Grain Brain - David Perlmutter , Kristin Loberg | Summarized Books

Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, And Sunday - Your Brain's Silent Killers

What you don’t know about inflammation

Everyone has a rough idea of what is meant by the term “inflammation” in a very general sense. Whether it’s the redness that quickly appears after an insect bite or the chronic soreness of an arthritic joint, most of us understand that when there is some kind of stress in the body, our body’s natural response is to create swelling and pain, hallmarks of the inflammatory process. But inflammation isn’t always a negative reaction. It can also serve as an indication that the body is trying to defend itself against something it believes to be potentially harmful. Whether to neutralize the insect’s toxins or reduce movement in a sprained ankle to allow healing, inflammation is vital to our survival.

Problems arise, however, when inflammation gets out of control. Just as one glass of wine a day is healthy but multiple glasses every day can lead to health risks, the same holds true for inflammation. Inflammation is meant to be a spot treatment. It’s not supposed to be turned on for prolonged periods, and never forever. But that’s what’s happening in millions of people. If the body is continuously under assault by exposure to irritants, the inflammation response stays on. And it spreads to every part of the body through the bloodstream; hence, we can detect this kind of widespread inflammation through blood tests.

When inflammation goes awry, a variety of chemicals are produced that are directly toxic to our cells. This leads to a reduction of the cellular function followed by cellular destruction. Unbridled inflammation is rampant in Western cultures, with leading scientific research showing that it is a fundamental cause of the morbidity and mortality associated with coronary artery disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and virtually every other chronic disease you can imagine.

Inflammation is far more than just the cause of your painful knee and sore joints, it underpins the very process of brain degeneration. Ultimately, the key downstream effect of inflammation in the brain that is responsible for the damage is the activation of chemical pathways that increase free radical production. At the center of chronic inflammation is the concept of oxidative stress — a biological type of “rusting.”

This gradual corrosion happens in all tissues. It’s a normal part of life; it occurs everywhere in nature, including when our bodies turn calories (energy) from food and oxygen from the air into usable energy. But when it begins to run rampant, or when the body can’t keep it under healthy control, it can become deadly. Although the word oxidation implies oxygen, it’s not the kind we breathe. The felon here is simply O because it’s not paired with another oxygen molecule (O2).

Explaining the oxidation process further, most of us have heard about free radicals. These are molecules that have lost an electron. Normally, electrons are found in pairs, but forces such as stress, pollution, chemicals, toxic dietary triggers, ultraviolet sunlight, and ordinary body activities can “free” an electron from a molecule such that it loses its social graces and starts trying to steal electrons from other molecules. This disorder is the oxidation process itself, a chain of events that creates more free radicals and stirs inflammation. Because oxidized tissues and cells don’t function normally, the process can render you vulnerable to a slew of health challenges.

This helps explain why people with high levels of oxidation, which is often reflected by high levels of inflammation, have an extensive list of health challenges and symptoms ranging from low resistance to infection to joint pain, digestive disorders, anxiety, headaches, depression, and allergies.

Gluten’s role in brain inflammation

Most everyone has experienced the throb of a headache and the agony of severe congestion. In many instances, we can point to a probable cause when symptoms descend on us, such as a long day in front of the computer in the case of a tension headache, or a passing cold bug when it hurts to swallow, and the nose clogs up. For relief, we can usually turn to over-the-counter remedies to manage our symptoms until the body returns to a normal, healthy state. But what do you do when the symptoms don’t go away, and the culprit is much harder to pin down? What if, like so many patients the author has treated, you find yourself in an unending war with nagging pain and misery for years?

For as long as she could remember, Fran struggled to chase the pulsating sensation out of her head. When the author first examined her on a warm January day, Fran was as pleasant as could be for a sixty-three-year-old who endured daily migraine headaches. Of course, she had tried all the usual headache medications and was taking Imitrex (sumatriptan), a powerful migraine drug, several times a week.

In reviewing her medical history, the author noted that in her early twenties, she’d undergone “intestinal exploratory surgery” because she was suffering from “severe intestinal discomfort.” As part of her evaluation, she was tested for gluten sensitivity and, not surprisingly, she was strongly positive in eight of the markers. The author prescribed a gluten-free diet.

Four months later, Fran sent the author a letter stating: “My almost daily migraine symptoms have abated since removing gluten from my diet… The two biggest changes in my body are the lack of a very hot head in the night with resulting migraines and the huge increase in my energy levels. Today my level of daily accomplishment is enormous compared to my life before seeing you.”

