How to increase you Brain power
Push your brain to be “Limitless” naturally.
Increase you Brain power.
“Brain is a muscle that can move the World”
-Stephen King
In the movie ‘Limitless’ -starring Bradley cooper- a struggling writer is introduced to a nootropic drug that gave him the ability to elevate his brain capacity and vastly improve his life. Now, we know it doesn’t have a fairy tale ending, the protagonist pushes his body on the verge of a drug overdose and all that. But, what if we tell you that one can experience elevated cognitive ability without inducing drugs!
YES, you can push your brain to be ‘Limitless’ naturally and increase you Brain power.
Studies show that keto diet paired with regular exercise and Intermittent fasting increases BDNF.
What is BDNF?
BDNF or (brain-derived-neurotrophic-factor) acts as a fertiliser to the brain. It is the epicenter of development within the adult and a child brain.
BDNF is a key molecule that produces a protein to facilitate the growth of neurons and synapses.
This entire process of creating new nerves stimulated by BDNF is known as Neurogenisis.
Along with creating new neurons, BDNF also protects our existing neurons and synapses. In case you haven’t realised yet, we need our neurons and synapses to grow in order to have better use of our wonderful brain.
Why Should you care?
An increased BDNF aids in better cognition, promotes mental health and optimal metabolic process. Certain lifestyle determinants such as exercise and a low-carb diet have shown a positive impact on BDNF.
When the body enters a state of Ketosis, it generates ketone bodies from fat in the liver and uses it as the primary fuel. This confuses the brain from its primary source of fuel, glucose.The neurons when exposed to ketones upregulate BDNF. This influx in BDNF fires the brain and inturn helps in it’s development and growth.
The problem with our current eating habits is the consumption of high carbohydrates, processed fat and refined sugar that lead to a decrease in BDNF production.
Mental Health and BDNF
The drop in mental health around the world has a lot to do with the slump in the quality of our diet. Brain chemicals are highly influenced by the nutrients in the food that we eat. Medications provides short-term relief with respect to depression & anxiety.
Shifting to keto diet increases BDNF, thus helps combat Anxiety and Depression.
How to increase you Brain power.
How to increase you Brain power.
Making the Switch (How to increase my BDNF & mental power)
- To begin with, practice a low-carb diet and eventually transition to a ketogenic meal plan.
- Start by including healthy fats. Some examples of healthy fats are avocado oil, nut & seed butter, flax seeds, chia seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, ghee, unprocessed cheese and butter, fatty fish like salmon, red meat etc.
- Include leafy and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, spinach, green beans, asparagus, etc.
- Have adequate amounts of protein (20% of your diet) like greek yogurt, sole fish, eggs, fresh poultry and protein powders to your diet.
- Avoid common mistakes while transitioning to ketosis.
- Exercise and meditate regularly. When we challenge our body and brain by reguraly exercising, meditating and learning new things, we put our brain under a good kind of stress to adapt to something new. This stress upregulates BDNF.
- Practice Intermittent fasting along with the ketogenic diet to boost BDNF. When fasting, your body and brain inccur stress in consequence to a lack of food, this lack thereof drives BDNF to be released in order to cope with the change.
- Following infographic has beautifully explained how to renew and protect neurogenesis.
Other benefits for the Brain
Keto diet may have several other benefits for the brain:
- Memory. Older adults at risk for Alzheimer’s disease have shown improvement in memory after following a very low carb diet for 6–12 weeks. These studies were small, but the results are promising.
- Brain function. Feeding older and obese rats a ketogenic diet leads to improved brain function.
- Congenital hyperinsulinism. Congenital hyperinsulinism causes low blood sugar and can lead to brain damage. This condition has been successfully treated with a ketogenic diet.
- Migraine. Researchers report that low carb or ketogenic diets may provide relief to people with migraine.
- Parkinson’s disease. One small, randomized control trial compared the ketogenic diet with a low fat, high carb diet. People who adopted the ketogenic diet saw a much greater improvement in pain and other nonmotor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
SUMMARYAccording to the available evidence, Keto diet can have powerful benefits for the brain. Ketosis acts like a natural nootropic — which is a substance used to improve cognitive function (usually a herb, or a drug). They may help improve memory in older adults, relieve migraine symptoms, and reduce symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, to name a few. Keto diet also improves spatial and visual memory, lowers brain inflammation, causes less neuronal death and slows the rate of cellular aging in injured brains.
Very Informative Article
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