Are you supporting brain health? You need to!

Have you misplaced your keys… again?

Can’t remember important dates?

Are you forgetting people’s names?

Most of us think Alzheimer’s and dementia as diseases of the elderly, but that’s not true anymore.

Younger onset Alzheimer’s is growing rapidly and it is estimated that by 2050 someone in the US will develop this disease every 33 seconds.

That’s a staggering statistic!

What’s going on that so many people are losing their minds?

The truth is, Alzheimer’s and early-onset dementia doesn’t just happen upon as we age, it’s a long-term process that takes years to develop.

Here are some fast facts to help you retain good brain health.

Your Brain Requires Glucose

“The mammalian brain depends on glucose as its main source of energy. In the adult brain, neurons have the highest energy demand, requiring continuous delivery of glucose from blood.”[3]

We need glucose for optimal brain functioning, but we’ve got to ensure we’re getting the right type and in the right amount.

That means cut out the crap!

Overdosing on sugar and refined carbohydrates contributes to both insulin resistance in the body (type 2 diabetes), and insulin resistance in the brain (type 3 diabetes).[2]

Just as type 2 diabetes doesn’t show up without reason, neither does type 3. The same high sugar, refined carbohydrate, junk food diet, and overly sweetened beverages most modern folks consume that are associated with type 2, also contribute to type 3.

We all know that donuts and Ding Dongs are not good sources of glucose.

Even if they are labeled “organic” and they are sitting on the shelf in the health food store, they are still junk. Don’t try and trick your brain into thinking the snacky sugary type stuff from the health food store is good for you. It’s not.

Learn more about eating real food here!

Your Brain Requires Cholesterol

We need to get over the low-fat, no-cholesterol craze.

Can you believe that I still encounter clients who tell me they are watching their cholesterol, so they don’t eat egg yolks or butter. They are stuck in the outdated medical science about cholesterol contributing to heart disease that has been disproven beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Cholesterol plays a crucial role in neural connections and is vital to normal brain function, including learning and memory. People taking statin drugs to lower cholesterol levels suffer from early-onset dementia.[4]

Eat good quality cholesterol rich-foods like eggs, shellfish, fish, cheese, meat, and organ meats, to support the health of your myelin sheath, nervous system, and brain.

Your Brain Requires Circulation

Cerebral circulation is the blood flow to your brain.[5]

Blood supplies the brain with oxygen, glucose, hormones, fat, amino acids, and other nutrients needed to function optimally. And, your lymph carries waste (carbon dioxide, ammonia, lactate and hormones), out of the cells. Here’s a quickie on Getting to Know your Lymphatic System.

If circulation is impeded, the brain won’t get what it needs, and it also won’t be able to release what it does NOT need.

Daily physical exercise is imperative to optimize the circulation of blood and lymph in the body, and to/from the brain.

Get up off your butt, and move your beautiful body, blood, and lymph (and brain) on a daily basis!

Your Brain Requires Rest

Yup, I’m going to talk about meditation because it’s one of the BEST ways to rest your mind.

If you’re not doing any type of meditation, start now! Or, at least start right after you finish reading this article on brain health.

The benefits of meditation are vast and undeniable.

Meditators have less atrophy in the hippocampus, reduced levels of perceived stress and stress hormone, increased cortical thickness and gray matter, slower rate of brain aging, and increased growth of new brain cells.[8]

I’m going to tell you exactly what I tell my clients, “meditate, meditate, meditate.”

It’s vital for brain health.

Your Brain Requires Detoxification

The process of detox for your brain happens almost exclusively while you are sleeping.

During sleep the glymphatic system opens, letting cerebrospinal fluid flow rapidly throughout the brain. That fluid flushes waste and debris like Amyloid-beta (proteins that form the plaque found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients) out of your brain and back into the circulatory system to be eliminated by the normal bodily processes.[6] [7]

This means you have got to get a good night’s sleep!

Turn off the electronic equipment, turn on your parasympathetic nervous system, and shut down your body to sleep so you can properly detox your noggin’.

Don’t wait until you’re an elder to start healing your brain, start right now using the simple suggestions above.

I also highly recommend drinking this Cerebral Support tea to give your brain the boost it needs for a lifetime of long memory.

It contains gotu-kola to harmonize left and right hemispheres, red clover for lymphatic and glymphatic support, and gingko leaf for circulation.

[1] http://www.alz.org/facts/overview.asp

[2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/

[3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3900881/

[4] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-not-dementia-its-your-heart-medication/

[5] https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/vessel.html

[6] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/brain-may-flush-out-toxins-during-sleep

[7] http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/31/sleep-brain-detoxification.aspx

[8] http://www.alzheimers.net/2013-11-25/how-meditation-can-slow-alzheimers/

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