This case and several others reflect patterns the author witnessed in many patients. They all come with vastly different medical complaints, but they share a common thread: gluten sensitivity.

According to the author, gluten is a modern poison, and that the research is compelling doctors like him to notice and re-examine the bigger picture when it comes to brain disorders and disease. The good news is that knowing this common denominator now means we can treat and, in some cases, cure a wide spectrum of ailments with a single prescription: the eviction of gluten from the diet.

Gluten — which is Latin for “glue” — is a protein composite that acts as an adhesive material, holding flour together to make bread products, including crackers, baked goods, and pizza dough. When you bite into a fluffy muffin or roll and stretch pizza dough prior to cooking, you have gluten to thank. In fact, most of the soft, chewy bread products available today owe their gumminess to gluten. Gluten plays a key role in the leavening process, letting bread “rise” when wheat mixes with yeast. To hold a ball of what is essentially gluten in your hands, just mix water and wheat flour, create a dough by kneading the ball with your hands, and then rinse the glob under running water to eliminate the starches and fiber. What you’re left with is a glutinous protein mixture.

Most Americans consume gluten through wheat, but gluten is found in a variety of grains, including rye, barley, spelt, kamut, and bulgur. It’s one of the most common food additives on the planet and is used not only in processed foods but also in personal care products. As a trusty stabilizing agent, it helps cheese spreads and margarines retain their smooth texture, and it prevents sauces and gravies from curdling. Thickening hair conditioners and volumizing mascaras have gluten to thank, too. People can be as allergic to it as they can be to any protein.

Gluten is not a single molecule; it’s actually made up of two main groups of proteins, the glutenins, and the gliadins. A person may be sensitive to either of these proteins or to one of the twelve different smaller units that make up gliadin. Any of these could cause a sensitivity reaction leading to inflammation.

Inflammation, which you know by now is the cornerstone of many brain disorders, can be initiated when the immune system reacts to a substance in a person’s body. When antibodies of the immune system come into contact with a protein or antigen to which a person is allergic, the inflammatory cascade is provoked, releasing a whole host of damaging chemicals known as cytokines

Surprising truths about your brain’s real enemies and lovers

Many people have transformed their lives and health through the total elimination of gluten from their diets and a new appreciation for fats instead of carbs. This single dietary shift has lifted depression, relieve chronic fatigue, reverse type 2 diabetes, extinguish obsessive-compulsive behavior, and cure many neurological challenges, from brain fog to bipolar disorder. But apart from gluten, there’s much more to the story of carbohydrates in general and their impact on brain health. Gluten isn’t the only villain. To shift your body’s biochemistry to one that burns fat (including the kind that “never goes away”), tames inflammation, and prevents illness and mental dysfunction, you need to factor in another big piece of the equation: carbs versus fats. Consuming excess carbohydrates — even those that don’t contain gluten — can be just as harmful as eating a gluten-laden diet.

Carbs, diabetes, and brain disease

One of the ways in which grains and carbs set fire to the brain is through surges in blood sugar; this has direct negative effects on the brain that in turn, start the inflammatory cascade. The science really comes down to your body’s neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are your main mood and brain regulators, and when your blood sugar increases, there’s an immediate depletion of the neurotransmitters serotonin, epinephrine, norepinephrine, GABA, and dopamine. At the same time, B-complex vitamins, which are needed to make those neurotransmitters (and a few hundred other things), get used up.

Magnesium levels also diminish, and this handicap both your nervous system and liver. In addition, high blood sugar triggers a reaction called “glycation.” In simplest terms, glycation is the biological process whereby glucose, proteins, and certain fats become tangled together, causing tissues and cells to become stiff and inflexible, including those in the brain. More specifically, sugar molecules and brain proteins combine to create deadly new structures that contribute more than any other factor to the degeneration of the brain and its functioning.

Fat: your brain’s best friend.

To fully grasp the bane of carbs and the benefits of fats, it helps to understand some basic biology. In the body, dietary carbohydrates, including sugars and starches, are converted to glucose, which tells the pancreas to release insulin into the blood. Insulin shuffles glucose into cells and stores glucose as glycogen in the liver and muscles. It’s also the body’s chief fat building catalyst, converting glucose to body fat when the liver and muscles have no more room for glycogen. Carbohydrates — not dietary fats — are the primary cause of weight gain. Think about it: Many farmers fatten animals destined for the butcher block with carbohydrates like corn and grain, not fats and proteins.

