Brain Health

by Alexandra Church | Oct 28, 2020 | Health

Brain Health

• Since the 1950s there has been an explosion in the prevalence of chronic degenerative diseases such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, mental illness, dementia. Impaired immunity, leading to cancer, asthma and arthritis.
• It is estimated that 46 million people currently live with dementia across the world. This number is predicted to rise to 132 million by 2050.
• For all the internal chatter that goes on in our head, the brain is not very good at letting us know when it is struggling. For example, some people carry on doing normal things for hours or even days following a concussion before they feel faint or confused. If our brain is hungry, we won’t know until we suddenly feel light-headed or faint. One of the reasons we have such a disconnect with our brain is that the brain has no pain sensors. This is why surgeons can perform brain surgery on a patient when they are awake. A headache is exactly that, pain in the head (and probably the neck and upper back muscles) rather than the actual brain.
• The brain is incredibly resilient. It can take a lot of punches before being knocked down, due to the ‘brain’s reserve’; its capacity to perform in the face on ongoing attacks. However, if it is fighting off constant attacks, it eventually becomes exhausted.
• Everything in our brain calls out for proper food. The only way for the brain to receive nourishment is through our diet. The foods we eat are broken down into nutrients, taken up into the bloodstream, and carried to the brain to replenish its depleted storage, activate cellular reactions, and most importantly to be incorporated into brain tissue.

 The Brain and Modern Life

• Forgetting certain types of information is the brain’s way of protecting itself from overload.
• Modern life and mobile phones mean that we are exposed to huge amounts of information throughout the day. It is both normal and necessary to discard most of it otherwise our system would become overloaded.
• We don’t need to retain all the information we come across.
• Memories are formed by the action of neurotransmitters on the synapses – the connections between neurons – in our brains. When we pay attention to something, such as an emotional experience, the neurotransmitters make the synapses stronger, and eventually, pieces of information are directed into the hippocampus (part of the brain that is vital for transferring memories into long-term storage).
• ‘Executive function’ is the sorting mechanism. We choose what we pay attention to, and the rest is lost.
• Forgetting someone’s name when you meet them is normal, as our brain is focussing on the more vital aspects of social interaction. We use our working memory, which only has space for a limited amount of storage.
• Our working memory only keeps hold of information for only a few seconds, or for as long as we keep thinking of it.
• When we meet another person, we are filling up our working memory with lots of other information, i.e. how we might appear to them, what we are going to say next etc, who this person is in terms of personality, which is more important than a name, which is just a random label.
• Don’t worry if you lose your keys; this is a mundane activity that doesn’t require concentration. Our brain isn’t paying attention at all. If you are not aware of what you are doing, the information can’t enter your long-term memory. It can help to say aloud ‘I put my keys on the table by the door’.
• We live in an information-heavy age. We have too much to remember, which makes it difficult for the brain to filter out what is important and what needs to be taken out.
• We can help our memory by highlighting what matters. Writing down appointments can help.
• Stress and lack of sleep are the real enemies of your memory.
• Worrying fills up our memory with stressful thoughts. Poor sleep also has a negative effect, as a lot of memory consolidation happens when we are asleep. Memories are being laid down, rearranged and put into the right place.
• Lack of sleep can cause memory problems; you might remember events from the day, but memories are not properly consolidated.
• What can you do to help? Physical exercise, eating healthily (including brain-healthy foods – more on this later), getting enough sleep and brain exercises.
• Your brain doesn’t care about precious moments. It is not important for your brain to remember your child’s first steps. Its priority is to learn socially important information about their childhood. Who they are, their likes and dislikes.
• We also remember events that frighten us to avoid repeating them.
• Emotion works as a glue for our memory. It glues an experience into our brain. Physiological processes occur in order to take care of these memories.
• There is a release of stress hormones and neurotransmitters in the event of an emotional experience that has a direct effect on the synaptic changes taking place when a memory is formed.
• Mundane activities are merged by the brain to save storage space. Cumulative memories are activated when we repeat activities. Our brain is making it into a more efficient piece of information.
• If we didn’t forget the unremarkable, it would be harder to notice and retain important information.
• The most advanced form of memory (specific memories) takes a lot of resources and our brain has to prioritise.
• Memory is not a hard drive!
• Total recall is not requisite, or even useful for survival. The past is mostly forgotten, but we are able to reconstruct pieces of the past using the same processes as when we imagine the future.
• Memory is very associative, when you hear a piece of music or a story fragment, your memory will throw things at you. Sometimes it takes a very specific association to prompt a memory, for example, a smell from our childhood.

