“The brain immediately confronts us with its great complexity. The human brain weighs only three to four pounds but contains about 100 billion neurons. Although that extraordinary number is of the same order of magnitude as the number of stars in the Milky Way, it cannot account for the complexity of the brain. The liver probably contains 100 million cells, but 1,000 livers do not add up to a rich inner life.” ~Gerald D. Fischbach (Scientific American, Sept. 1992)
“The number of possible “on-off” patterns of neuronal firing is immense, estimated as a staggering ten times ten one million times (ten to the millionth power). The brain is obviously capable of an imponderably huge variety of activity; the fact that it is often organized and functional is quite an accomplishment!” ~Daniel J. Siegel (The Developing Mind, 1999)
As an amateur neuroscientist and a fitness expert, I’ve been fascinated regarding the link between the two. Back when I was young I heard that jocks were considered dumb and geeks smart. As a person who steps into both worlds, I believe that the fit jock is smarter than the unfit one (The only exception to this are those that have played football and other high-impact sports for a number of years. Many of them suffer from signs of early onset dementia.). The fit geek is smarter than the unfit one. Studies in neuroscience has proven this. Science has shown that increasing the size of the hippocampus helps to create more neurons (neurogenesis) and neuroplasticity. We get smarter.
In 1998, a University of California, Irvine rat study by Heather Oliff and others surmised that exercise induced brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) helped to stave off damage and degeneration in the brain. A 2007 UC Irvine study by Carl Cotman, Nicole Berchtold and Lori-Ann Christie showed that exercise helped to protect against neurodegeneration by increasing synaptic activity and building upon the systems that support this. More than likely it is related to BDNF in the hippocampus. Later studies, such as the 2011 one by Erickson, K.I., et. al, further explains this. In that study, exercise again affected in a positive way the BDNF and therefore increasing the size of the hippocampus.
Where our bodies go, so does our brain. What you do with it counts. Besides exercise, the nutritional component is just as important. While our brains needs a certain amount of fructose for energy, too much leads to increase inflammation as well as affecting hormonal levels. While exercise increases BDNF and therefore, brain size, sugar and high fats do the opposite as was reported in a 2002 UCLA study by Molteni, et. al. Too much sugar shrinks the brain and makes us dumber. And too think that according to the USDA a few years back, the average American consumes 156 pounds of sugar per year! Geez!
Last year, a study by the Australian National University’s College of Medicine found that high sugar led to a shrinking brain, the kind associated with aging and dementia. This past week, a study led by Dr. Paul Crane of the University of Washington had the same conclusion. In both studies, the blood glucose levels were not high enough to be called Diabetes 2. And to top it all off regarding sugar and the brain, it acts like an opiate in the “reward areas” of our brain according to a 2004 study by Dr. Rudolph Spangler of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, The Rockefeller University. So you get hooked on sugar and then it shrinks the heck out of your brain. Um, not my idea of something tasty, unless you don’t care about getting dumber.
In another study released this year, “Obesity leads to brain inflammation, and low testosterone makes it worse”, led by Anusha Jayaraman, PhD, of the University of Southern California, showed that obesity (along with low testosterone) led to brain damage. When you add in the fact that a lack of sleep also leads to an increase in obesity (as was determined by a recent study via UC Berkeley), then it’s time to stop our society’s obsession with sleeping less and start getting more.
If you want to increase your brain size, get smarter and stave off the effects of dementia later in life, then do these things:
- Eat a diet of colorful fruits and vegetables.
- Exercise more and consistently.
- Eat more fish that is full of omega 3 fatty acids.
- Reduce stress.
- Lose belly fat.
- Get enough sleep.
- Be a lifelong learner, including reading.
- Write more.
- Challenge yourself mentally.
- Dance and have more fun in life.
- Socialize with friends more often.
- Be more childlike and less childish.
- Be optimistic more and smile!
I hope this post helps you to grow your brain, get smarter and fitter.
Cheers,
Bob
America’s #1 Mind-Body Transformation Expert and author of Mind Your Own Fitness