This partly explains why one of the major health effects of a low carbohydrate diet is weight loss. Moreover, a low-carb diet decreases blood sugar in diabetics and improves insulin sensitivity. In fact, replacing carbohydrates with fat is increasingly becoming the preferred method for treating type 2 diabetes.

When your diet is continuously rich in carbohydrates, which in effect keep your insulin pumps on, you severely limit (if not completely halt) the breakdown of your body fat for fuel. Your body gets addicted to that glucose. You may even use up your glucose but still suffer from a lockdown of available fat for fuel due to high volumes of insulin. In essence, the body becomes physically starved due to your carb-based diet. This is why many obese individuals cannot lose weight while continuing to eat carbs. Their insulin levels hold those fat stores hostage.

Now let’s turn to dietary fat. Fat is and always has been a fundamental pillar of our nutrition. Beyond the fact that the human brain consists of more than 70 % fat, fat plays a pivotal role in regulating the immune system. Simply stated, good fats like omega-3s and monounsaturated fats reduce inflammation, while modified hydrogenated fats, so common in commercially prepared foods, dramatically increase inflammation. Certain vitamins, notably A, D, E, and K, require fat to get absorbed properly in the body, which is why dietary fat is necessary to transport these “fat-soluble” vitamins.

Because these vitamins do not dissolve in water, they can only be absorbed from your small intestine in combination with fat. Deficiencies due to incomplete absorption of these vitally important vitamins are always serious, and any such deficiency can be linked to brain illness, among many other conditions.

This is your brain on sugar (natural or not)

Sugar. Whether it’s from a lollipop, Lucky Charms, or a slice of cinnamon-raisin bread, we all know that this particular carbohydrate is not the healthiest of ingredients, especially when it’s consumed in excess or comes from refined or processed forms such as high-fructose corn syrup. We also know that sugar is partly to blame for challenges with our waistlines, appetites, blood sugar control, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and insulin resistance. But what about sugar and the brain?

What, exactly, is the difference between table sugar, fruit sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and the like? Good question. Fructose is a type of sugar naturally found in fruits and honey. It’s a monosaccharide just like glucose, whereas table sugar (sucrose) — the white granulated stuff we sprinkle in coffee or dump into a bowl of cookie batter — is a combination of glucose and fructose, thus making it a disaccharide (two molecules linked together). High-fructose corn syrup, which is what we find in our sodas, juices, and many processed foods, is yet another combination of molecules dominated by fructose — it’s 55% fructose, 42% glucose, and 3% other carbohydrates.

High-fructose corn syrup was introduced in 1978 as a cheap replacement for table sugar in beverages and food products. No doubt you’ve heard about it in the media, which has attacked this artificially manufactured ingredient for being the root cause of our obesity epidemic. But this misses the point. While it’s true we can blame our bulging waistlines and diagnoses of related conditions such as obesity and diabetes on our consumption of high-fructose corn syrup, we can also point to all other sugars as well since they are all carbohydrates, a class of biomolecules that share similar characteristics. Carbohydrates are simply long chains of sugar molecules, as distinguished from fat (chains of fatty acids), proteins (chains of amino acids), and DNA. But you already know that not all carbohydrates are created equal. And not all carbohydrates are treated equally by the body.

Evolutionarily, sugar was available to our ancestors as fruit for only a few months a year (at harvest time), or as honey, which was guarded by bees. But in recent years, sugar has been added to nearly all processed foods, limiting consumer choice. Nature made sugar hard to get; man made it easy. ~ Dr. Robert Lustig

The differentiating factor is how much a certain carbohydrate will raise blood sugar and, in effect, insulin. Meals that are higher in carbohydrate, and especially those that are higher in simple glucose, cause the pancreas to increase its insulin output in order to store the blood sugar in cells. During the course of digestion, carbohydrates are broken down, and sugar is liberated into the bloodstream, again causing the pancreas to increase its output of insulin so glucose can penetrate cells. Over time, higher levels of blood sugar will cause increased production of insulin output from the pancreas.

It is important to avoid the path to diabetes, and if diabetes is already a card you’re playing with, then keeping blood sugars balanced is key. In the United States, there are close to 11 million adults 65 years or older with type 2 diabetes, which speaks volumes to the magnitude of the potential catastrophe on our hands if all of these individuals — plus the ones who haven’t been officially diagnosed yet — develop Alzheimer’s.

