Boost your brain power at work
E63: 4 ways to support your gut health and improve your brain power
When was the last time you were grateful for what your brain does for you?
Never?
We can take it for granted, can't we? Until that is, it hijacks our best intentions.
We ruminate over a difficult conversation we need to have with a colleague over and over again.
At the end of a stressful day, our brain doesn't wind down to let us sleep - it must know the irony of sleep is so important for brain health!
We read a sentence over and over again, but it still doesn't sink in.
In this edition of Effortless Thursdays, I'm answering a question I commonly get:
“What can I do to boost my brain power?”
You've probably got a go-to list of what you do, but I wanted to focus on something that I think is out of fashion because it’s about going back to basics.
This approach is not as easy as popping a brain-boosting supplement. Nor is it guaranteed to give you results within five days (or your money back!).
But what about the things we can do to improve our brain health so we can think more clearly without brain fog or more quickly than a sloth?
This week, we're focusing on one of the other key ways to optimise your brain power: your gut.
Why is the gut important for brain health?
What is the gut-brain axis?
Four ways you can support your gut for optimal brain health and function
Over to you
Read on to find out why your gut is key to your brain health and brain power, and the four ways you can support your gut health and improve your cognition.
What do you want to try for your gut health and your brain power?
Your gut and your brain talk to each other
One of the things I've discovered is that we have not just one, but three brains:
the brain in our head
the one in our heart, and
the one in our gut.
We can turn to each of the other two for wisdom, like when we notice "butterflies in our stomachs" that tell us we're nervous. Sure, the brain in our head might commonly dominate our decision-making, especially if you're a professional, or an entrepreneur working out how to enter a new market.
But our heart and our gut know what we need, too.
In fact, our gut is always wise because it holds the key to better brain health and cognitive performance.
Why? Because your brain and your gut talk to each other, and they've been doing so since you were born.
It's called the gut-brain axis.
Basics of the gut-brain axis
The gut-brain axis is the communication network linking our nervous system (in our brain and spinal cord) (CNS) and our enteric nervous system (ENS).
The ENS is a network of nerves and cells that controls the function of the gastrointestinal tract. It's responsible for:
Regulating digestion
Absorption
Moving food through the digestive system
The CNS and the ENS communicate with each other through nerve pathways.
This communication means good gut health is important for brain health.
For example:
Bacterial metabolites can travel from the gut to the brain, where they can impact cognitive function. Eg intestinal dysbiosis has been identified as an underlying cause of dementia1.
You might have taken probiotics to improve your gut health. Modifying gut microbiome with probiotics is associated with improvements in your mood2.
How do we optimise our brain health?
This link between our CNS and ENS means that the health of our gut impacts the health of our brain and:
How we think - is our thinking foggy and muddled? are we thinking clearly and with sharpness?
Our mood - are we easily triggered? are we calm under stress?
Our energy levels - can we fit everything into a working day and not pass out on the sofa at night?
You probably have some good ideas already about what it takes to improve your gut health.
If you're busy, you might also be tempted to reach for some supplements or tablets that claim to enhance your brain function.
Supplements can have their place, but it's more important for your longer-term brain health to focus on your foundations first.
No amount of supplementation is going to help if your basics for brain health aren't in place.
It's like using a bucket to empty the water from a boat that's leaking, rather than fixing the leak.
4 ways to support your gut health and improve your brain power
1. Eat Real Food
In the past, I've mentioned eating real food, but I haven't shared my take on it.
So here is an article that explains how to “Eat Real Food” with four principles for what this means in practice, and which real foods support your brain health and cognition.
2. Sleep flushes out toxins in your brain
Sleep helps flush out the toxins from our brain and enables our memory to make sense of and process the day.
It can be frustrating being told that you "just need to sleep seven to nine hours" when you're regularly getting less. It's certainly a goal to aim for over the longer term but there are plenty of simple practices that you can do to improve your sleep.
Here are my 20 tips to fall asleep (and stay asleep).
3. Manage your stress through food
One of the things that I, and my clients, family and friends, have noticed about the 30-day reset, which I talk about more in How to “ Eat Real Food” is that it improves lots of things, including your sleep, skin, weight and energy levels.
One element that often goes unnoticed is an increase in resilience.
Eating whole foods for nutrient density helps you to regulate your blood sugar, which helps you avoid the large swings that cause you to be jittery and energised one moment and then feel like you have no energy at all the next.
Food affects our mood.
4. Move your body to boost your brain function
Exercise boosts a neuron growth factor called BDNF - Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor - and the plasticity of our synapses. These improve our brain's executive function and creativity.
If you've ever felt “stuck” and lacking inspiration at your desk, and you get up and move around - perhaps walking for a couple of minutes - and are inspired, that's one of the benefits of exercise!
ps If you’re an entrepreneur, a lawyer or another high-flying professional - who’s looking to bring joy back into your work and home life - by building a healthy brain for a career that’s full of success in a way that feels effortless, get in touch and let’s have a conversation.
That’s it for this week!
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To your health and success!
Eric
