Natural News reports five ways to pump up your brain matter:
" 1) Exercise. . . Getting your heart pumping and your blood flowing by running, biking, or swimming is a great way to increase levels of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell line-derived trophic factor (GDNF), two key growth factors that promote neurogenesis.
2) Meditation . . . meditation clears the mind and helps balance brain chemicals, including those that regulate neurogenesis. At least one study determined that meditation helps activate certain integrative functions in the brain, promoting both short- and long-term neural changes.
3) Diet. . . Omega-3 fatty acids are an important fat to consume regularly for improved brain health, as are healthy saturated fats like coconut and palm oil. Docosahexaenoic acid in particular is a critical fat component that, as it pertains to neurogenesis, is absolutely necessary for the brain to manufacture new brain cells.
4) Sleep, sunlight and sex. . . Sleep deprivation, it turns out, reduces hippocampal neurogenesis, throwing hormone balance out of whack and cluttering the brain.
Natural exposure to sunlight is another factor in neurogenesis, as vitamin D increases levels of both serotonin and GDNF expression in the brain. Sex helps minimize both anxiety and corticosterone levels while promoting adult neurogenesis.
5) Psilocybin and cannabis. . . Psilocybin increases hippocampal neurogenesis and increases the ability of the brain to "unlearn" certain negative fear responses, hence the reason why sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often report benefits from supplementing with psilocybin.
And cannabis possesses compounds like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) that match with receptors in the brains to reduce anxiety and promote neurogenesis.
(Photo credit: Highexistence.com)
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