According to a study in the Archives of Neurology published In June 2012, which analyzes 3,069 elderly adults, the authors stated, “Hyperglycemia (elevated blood sugar) has been proposed as a mechanism that may contribute to the association between diabetes and reduced cognitive function.” They went on to state that “hyperglycemia may contribute to cognitive impairment through such mechanisms as the formation of advanced glycation end products, inflammation, and microvascular disease.”

How to change your genetic destiny

Does every cocktail you drink really kill thousands of brain cells? As it turns out, we are not stuck with the number of neurons we’re born with or even those that develop in early childhood. We can grow new neurons throughout our entire lives. We can also fortify existing brain circuits and create an entirely new and elaborate connections, too, with new brain cells. This is Neurogenesis.

In 1998, the journal Nature Medicine published a report by Swedish neurologist Peter Eriksson in which he claimed that within our brains exists a population of neural stem cells that are continually replenished and can differentiate into brain neurons. And indeed, he was right: We all experience brain “stem cell therapy” every minute of our lives. This has led to a new science called neuroplasticity.

The revelation that neurogenesis occurs in humans throughout our lifetimes has provided neuroscientists around the world an exciting new reference point, with implications spanning virtually the entire array of brain disorders.

The process, as one might expect, is controlled by our DNA. Specifically, a gene located on chromosome 11 codes for the production of a protein called “brain-derived neurotrophic factor,” or BDNF. BDNF plays a key role in creating new neurons. But beyond its role in neurogenesis, BDNF protects existing neurons, ensuring their survivability while encouraging synapse formation, the connection of one neuron to another — a process vital for thinking, learning, and higher levels of brain function. Studies have demonstrated decreased levels of BDNF in Alzheimer’s patients, which, based on an understanding of how BDNF works, should not come as a surprise.7 What is perhaps more surprising is the association of BDNF with a variety of neurological conditions, including epilepsy, anorexia nervosa, depression, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

We now have a firm understanding of the factors that influence our DNA to produce BDNF. And fortunately, these factors are mostly under our direct control. The gene that turns on BDNF is activated by a variety of lifestyle habits, including physical exercise, caloric restriction, following a ketogenic diet, and the addition of certain nutrients like curcumin and the omega-3 fat DHA.

This is an empowering lesson because all of these factors are within our grasp, representing choices we can make to flip the switch that spurs the growth of new brain cells. Let’s explore them individually.

Physical exercise is one of the most potent ways of changing your genes; put simply, when you exercise, you literally exercise your genes. Aerobic exercise in particular not only turns on genes linked to longevity but also targets the BDNF gene, the brain’s “growth hormone.” More specifically, aerobic exercise has been shown to increase BDNF, reverse memory decline in elderly humans, and actually increase the growth of new brain cells in the brain’s memory center. Exercise isn’t just for trim looks and a strong heart; perhaps its most powerful effects are going on silently in the upstairs room where our brains reside.

The emerging scientific view of human evolution and the role of physical activity gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “jog your memory.” A million years ago, we triumphed over long distances because we could outrun and outwalk most other animals. This ultimately helped make us the clever human beings we are today. The more we moved, the fitter our brain became. And even today, our brain’s healthy functioning requires regular physical activity despite the passage of time and ills of the aging process.

Caloric restriction. Another epigenetic factor that turns on the gene for BDNF production is calorie restriction. Extensive studies have clearly demonstrated that when animals are on a reduced-calorie diet (typically reduced by around 30 %), their brain production of BDNF shoots up and they show dramatic improvements in memory and other cognitive functions. But it’s one thing to read experimental research studies involving rats in a controlled environment and quite another to make recommendations to people based upon animal research. Fortunately, we finally have ample human studies demonstrating the powerful effect of reducing caloric intake on brain function, and many of these studies have been published in our most well-respected medical journals.

Ketogenic diet. While caloric restriction is able to activate these diverse pathways, which are not only protective of the brain but enhance the growth of new neuronal networks, the same pathway can be activated by the consumption of special fats called ketones. By far, the most important fat for brain energy utilization is beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-HBA).

This is why the so-called ketogenic diet has been a treatment for epilepsy since the early 1920s and is now being reevaluated as a very powerful therapeutic option in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, and even autism.

Dietary habits for an optimal brain

The size of our brain in comparison to the rest of our body is one of the most important features distinguishing us from all other mammals. An elephant, for example, has a brain that weighs 7,500 grams, dwarfing our 1,400-gram brain. But its brain represents 1/550 of its total body weight, while our brain weighs 1/40 of our total body weight. So, we can’t make any comparisons about “brainpower” or intelligence just based on brain size alone. It’s the ratio of brain size to body size that’s key when considering the brain’s functional capacity.

