Brain Power: Enhance IQ and Memory

"A man’s real possession is his memory. In nothing else is he rich, in nothing else is he poor."
Alexander Smith, 19th century Scottish poet

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When investigating the power of the human brain, it is best to first look at the brain capacity of an insect, such as the bee. A bee has only ten thousand cells but can build complex housing communities, care for its young, collect pollen and information, communicate with other bees, count, dance, eat, distinguish other bees, fly, hear, produce honey, smell, taste and reproduce. Compare this to the human cerebral cortex which contains 25 billion nerve cells (or neurons), linked through 164 trillion intersections. There are more than 100 different neurotransmitters involved in helping the brain’s electric signals – be it a thought, a perception (such as feeling chilled or wary), or an order for one of our muscles to move – to get across these intersections. There are only five important neurotransmitters for you to know.

Dopamine is the neurotransmitter of motivation, power, energy, vision and drive.

Norepinephrine is the neurotransmitter for vigilance to fight or flee from danger, such as from tigers or today’s equivalent, facing harrowing rush-hour traffic

Acetylcholine is for learning, memory, organizing and coordinating the right brain with the left brain. GABA is the calming and stabilizing hormone. GABA deficiency leads to anxiety. Valium and Xanax are intended to raise the GABA neurotransmitter.

Serotonin regulates our mood, sleep, pleasure, aggression, sexual behavior and appetite. Alcohol, cigarette and cocaine addicts are constantly craving serotonin.

Urine tests to measure neurotransmitter metabolites levels are available. An alternative is to answer a few questionnaires - termed ‘psychometric testing’- to determine how your neurotransmitters are affecting your personality and behavior and your brain response to exercise, anti-inflammatory diet, psychotherapy, supplements, hormones, detoxification or medications.

Every brain cell needs a constant supply of oxygen and sugar to survive. Both are carried to the brain through tiny blood vessels. The brain sucks up so much energy that one quarter of the blood pumped by your heart is diverted to the brain even though your brain weighs only three pounds and represents a mere two percent of your body weight.

Memory declines 21% from age 25-40 and 43% by age 75. The IQ of Harvard physicians were measured and followed since 1950. These doctors lost an average 5% of their IQ every ten years. The operative word here is “average”. Many doctors lost IQ points quickly while others actually increased their IQ’s as they aged! If you exercise your brain and learn new habits you will positively influence your body. Most of us can think of dozens of reasons not to exercise: you are already tired, you can’t summon the energy it requires, it takes too much time out of a busy day, it is cold out, it is too hot, your knee hurts… Study after study shows that exercise combats depression. It lifts your mood, restores your energy, realigns your brain chemistry and the price is unbeatable. It costs nothing. Physical activity works at least as well against mild to moderate depression as any known drug, with no side effects!

Researchers at Duke University have found that 50 minutes of exercise a week brings about a 50% decrease in the likelihood of being depressed.

Exercise also lowers the risk of hypertension and strokes and significantly decreases the incidence of Alzheimer's, a disease that affects 50% of all women and one third of all men over the age of 85.

Studies show that stress rewires the emotional circuits of the brain. A little bit of stress helps your memory, but too much stress creates distress and memory loss. There is nothing better for your memory than a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables. More than one cup of coffee a day will over-stimulate you and make it harder to concentrate. It is a myth that coffee makes you remember. It may keep you awake but by wrecking your sleep you will remember even less. Coffee depletes the body of vitamin B and causes tremors and anxiety. Smoking causes these same over-stimulation symptoms. The two combined are a certain recipe for accelerated aging!

Repeated minor head traumas, no matter how minor they seem, can accumulate so that they affect your memory 20-50 years later.

Pregnelolone is the hormone of memory. It makes DHEA, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. At age 75, most people have a 65% decline in pregnelolone compared to age 36. Naturally occurring DHEA and other declining hormones can be replaced after appropriate measurements.

Strokes and mini-strokes.
After age 55 the risk of strokes doubles every decade due to a combination of hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure and heart disease. Transit Ischemic Attacks (TIAs) are essentially the same thing as strokes except that these mini-strokes represent a temporary short term blockage of the arteries and symptoms resolve completely within 24 hours. 83% of all strokes are these mini-strokes. Symptoms of mini-strokes can be subtle, such as sudden difficulty seeing, walking, talking or understanding conversations, but ignoring them can be deadly. Examination and treatment within three hours of the mini-stroke using medications to dissolve blood clots can prevent a mini-stroke from turning into a hemorrhagic major stroke.

