THE KEYS TO BETTER BRAIN HEALTH
If your motivation to eat whole foods, sleep more, move more, and stress less is purely to look good or to lose weight, I want to challenge you to change your way of thinking. The food we consume, the activity we do (or don’t do), and the consistency and quality of our sleep now can impact our lives forever. Even if we are more (or less) genetically predisposed to various behaviors, lifestyle behaviors will always matter – even if you can’t always see the benefits right away.
There are many intrinsic and extrinsic factors that impact neuron creation and growth within the brain – an important predictor of overall brain health. For some factors such as age or genetic conditions, we have little control over while other factors such as diet, exercise, and stress reduction are significantly involved and also relatively controllable (1).
However, despite many of the known benefits, many of us probably think very little about what we eat as long as we are feeling good, losing weight, and happy with how we look. And while I would be lying if I said I did not fall into this way of thinking, I want to encourage you to shift your reason for choosing the foods you eat and the exercises you do. Don’t limit your thoughts or motivation for “healthy” behaviors simply for appearance sake. I bet you will care more about the health of things like your mind when you are 50, 60, 70+ than you do your abs!
THINGS TO BE MINDFUL OF…
So what are some things to be mindful of to keep your mind full of healthy neurons?
MOVEMENT: Regular physical activity and/or exercise improve neurotransmission, neurogenesis, and cognition while sedentary behaviors (e.g., regular sitting) results in decreased neurogenesis and brain volume (3). Even getting up once an hour to go for a light walk can significantly improve cognitive outcomes. So, even if you have a desk job, set a timer for 1 hour and when it goes off, walk around your office, walk up and down the stairs, or even just stand up in order to break up your daily sitting time.
WHOLE FOODS: A Western diet or processed foods in general are typically high calorie (or calorie dense) foods that are high in trans and saturated fats and often filled with a number of additives. These appear to result in greater cognitive decrements and exacerbate risk of neurological diseases (2,4,5). Conversely, whole foods are more nutrient dense, contain larger portions of unsaturated fatty acids, and fiber which has been shown to reduce inflammation and improve cognitive health. So, start looking into your foods beyond calories and macronutrients. Look at the additives, look at the saturated fats, and look for those foods that are packed with nutrients.
ENERGY BALANCE: Excess energy production as result of consistent high calorie intake, highly saturated foods, and sedentary behaviors may lead to greater levels of free radicals will ultimately disrupts neural homeostasis (6). These free radicals that are produced are a normal byproduct of metabolism. However, when production exceeds the body’s buffering capacity, cognition and neural health are compromised. Moreover, if this occurs on a regular basis, long term disturbances in energy balance have been associated with a number of mental diseases and overall poor brain health.
So once again, just because you are happy with how you look, you have a 6 pack, or you don’t have physique goals, does not mean you shouldn’t care about what you put in your body or how much you sit throughout the day.
THE EFFECTS OF FOOD, MOVEMENT, AND THE COMBINATION OF THE TWO HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO ALTER OUR MENTAL FUNCTION.
Whether good or bad….that is up to you.
REFERENCES
Maruszak, A., Pilarski, A., Murphy, T., Branch, N., & Thuret, S. (2014). Hippocampal neurogenesis in Alzheimer's disease: is there a role for dietary modulation?. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 38(1), 11-38.
Baranowski, B. J., Marko, D. M., Fenech, R. K., Yang, A. J., & MacPherson, R. E. (2020). Healthy brain, healthy life: a review of diet and exercise interventions to promote brain health and reduce Alzheimer’s disease risk. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 45(10), 1055-1065.
Di Liegro, C. M., Schiera, G., Proia, P., & Di Liegro, I. (2019). Physical activity and brain health. Genes, 10(9), 720.
Allès, B., Samieri, C., Jutand, M. A., Carmichael, P. H., Shatenstein, B., Gaudreau, P., ... & Laurin, D. (2019). Nutrient patterns, cognitive function, and decline in older persons: results from the three-city and NuAge studies. Nutrients, 11(8), 1808.
Jackson, P. A., Pialoux, V., Corbett, D., Drogos, L., Erickson, K. I., Eskes, G. A., & Poulin, M. J. (2016). Promoting brain health through exercise and diet in older adults: a physiological perspective. The Journal of physiology, 594(16), 4485-4498.
Gómez-Pinilla, F. (2008). Brain foods: the effects of nutrients on brain function. Nature reviews neuroscience, 9(7), 568-578.
UNTIL NEXT TIME - COACH BRAD