But even more important than our impressive volume of brain matter is the fact that gram for gram, our brain consumes a disproportionately huge amount of energy. It represents 2.5% of our total body weight but consumes an incredible 22 % of our body’s energy expenditure at rest. The human brain expends about 350 % more energy than the brains of other anthropoids like gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees.

So, it takes a lot of dietary calories to keep our brains functioning. Fortunately for us, though, our large and powerful brains have allowed us to develop the skills and intelligence to survive extreme conditions like food scarcity. We can conceive of and plan for the future, a uniquely human trait. And having an understanding of our brain’s amazing abilities can help inform the ways in which we can optimize our diet for a healthy, functioning brain.

The power of fasting. One critical mechanism of the human body is its ability to convert fat into vital fuel during times of starvation. We can break down fat into specialized molecules called ketones, and one in particular beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-HBA) — is a superior fuel for the brain.

Unlike other mammals’, our brains can use an alternative source of calories during times of starvation. Typically, our daily food consumption supplies our brain with glucose for fuel. In between meals, our brains are continually supplied with a steady stream of glucose that’s made by breaking down glycogen, mostly from the liver and muscles. But glycogen stores can provide only so much glucose. Once our reserves are depleted, our metabolism shifts, and we are able to create new molecules of glucose from amino acids taken from protein primarily found in muscle. This process is aptly named gluconeogenesis.

Fasting not only turns on the genetic machinery for the production of BDNF, but also powers up the Nrf2 pathway, leading to enhanced detoxification, reduction of inflammation, and increased production of brain-protective antioxidants. Fasting causes the brain to shift away from using glucose as fuel to using ketones manufactured in the liver. When the brain is metabolizing ketones as fuel, even the process of cell suicide (apoptosis) is reduced, while mitochondrial genes are turned on, leading to mitochondrial replication. Simply put, fasting enhances energy production and paves the way for better brain function and clarity.

There are five brain-boosting supplements.

1. DHA: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a star in the supplement kingdom. DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid that represents more than 90 % of the omega-3 fats in the brain. Fifty % of the weight of a neuron’s plasma membrane is composed of DHA. And it’s a key component in heart tissue.

2. Resveratrol: The magic behind the health benefits of drinking a glass of red wine a day has a lot to do with this natural compound found in grapes, which not only slows down the aging process, boosts blood flow to the brain, and promotes heart health, but also curbs fat cells by inhibiting their development. You can’t get enough resveratrol in that glass of wine, though. Hence the need to supplement with higher doses to reap the benefits. Because this so-called miracle molecule protects cells against a remarkable range of diseases, it’s frequently touted as an assistant in the body’s immune and defense system.

3. Turmeric: Turmeric (Curcuma longa), a member of the ginger family, is the subject of intense scientific research, much of it evaluating the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities that stem from its active ingredient, curcumin. One of curcumin’s secret weapons is its ability to activate genes to produce a vast array of antioxidants that serve to protect our precious mitochondria. It also improves glucose metabolism. All of these properties help reduce the risk of brain disease.

4. Probiotics: Stunning new research in just the last few years has shown that eating foods rich in probiotics — live microorganisms that support our intestine’s resident bacteria — can influence brain behavior and help alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression.

5. Coconut oil: Coconut oil can help prevent and treat neurodegenerative disease states. It’s a super-fuel for the brain and also reduces inflammation. You can drink a teaspoon of it straight or use it when you prepare meals. Coconut oil is heat stable, so you can cook with it at high temperatures.

Jog your genes to build a better brain

POP QUIZ! What’s going to make you smarter and less prone to brain diseases? Is it A. Solving a complex brain teaser, or B. Taking a walk? If you guessed A, I wouldn’t come down hard on you, but I will encourage you to go for a walk first (as fast as you can) and then sit down to work on a brainy puzzle. The answer, it turns out, is B. The simple act of moving your body will do more for your brain than any riddle, math equation, mystery book, or even thinking itself.

Exercise has numerous pro-health effects on the body — especially on the brain. It’s a powerful player in the world of epigenetics. Put simply, when you exercise, you literally exercise your genetic makeup. Aerobic exercise not only turns on genes linked to longevity but also targets the gene that codes for BDNF, the brain’s “growth hormone.” Aerobic exercise has been shown to reverse memory decline in the elderly and increase the growth of new brain cells in the brain’s memory center.

