OK, maybe that headline is a little overstated, but the fact remains that over the entire course of your life your brain changes continuously—either for the better or the worse.
You only get one brain in this lifetime, and it typically weighs 1,300 to 1,400 grams. That’s just slightly smaller than a bottlenose dolphin brain, which weighs 1,500 to 1,600 grams, and much larger than a cow’s brain, weighing 430 grams. The brain contains cells which are called neurons. Human brains have 90- to 100-billion neurons. Compare that with an octopus (a pet that inhabited my 250-gallon saltwater fish tank years ago) which has 500 million neurons, mostly located in their arms (sometimes mistakenly called tentacles).
Strategies for fostering the best brain possible
Not to alarm you, but you lose about 85,000 neurons each day. That totals 31 million brain cells lost each year; it’s about 1 per second! You’re likely to lose even more neurons if you take mind-bending drugs or expose yourself to free radicals (think nicotine, alcohol, pesticides, and monosodium glutamate, otherwise known as MSG). Without neurons, we couldn’t move or function, and we would cease to live within minutes.
Neurogenesis refers to the growth of new neurons in your brain. In fact, as many as 700 new neurons a day are possible. Neurogenesis is a dynamic process that reduces risk of Alzheimer’s, insomnia, anxiety, dementia, and other cognitive problems. Scientists have identified several factors that encourage neurogenesis.
Food promoters
Particular foods show particular affinity for growing brand-new neurons in the brain, while also activating protective pathways to nurture them and keep them thriving. It’s hard to believe but it’s true: What we choose to eat impacts our mind to some degree.
The Most Potent Neuron-Loving Foods
- Green tea, berries, citrus apples, and dark chocolate due to the flavonoids
- Blueberries (due to the flavonoids and anthocyanin)
- Red grapes (because the skin has resveratrol)
- Wild-caught salmon and other fatty fish due to the DHA fish oils
Oddly, researchers found that eating foods which require more chewing (as opposed to soft, mushy foods) are helpful to neuronal growth. As you eat a baked potato (vs. mashed), figure that one out!
Lifestyle promoters
Lifestyle choices and behaviors known to enhance neurogenesis and protect grey matter in your brain include intermittent fasting, caloric restriction, and exercise.
These lifestyle practices have proven and impressive powers for prolonging one’s life, preventing certain diseases, and improving brain function. Can they banish our risk of neurodegenerative disease? I wouldn’t say that it is certain, but periods of feast and famine predated the modern food-supply chain and there was less obesity, fewer neurodegenerative diseases, and less diabetes. Rather than rolling into the local fast-food establishment, people had to rove and wander to find food, praying for a successful hunt and long autumns and springs that would reduce the time period when vegetation and prey were scarce.
So as the working theory goes, there were times of caloric restriction and intermittent fasting which put the body into a state of mild ketosis. We can do that today if we mimic ancestral eating patterns of feast and famine. There are plenty of books to explore on this topic so I’m not going to delve any deeper, here. The point is that both caloric restriction and intermittent fasting have proven to be both neuroprotective and neurogenic. Research has shown that during brief fasts and periods of caloric restriction (around 500 calories a day) there is enhanced cognitive performance, healing effects in the brain, release of ghrelin (the hunger hormone), and enhanced BDFN (brain derived neurotrophic factor) levels.
Enhancing BDNF is commonly cited as a method for growing new brain cells. While that is still important, there is new research suggesting that the hormone that makes you feel hungry, called ghrelin, may be the thing that triggers the birth of new neurons in the first place.
Exercise also enhances cognitive performance and sets off cascades of brain-centered healing effects for everyone, whether you’re 18 or 80, at peak mental condition, or already in the throes of Alzheimer’s.
Exercise can increase the volume of neurons in the brain and release nerve growth factor which strengthens the synapse (the connections between neurons) and also creates new connections with other neurons. Finally, increased blood flow to the brain that results from exercise enhances something called neuroplasticity that we very much want happening in our brains.
Neuroplasticity describes the brain’s ability to reorganize itself and form new neural connections as we learn and grow throughout life. Although strength training is an important component of exercise, for new neuron growth you must participate in aerobic exercise—at least 3 to 4 sessions of 30 to 60 minutes each week. It can be any kind of aerobic exercise from walking to cycling to running.
On the topic of exercise, I definitely want you to go to Body Pump and Zumba, but you should also be exercising your brain, too. In fact, brain calisthenics might be more important than physical exercise for some of you reading this today. Exercise for your brain could be learning to read sheet music, learning another language, engaging in puzzles, doing math problems in your head, or playing spatial video games.
Yes, you read that right—how about playing Super Mario 3D? This particular video game (and also Super Mario 64) have been used in two important research studies on the brain, in which it was proven that spatial video games increase brain activity in the hippocampal region and help you create new neurons. This information gives us a whole new perspective when it comes to healing the brain and growing new healthy brain cells.
So, my best advice to you is this: After an intense workout, crash on the couch with a big bowl of blueberries, have some fun video gaming, and feel your mind ignite with newfound brainiac-ness.