Parkinson’s Disease.
This is a progressive disease that can be partially controlled by medication. It generally affects people over fifty five, causing muscle rigidity, fine tremors, and difficulty writing or walking. If you recall, this is the surprising disease that struck American actor, Michel J. Fox who, since his diagnosis, has done much to educate others about this affliction. There are no known methods to prevent this horrible condition except through preventing head injuries by wearing a helmet whenever we ride a bike or engage in contact sports. Multiple blows, particularly to the head, are thought to be the cause of Parkinson’s in the famous fighter, Mohammad Ali.

Another important element is to avoid heavy metals and poisons such as pesticides, as well as, neurotoxins such as aspartame and MSG which can be disguised in salad dressings, soups and steak sauce under the words, “protein vegetables”, “spices”, “natural flavors” or “taste enhancers”.

Food supplements such as alpha lipoic acid, aged garlic and magnesium may offer some protection. Our own ability to produce CoQ10 drops with aging. Current studies indicate that supplementation may repair the damaged substantia niagra that leads to Parkinson.

However, the best defense against Parkinson’s is to avoid brain toxins in the first place. IV chelation, IV Glutathione and 1200mg of daily COQ10 are very beneficial.

Alzheimer’s.
This condition affects 50% of women and 30% of men over the age of 85. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 50% of nursing home admissions. While the condition may seem a sudden one, Alzheimer's actually represents a gradual and very slow degeneration of brain cells rather than a sudden loss of millions. Only when the brain fails to compensate do most care givers perceive the extent of lost memory. The short term memory is first to be affected, an example of which is the person who tells you a story from their past several times within half an hour. Physical exercise, mental exercise such as reading and word puzzles, food rich in Omega 3, and aspirin all lower your risks.

In addition to insulin and non-insulin dependent diabetes, Alzheimer’s is actually a third type of diabetes. The brain depends on sugar as its sole energy source. However, as opposed to the rest of the body, it does not need insulin to absorb the sugar into the brain cell. Patients who suffer from lethargy and brain fog after a sugar load, such as a fruit drink on an empty stomach, experience an increased pancreatic insulin release and future insulin resistance. They suffer from what is called reactive hypoglycemia which predisposes them to both diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Insulin resistance, seen in obese and non-active people, causes intermittent low sugar levels inside the brain leading to tangled brain fibers and plagues.

On the other hand, sustained elevation of blood sugar destroys many other proteins by binding them to sugar, a process called glycation. Protein destruction in the cornea leads to cataracts, a much more common condition in diabetics. Destruction of blood protein, as measured by elevated hemoglobin A1C, is a useful test to monitor treatment effectiveness in diabetics over the three months preceding the test, since blood cells live, on average, for three months. Protein glycation affects the proteins responsible for our immunity resulting in increased infections. Finally, brain cell destruction leads to Alzheimer’s which is much more common in patients such as those suffering from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, diabetes, insulin resistance and those with belly fat or elevated homocysteine blood levels.

Brain Damaging Habits:
There is nothing like the New Year or even the start of a new month to motivate us into adopting better health habits. What is bad for your brain is bad for your overall health. The damage is so subtle and gradual it escapes our notice. Accumulated damage at best makes us a bit less intelligent every year, and with the amount of new knowledge increasing exponentially, who needs this avoidable liability?

Here are some brain toxic habits to avoid:

1. No Breakfast: People who do not eat breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level. The key to maintaining adequate energy throughout the day is to avoid wide blood sugar fluctuations by staying on a low glycemic index diet and using small intermittent snacks of quality protein such as nuts. Low blood sugar leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration. Breakfast skippers think that they are eating less when in fact the opposite is often the case. A brain starved of sugar triggers the response to over eat not only at lunch, but throughout the day. Chronic meal skipping or dieting slows the metabolism, as starvation increases the stress hormone cortisol and destroys muscle. Breakfast skippers are four times more likely to be obese. Avoid white sugar, juices, croissant and white bread and choose instead eggs, smoked salmon, low fat yogurt or cheese, and high fiber cereal such as oatmeal or muesli, along with a cup of coffee or tea. If this seems overwhelming at first, begin by eating just one bite every morning then increase gradually.

2. Brain laziness: Lack of exercise and muscle mass affects circulation to the brain and promotes residual toxic waste in the brain. Try exercising your brain with the multiple games available today such as playing cards, chess, Scrabble, Sudoku, crossword puzzles, Mahjongg, Nintendo or other computerized brain enhancing games.

3. Smoking: Improved mental functioning is one of the immediate effects of nicotine exposure. Chronic smoking, however, was found to have the opposite effect. Smoking increases Alzheimer’s disease. If we add insulin related diabetes to smoking, the odds of Alzheimer’s are multiplied.