As humans, we have always been physically active until only quite recently. Modern technology has afforded us the privilege of a sedentary existence; virtually anything we need these days is available without having to exert much effort, much less get out of bed. But our genome, over millions of years, evolved in a state of constant challenge, from a physical perspective, in our quest to find food. In fact, our genome expects frequent exercise — it requires regular aerobic exercise to sustain life. But unfortunately, too few of us respect that requirement today. And we have the chronic illness and high mortality rates to show for it.

The idea that exercise can make us smarter has intrigued not just traditional researchers in biomedical labs, but also anthropologists searching for clues to the shaping of humankind through millennia. In 2004, the journal Nature published an article by evolutionary biologists Daniel E. Lieberman of Harvard and Dennis M. Bramble of the University of Utah, who argue that we survived this long in history by virtue of our athletic prowess. It was our cavemen ancestors who were able to outpace predators and hunt down valuable prey for food that allowed for survival — producing meals and energy for mating. And those early endurance athletes passed on their genes. It’s a beautiful hypothesis: We are designed to be athletes so that we can live long enough to procreate. Which is to say that natural selection drove early humans to evolve into supremely agile beings — developing longer legs, stubbier toes, and intricate inner ears to help us maintain better balance and coordination while standing and walking on just two feet as opposed to four.

The biology of how exercise can be so beneficial to brain health goes far beyond the argument that it promotes blood flow to the brain and thus delivers nutrients for cell growth and maintenance. Indeed, cerebral blood flow is a good thing. But that’s old news. The latest science behind the magic of movement in protecting and preserving brain function is stunning. It boils down to five benefits: controlling inflammation, increasing insulin sensitivity, influencing better blood sugar control, expanding the size of the memory center, and boosting levels of BDNF.

Exercise has been proven to induce the growth of new neurons in the brain, but the real miracle is that it also has been shown to help build important networks in the brain. It’s one thing to give birth to brain cells, but another to organize those cells into a network that functions in harmony. We don’t get “smarter” just by making new brain cells. We have to be able to interconnect those cells into the existing neural network; otherwise, they will roam around aimlessly and eventually die. One way to do this is to learn something new.

In a 2007 study, newborn neurons in mice became integrated into the animals’ brain networks if the mice learned to navigate a water maze. This is a task that requires more cognitive power than physical ability. The researchers also noted that the newbie cells were limited in what they could do; they couldn’t, for example, help the mice perform other cognitive tasks beyond the maze. To do that, the mice would need to exert themselves physically, which would encourage those new cells to become spry and cognitively limber.

And therein lies the secret benefit of exercise: It makes neurons nimble and able to multitask. We don’t know how exercise facilitates mental makeovers on a molecular level, but we do know that BDNF plays a role by strengthening cells and axons, fortifying the connections among neurons, and sparking neurogenesis. Neurogenesis increases the brain’s ability to learn new things, which in turn strengthens those new brain cells and further fortifies the neural network. Remember, too, that higher levels of BDNF are associated with a decrease in appetite. So for those individuals who have trouble controlling their appetite, this provides yet another impetus to exercise.

Conclusion

Until we face a health challenge that affects our brain’s functionality, we tend to take our mental faculties for granted. We assume that our minds will travel with us wherever we go. But what if that doesn’t happen? And what if we can, in fact, guarantee our mental prowess and brainpower just by actively nurturing the brain in the ways described in this book? We all cherish the right to free speech, the right to privacy, and the right to vote, among others. These are fundamental to our way of life. But what about the right to a long life, free of cognitive decline and mental disease? You can claim this right today.

To reap the benefits of exercise, make it a goal to break a sweat once a day, and force your lungs and heart to work harder. Remember, in addition to all the cardiovascular and weight-management benefits you’ll gain from exercise, studies show that people who exercise regularly, compete in sports, or just walk several times a week protect their brains from shrinkage. They also minimize the chance of becoming obese and diabetic — major risk factors in brain disease. If you’ve been leading a sedentary lifestyle, then simply go for a 20-minute walk daily and add more minutes as you get comfortable with your routine. You can also add intensity to your workouts by increasing your speed and tackling hills. Or carry a 5-pound free weight in each hand and perform some bicep curls as you walk.

For those of you who already maintain a fitness regimen, see if you can increase your workouts to a minimum of thirty minutes a day, at least five days a week. This also might be the week you try something different, such as joining a group exercise class or dusting off an old bicycle in the garage. These days, opportunities to exercise are everywhere beyond traditional gyms, so there’s really no excuse.