Your Brain - The CEO of your Body!

Article written by Gloria Cabrera.

March 16th – 22nd 2009 signifies Brain Awareness Week which has been running since 1996 with the aim of raising public awareness of brain and nervous system research.³ In fact this event has united the Society for Neuroscience with The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and a coalition of over 1,200 science, advocacy, and other health organizations.³ With so much fuss about the brain, there must be something important about it, let’s learn more!

Your brain can be your best friend or worst enemy! It controls the activities of your body ranging from your heart rate to emotions, memory, learning, imagination and even your dreams!⁴ In fact the extent of your brain’s function is still unknown.⁴ With so much responsibility, you can see how vital it is to keep your brain ship shape! If your brain isn’t working properly you may feel flat, unhappy, confused and or forgetful.² In fact keeping your brain in shape is no stranger than servicing your car or training your muscles at the gym!

The brain is mainly comprised of fat (60%) and water.² But its work load is complex and therefore uses a larger percentage of energy (kilojoules/calories) than other organs (e.g. heart, liver, and kidney).²

Each day our brain processes an estimated 60000 thoughts.²Each thought triggers activity across specialized nerves called neurons (these help make up your brain).² Each neuron is linked to other neurons (you have 100 billions of them) which have arms called dendrites.² Dendrites send a spark (called a synapse) to a neighbouring neuron – this is how messages (called neurotransmitters – incase your interested...) are sent.² Each neuron has a ‘station’ where messages are sent and received.² There are several different types of neurotransmitters – all having different purposes. Some of these include:

Serotonin – the happy neurotransmitter, keeping you in a better mood and helping you sleep.²
Adrenalin, Nor adrenalin and Dopamine – Motivators, that give you the feel good factor and the ‘get up and go’ when it comes to stressful situations.²
Acetylcholine – One of the key memory guys.²
GABA – Keeps you relaxed and calm.²

Many of these neurotransmitters are made from amino acids (building blocks of protein), fat (essential and phospholipids) and vitamins and minerals in particular B group vitamins.² So having a healthy diet is essential to their well being.

Did you know that there are over 1000 known disorders of the brain and nervous system and that these result in a greater amount of hospitalization than any other disease?⁴ In fact neurological illnesses affect over 50 million Americans each year costing more than $460 billion!⁴ Add mental disorders and an additional 44 million adults are stuck at a cost of $148 billion.⁴ In Australia, over 2.5 million people are affected by brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, motor neuron disease and Parkinson disease.¹

Although not all disorders of the brain can be prevented, a healthy diet and lifestyle may reduce the risk and help boost your brain so that it can do the best job possible.

Brain Boosters – A Healthy Diet

A healthy diet will not only benefit your brain but also your health in general. For maximum brain health, try some of the suggested tips:

Include good sources of fat both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated in your diet. Certain types of fat may help boost your brain such as:
- Essential fatty acids: These include omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. Food sources include coldwater fish; salmon, fresh tuna, herring, mackerel (2-3 times per week), raw nuts and seeds (1 Tablespoon per day), cold pressed seed oils e.g. sesame, flaxseed and canola.²
- Phospholipids: These include eggs (6 per week) or lecithin granules (1 Tablespoon per day).²
Consume adequate protein: Such as lean meat, chicken or fish and vegetarian proteins such as tofu, tempeh, beans, lentils, quinoa.²
Choose low glycemic index (GI) carbohydrates such as whole grains, lentils, beans, low fat dairy, low GI fruit and vegetables.²
Include fresh fruit and vegetables in your diet as these will provide essential vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.
Limit junk food, take aways, fried foods and highly processed foods these tend to be high in unhealthy saturated fats and refined carbohydrates.
Certain supplements can help boost your brain include B group vitamins, vitamin C and omega 3 and 6 (fish oil tablets or evening primrose oil).²

Brain Boosters – A Healthy Lifestyle

A healthy diet is not the only thing that helps keep your brain healthy, leading a healthy lifestyle plays a role too. Here are some lifestyle tips:

Drink alcohol in moderation: Drinking too much alcohol too often is not good for your brain and can eventually dull mental function and intelligence.²
Quit smoking: Tobacco smoke contains many chemicals that is damaging to your body and brain.
Reduce stress in your life: A permanent state of stress is not good for your brain and can damage it leading to a poor memory.² More about stress in a future article.
Get adequate sleep so that your brain is well rested and ready to go each day.
Keep your brain sharp by using it! Have you heard the saying ‘use it or lose it’ well why not try doing a course, learning new skills or simply do cross word puzzles or Sudoku on a regular basis.²
Exercise: Keeping fit will benefit your brain too, it is a great stress relief and does wonders for your health in general.²

In business, a CEO that is not up to scratch will eventually get fired and replaced with someone who can do the job. Unfortunately this isn’t an option when it comes to your brain, you just can’t fire and replace it with a new one! So although some brain disorders cannot be prevented, why not reduce the risk by keeping it as healthy as possible so that it can be the best CEO possible!

References:

Brain Foundation, 2009. Brain Foundation Research [Online]. Available at http://www.brainaustralia.org.au/research [Accessed 21st March, 2009].
Holford, Patrick, 2005. The Alzheimer’s Prevention Plan. Piatkus Books Ltd, Great Britain.
Society for Neuroscience, 2009. About Brain Awareness Week [Online]. Available at http://www.sfn.org/baw/about.cfm [Accessed 18th March, 2009].
Society for Neuroscience, 2008. Brain Facts – A primer on the brain and nervous system [Online]. Available at http://www.sfn.org/skins/main/pdf/brainfacts/2008/brain_facts.pdf [Accessed 18th March, 2009].

Last updated 17 June 2009