. Gotink, R. A., Vernooij, M. W., Ikram, M. A., Niessen, W. J., Krestin, G. P., Hofman, A., Tiemeier, H., & Hunink, M. (2018). Meditation and yoga practice are associated with smaller right amygdala volume: the Rotterdam study. Brain imaging and behavior, 12(6), 1631–1639. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-018-9826-z
4. Xie, L., Kang, H., Xu, Q., Chen, M. J., Liao, Y., Thiyagarajan, M., O'Donnell, J., Christensen, D. J., Nicholson, C., Iliff, J. J., Takano, T., Deane, R., & Nedergaard, M. (2013). Sleep drives metabolite clearance from the adult brain. Science (New York, N.Y.), 342(6156), 373–377. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1241224
5. Onaolapo, A. Y., Obelawo, A. Y., & Onaolapo, O. J. (2019). Brain Ageing, Cognition and Diet: A Review of the Emerging Roles of Food-Based Nootropics in Mitigating Age-related Memory Decline. Current aging science, 12(1), 2–14. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874609812666190311160754