4. High consumption of neurotoxins: Almost all edible products contain preservatives which are used by manufacturers to ensure that food tastes, smells and feels good even after an extended period of time. Two of the most frequently-used toxins in a plethora of foods and beverages are the flavor-enhancer, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and the highly potent sweetening agent, aspartame. These substances can lead to dyslexia, brain tumors, depression, chronic pain and paranoia, while their potential effects on children can be even more destructive. The brain grows from a few hundred grams to 85% of its final weight in the first two years of life. Recent research has shown that young children who consume MSG and aspartame exhibit increased levels of violent behavior and mood disorders and can even suffer brain damage. MSG injected in rats causes them to become fat enough to be used for experimental research on obesity drugs!

Elderly people are also extremely vulnerable as their protective blood-brain barrier becomes less effective with age, and they rely more and more on packaged foods and soups due to declining dental condition.

5. Polluting your brain: The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency. Keep the AC in your car on "air recirculation mode" to avoid inhaling exhaust fumes. Avoid pesticides brought into your home and food. Avoid freezing or heating plastics. To help your liver get rid of poisons, drink a lot of water and eat broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, garlic and red radishes, so called “super foods”.

6. Sleep Deprivation: Sleep allows our brain to rest and the brain battery to recharge. The brain controls the function of most other body organs and the best thing we can do for our brain is to reward it with seven to eight hours of deep uninterrupted sleep per day. Long term deprivation from sleep accelerates the death of brain cells. You are more likely to get good sleep if you avoid heavy late evening meals, avoid caffeine after two PM, exercise 30 minutes every day and go to bed at the same time every night.

7. Drinking too much alcohol and taking too many drugs: Avoid alcohol and cigarette abuse. They affect your liver which is the waste management factory responsible to protect your body and your brain from unavoidable toxins. Alcohol lifts your depressed serotonin levels but in the long run is medically classified as a depressant. A June 2008 Journal of the American Medical Associate (JAMA) article revealed that excessive alcohol consumption causes depression. Do not take Prozac and Valium type drugs unless absolutely necessary. Try theanine, magnesium and Ashwaghanda for anxiety and St John’s wart, SAMe or 5-HTP as a first choice for depression. These supplements work best when combined with moderate exercise. If you are a woman over 40 years of age, check your thyroid, progesterone and estrogen levels and correct them before resorting to anti-depressant medications. Men should check DHEA and testosterone first.

8. Lead and mercury poisoning: Avoid dental fillers with mercury. Avoid large fish from polluted waters. Avoid food with pesticides, leaded fuel, paints, inks, or dyes.

9. Not enough brain stimulation: Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain. Decrease TV watching and computer games in favor of reading interesting books and being around intellectually stimulating people.

Thinking is the best way to train our brain; absence or reduction of brain stimulating thoughts may cause brain shrinkage. While you might choose to retire from a company, continue working at something you enjoy as long as you are in good health. The rule of "use it or lose it" definitely applies to your brain!

10. Relying on fat, salt and sugar to cook: The art of cooking for taste should rely instead on spices. Alzheimer’s is very rare in India, in part because Indians use so much curry in their food. Curcumin, found in curry is a strong brain anti-oxidant.

Don't believe that you can manage a complete lifestyle overhaul overnight, thus setting yourself up for disappointment and failure. The secret to changing habits is to change one habit at a time. Changing a bad habit is easy. The key is to concentrate on maintaining the new habit for at least three months. Adding even three or four good habits a year can add many useful years to your brain.

Hormone replacement and brain preservation. Testosterone is the memory hormone for men and estrogen is the memory hormone for women. Progesterone is now being used to rejuvenate and protect the brain after strokes, while, low estrogens in menopausal women are associated with Alzheimer’s. Progesterone blood levels start dropping around thirty five to forty leading to anxiety and insomnia.

Star foods for the nerves, mind and emotions:
Apple, Apricot, Asparagus, Avocado, Banana, beetroot, cabbage, chamomile, celery, Green vegetables, lettuce, nuts, peach, Pumpkin and shellfish.

Food supplements for the brain:
• Phosphatidyl Serine: Great amino acid for memory enhancement. A drawback is that it is a bit expensive. Ginko bilboa is also good for memory and so is Huperzine. You can find one pill with a formal containing enough dosages of all three ingredients.
• Magnesium has calming effects and helps with migraines and seizures.
• Fish oil: 70% of the brain is made out of fat and this fat is similar to that found in the fish oil EPA.
• Venpocitine: This product may improve brain functions.
• Curcumin (powdered curry or as a supplement): Have you ever wondered why Alzheimer’s is so rare in India? Curcumin also help liver detox and lowers the incidence of cancers.

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