What Can You Do To Keep Your Brain Healthy?

Exercise

• Cardio and strength training – exercise can actually grow the hippocampus and can reverse the age-related loss in volume by 1-2 years.
• What is good for the heart is good for the brain! Aerobic activity promotes blood flow and circulation, improves the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your brain, and slows down the build-up of plaque in your arteries. This is very useful, as blood flow to the brain would naturally slow down with age.
• Exercise is a natural antidepressant. Exercise pumps up your endorphins (the body’s natural pain killers) and increases the production of serotonin.
• Physical activity stimulates memory formation, increases our neurons’ ability to recover from injury, and is exceptionally beneficial to the formation of new brain cells.
• The more you train, the more your brain produces a protein called, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which plays a key role in growing memory-forming neurons.
• Finally, physical activity enhances your immune system activity. Increasing our defences against disease, and even boosts enzymatic activity that is very effective at dissolving Alzheimer’s plaques in the brain, further reducing your risk of memory loss and dementia.
• It is not all about high-intensity exercise, as studies have shown that those who engaged in leisure-time activities during their midlife years, reduced their risk of cognitive decline later in life. Activities such as gardening, going for a stroll in the park, taking the stairs where possible, cleaning the house, showed that you are working your brain as well as your body. It is not about intensity as much as frequency and consistency.
• The goal is to keep moving as much as you can and as often as you can. Study after study is showing that a sedentary lifestyle makes your brain age faster.
• Clinical trials have shown that simply walking can slow down brain shrinkage in just one year.
• In older adults, the hippocampus typically shrinks by 1-2 per cent every year.
• Brain exercises such as sudoku and chess – the brain utilises reasoning and strategy skills to win. They also keep the brain active and help to prevent memory loss. Brain HQ is a great app with brain training games.
• Learn a new instrument or language – this strengthens areas of the brain linked to improving memory
• Yoga – a 3-month course of yoga and meditation minimised the cognitive problems associated with those suffering from Alzheimer’s. It was more effective than memory training exercises such as crosswords and games.
• Eat nuts, seeds and berries – nuts can boost brain health. Pistachios have the greatest impact on memory improvement. Seeds and berries contain fatty acids and vitamins which slow down the ageing process of the brain.
• Drink red wine – contains the antioxidant resveratrol that prevents memory decline. It encourages the development of neurons and decreased inflammation of the hippocampus.
• Take more holidays! Exposing your mind to different sights, languages and inflexions stimulate short-term memory.

Eating for Health and Good Cognitive Function

The optimum diet for human health is one that is low-glycemic, with plenty of plant-based fibre, wholegrain and good sources of protein.

The core elements of a diet to support brain function are:

• Low sugar and moderate starchy carbohydrates
• Healthy fats
• A range of vegetables (try to eat the ‘rainbow’ and get lots of dark, leafy veg)
• A couple of portions of low-sugar fruit (such as berries)
• Reduce consumption of wheat where possible as gluten can cause inflammation in the gut and should be consumed carefully

Healthy Fats

• The brain is 60% fat, so we need good fats in our diet.
• Bad fats contribute to inflammation in the body
• Fats to enjoy include extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, seeds (especially pumpkin and sunflower seeds), nuts and butter.
• Fats to avoid include corn oil, sunflower oil, margarine, fried foods, pastries, biscuits, cakes and processed meats.

Vegetables

• Vegetables contain minerals, vitamins and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients. They are also high in fibre, which is important for the bowel.
• Aim to eat between 6-8 portions of vegetables per day. Aim for dark, green leafy vegetables and incorporate the ‘rainbow’ if you can. Diversity is key!

