Add & Subtract - Neurogenesis

This week we explore Neurogenesis

ADD ENCOURAGING FACTORS

Neurogenesis is the process by which new neuron’s are formed in the brain. It used to be thought that our lifetime supply of brain cells were all generated before birth, with a steady decline throughout adulthood.

Fortunately, research has been proving that we continue to grow and develop neurons in the brain (mainly in the hippocampus) throughout our lifespan. Some factors encourage this process, others discourage.

Personally, I need all the brain cells I can get!

Suggestions: Include more of these neurogenesis-encouraging factors:

Learning new skills
Exercise
Sex
Intermittent fasting
Calorie restriction
Caffeine
Resveratrol (found in red wine)
Curcumin (found in turmeric)
Diets high in blueberries, flavonoids (found in fruit and vegetables), Omega 3 fattty acids, zinc, folic acid

Writer Brant Cartwright:

“Your rate of neurogenesis is key to feeling good or bad, vibrant and rejuvenated or stagnant and depressed…

A cup of blueberries a day may keep cognitive decline away”

Source: The Neurogenesis Diet and Lifestyle: Upgrade Your Brain, Upgrade Your Life

SUBTRACT IMPAIRING FACTORS

Before we get carried away with the red wine, caffeine and sex, notice that alcohol and sleep deprivation come up on the ‘impairing’ list!

Suggestions: Reduce these neural growth-impairing factors:

Stress
Sleep deprivation
Alcohol
Diets high in sugar, saturated fat
Vitamin A, B and E deficiency
Soft diets (foods without crunch or needing chewing - yes really!)

Alvaro Fernandez and Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg:

“Current recommendations suggest that a brain-healthy life style should include at least balanced nutrition, stress management, physical exercise, and brain exercise...

As little as three hours a week of brisk walking has been shown to halt, and even reverse, the brain atrophy (shrinkage) that starts in a person’s forties, especially in the regions responsible for memory and higher cognition. Exercise increases the brain’s volume of gray matter (actual neurons) and white matter (connections between neurons)”

Source: The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: 18 Interviews with Scientists, Practical Advice and Product Reviews, to Keep Your Brain Sharp

May we all enjoy plenty of new brain cells everyday!