Every Day Brain Health Gets the Blues!

Music is a powerful brain drug — one that can be used to fortify us, keep us balanced, and build up that healthy reserve we need to thrive. I could cite study after study that show measurable, positive changes in brain activity and blood flow not just while listening to but also when thinking about music. I could talk about chemical and electrical changes in every single area in the brain associated with higher level functioning, problem solving, creativity, and emotion.

But not today – today is about the oh so powerful brain benefits of experiencing life more fully engaged.

I just got back from the 3 day Sin City Soul & Blues Revival. I find myself renewed, recharged, restored and fired up after some incredibly healthy doses of music-induced brain-activating chemicals.

I know and have known for a long time, that great music moves me and makes me feel. I felt the first surge of dopamine as I packed the night before we left — just thinking about what we were about to do and the kind of music we were about to experience. Those happy chemicals started to push away “I am too busy to do anything no less leave all this important stuff for 3 1/2 days” mentality and got me past my initial doubts.

If you read my “stuff” you know my mantras:

• Engaging your senses activates your brain and helps you look at and experience things differently.
• Re-writing your mental maps through experiencing life more fully – not just through your senses but by also learning about how others see and experience life – opens up new neural pathways.
• Lighting up the creative centers in your brain with rhythms balances the chemical and electrical activity and nourishes your brain.
• Being social and moving outside your comfort zone helps you build up cognitive reserve and prepares you for those things that will happen because life happens.
• Physical exercise and moving your body is the best thing you can do for your brain and your body.
• Reduce stress and stabilize emotions so you can control how the chemicals in your brain are released as much as humanly possible.

Blues music is a full blown sensory experience based on story telling and the rhythms of life. The past few days taught me that blues music is best shared with others who “get it” that music is about writing and re-writing your life’s scripts based on something so experiential and so personal. It is about taking what you need and sharing that feeling with others through movement, melody, and fellowship. It is about being a part of something that changes attitudes, creates emotion, and restores your body’s balance by following the mantras of not just good brain health but overall health.
Every day brain health tip to enhance your life:
Listen to music that makes you feel, think, and sense the world in a more engaged way. Connect with that part of you that connects with music and you can’t help but nourish your brain in ways that you can’t even imagine!

Couldn’t find any video from Sin City Blues and Soul Revival yet but keep the dopamine flowing with one of my many favorites.

Food’s Effects on Brain Chemicals

Geek Alert

The brain’s communication chemicals, neurotransmitters, are effected by just about everything we do – what we eat, what we think, and what outside chemicals we introduce. The following is a pretty technical summary of what is happening to 4 very specific chemicals in your brain and how that brain chemistry can be influenced by diet. It is important to know that your actions have chemical consequences in your brain. Some of you might be interested in more details than that so take what you need from this piece.

There are 4 neurochemicals that directly affect how we think and how we feel and, in varying degrees, can be regulated through diet: serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine. Let’s take a closer look.

Acetylcholine plays a critical role in memory and learning and deficits have been linked to cognitive decline. Studies have shown that higher choline intake (the precursor for acetylcholine) can be associated with better cognitive functioning and reduced markers for dementia. Deficits in acetylcholine have been related to Alzheimer’s and other forms of progressive dementia. Some of the best sources for choline are egg yolks, liver, and wheat germ.

Dopamine and norepinephrine both help regulate information flow in the brain. How well you concentrate, how alert you are, how quickly you react to potentially dangerous situations, and overall processing pleasure and pain are all tied directly to levels of these 2 neurotransmitters. It is possible to boost how much your dopamine and norepinephrine your body produces through foods containing tyrosine (the building block for both neurotransmitters). Poultry, soy protein, avocados, bananas, low-fat dairy, lima bean, seaweed, and many seeds like sesame, chia, hemp, and pumpkin seeds all contain tyrosine. Even though the jury is still out on what diet alone can do, we do know that exercise in conjunction while avoiding certain foods that are heavy in refined, simple carbohydrates and fats can make a measureable difference.

Serotonin helps regulate things like learning, mood, sleep, and constriction of blood vessels. Deficiencies in serotonin can create problems in every day functioning and it is important to understand the role of food, not just prescription drugs and supplements, in regulating serotonin levels. Tryptophan, omega-3 fatty acids, complex carbohydrates and vitamin B6 all play vital roles in developing serotonin and keep healthy levels of this neurotransmitter. The key is getting the right balance of amino acids along with tryptophan. – tryptophan alone from raw foods does not seem to have a great enough impact on serotonin levels so make sure to focus on accompanying those foods with healthy amounts of complex carbohydrates found in grains and some fruits. There is no study or formula that outlines that “right” amount or ratio however you will find foods high in tryptophan, omega-3s, and vitamin B6 all over lists of brain healthy foods. It is that interaction that is important. According to the Livestrong Foundation (a great source for dietary information) the following foods contain tryptophan: red meat, milk, cottage cheese, string cheese, provolone cheese, Swiss cheese, yogurt, seeds, bananas, soybeans, tofu, soy products, tuna, clams, oysters, crabs, turkey, egg whites, spirulina, cheddar cheese, pork chops, lamb and potatoes.

Laugh Your Way to Better Brain Health

A great way to keep your brain healthy is to engage it in multiple processes at the same time.   Humor is one of the most complicated and one of the most feel-good processes in the daily human experience.

Think about it — jokes require you to understand meanings, symbolism, and metaphor; put all those things in context and in order; and respond in both a timely and physical fashion.   That is a lot for the brain to handle all at once and a perfect way to exercise and expand your functioning.  Check out this photo of a human brain while laughing.    Talk about lighting up the brain!

For more great images of the brain “laughing” look at Roots & Wings’ blog.

I read a study recently that indicated that in addition to activating areas of the brain involved in language processing, understanding, sequencing, and physical laughter, humor also stimulates the reward centers in the brain, like the amygdala.   When stimulated, the amygdala releases dopamine, a powerful neurochemical that plays a vital role in the brain’s pleasure and reward system and makes us feel good.   Laughter helps nourish your brain by providing those neurochemicals that regulate all kinds of functioning.

All things considered there is real basis for humor making us function better from two brain standpoints.  Laughter and humor:

• fire up multiple processes to keep pathways open and
• release chemicals that make us feel good!