Low GI Fruits

• Brightly coloured fruits are high in antioxidants and high in soluble fibre, which helps promote gut health and provides other phytonutrients.
• These include apples, pears, berries and plums. Try to eat a portion of blueberries a day (frozen is fine) as they are very beneficial for cognitive function.

Great Brain Foods

Fish

• Whitefish and oily fish. Choose small, wild fish e.g. wild salmon, sardines (fresh or tinned in olive oil).
• Avoid farmed fish, and those high in mercury and other pollutants e.g. swordfish

Meat

• Free-range, organic chicken, lean lamb, grass-fed beef. Organic meat is ideal.

Eggs

• A great source of protein, eggs contains all nine essential amino acids. They also contain selenium, vitamins B2, D, B6 and B12, zinc, iron and copper

Nuts

• Walnuts, almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts

Seeds

• Pumpkin, sunflower, chia and flaxseed

Fruit

• Berries, apples, pears and plums

Vegetables

• Dark green leafy and purple vegetables, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, avocado, green beans, dark salad leaves, brightly coloured root vegetables i.e. beetroot and squash

Starchy Carbohydrates

• Sweet potatoes, oats, brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat

Oils

• Extra virgin olive oil, extra virgin coconut oil, extra virgin nut oils, butter

Foods to Avoid

Sugary foods – cakes, biscuits, sweets, fizzy drinks

Artificial sweeteners – aspartame, sucralose etc

Corn oil, sunflower oil, margarine, processed meats, fried foods, processed foods 

• Lack of sleep is a serious threat to the health of our brains, and may even deteriorate our cognitive function as well as increase our risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
• One of the most important features of sleep is its ability to clean the brain of harmful toxins. Whenever the brain needs to clean itself, it employs the glymphatic system. With a series of pulses, this system literally bathes the brain’s tissues with CSF. This is the brain’s equivalent of us taking a morning shower. The lymphatic system is programmed to rev up and launch its activity just as we are about to go into a deep sleep. Research into lab animals has shown that brain cleaning becomes ten times more active during sleep than wakefulness. It was during this process that harmful toxins such as amyloid proteins (linked to Alzheimer’s) were flushed out of their brains. When the animals didn’t get enough sleep, those same toxins built up night after night, damaging the brain as a result.
• Getting too little sleep, or sleeping poorly is linked to mental deterioration.

Neurogenesis

• The creation of new nervous system cells (known as neurons).
• It was long considered that the number of neurons was fixed and they did not replicate after maturity of the brain.
• Neurogenesis is also linked to changes in neuroplasticity; referring to changes in synapses and neural pathways in the brain.
• Neurogenesis has been found to occur in two brain regions: the subventricular zone and the hippocampus.
• The hippocampus plays a key role in learning and memory, and alterations have been linked to a variety of cognitive pathologies such as anxiety, depression, addiction and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.
• To reverse this process, we need to harness neurogenesis.

1. Exercise is the single most effective way to boost neurogenesis. The endorphins produced to act as a potent antidote to cortisol, exercise increases levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell-line derived trophic factor (GDNF), two key growth factors supporting neurogenesis. It also increases hormones such as testosterone which also seem to have an extremely beneficial effect on neurogenesis, and act as a buffer against the effects of psychological stress. This is increasingly important as we age.
2. Diet – as we have already covered
3. Meditation – there is an ever-growing body of scientific evidence to support the benefits of meditation. It has been found to cause an increase in grey matter density in a number of different brain regions including the hippocampus.
4. Lifestyle – sleep deprivation reduces hippocampal neurogenesis.
5. Exposure to sunlight – increases serotonin levels and GDNF expression in the brain.
6. Sex – beneficial for brain function, elevating levels of feel-good neurotransmitters while promoting neurogenesis.
7. Intermittent fasting – linked to increased BDNF and improved memory function, with the brain responding to this stress via increasing neurogenesis.