Our brains need a lot of energy to keep us alive and spread our species. If our brain doesn’t get enough energy, it causes an emergency. Stress hormones are released to draw energy from outside the body. This makes us want to escape or attack something.
In this article, we’ll cover three things that weaken you and your brain. We’ll talk about brain energy, ATP, and brainpower. We’ll also discuss addictions and procrastination.
1- Sugar Suppress Brain, And Inhibiting Creating New Brain Neurons
The brain uses more energy than any other organ. It usually gets energy from glucose. But when glucose is low, like during fasting, the brain utilizes ketone bodies for energy.
Too much sugar can make the brain overactive. This can cause hyperactivity and mood changes. For many people, a little sugar makes them want more. Sugar affects the brain’s reward area, like a drug. Sweet, salty, and fatty foods can be addictive. This can lead to loss of control, overeating, and weight gain.
Why Does Sugar Harm Your Mental Health?
- Sugar inhibits the growth hormone brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is essential for maintaining functional brain neurons. Both depression and schizophrenia have very low concentrations of BDNF, which animal studies recommend could be a cause. Insulin also suppresses BDNF protection. (source)
- When you eat sugar, your body responds chemically, which promotes chronic inflammation. Long-term inflammation affects immunological function, which is associated with an increased risk of depression.
- Sugar feeds bad bacteria and yeast such as candida, and candida thrives on diets high in sugar and processed foods, so the more you eat these foods. Candida damages your intestines, causing a leaky gut. As Candida enters the bloodstream, it releases toxins. As a result, you may experience various negative emotions and mental states, such as irritability, moodiness, anxiety, and depression. Depression is associated with Candida albicans infections. (source)
The vagus nerve, the immune system, and numerous neurotransmitters are all part of a bidirectional system that connects the brain and gut microorganisms, commonly referred as the microflora. Gut bacteria influence stress response, brain health, memory functioning, social behavior, and mood.
Related: Why Gut Health is the Cornerstone For Brain Health?
Obesity and metabolic diseases are primarily the outcomes of physiological ailments in the body as well as psychological hedonic adaptation to the dopamine rush of highly stimulating foods that make the person follow certain bad lifestyle practices.
– Siim Land
Solution: Ketogenic Diet, Low Carb, And Fasting
Nutritional Ketosis: What Are The Advantages Of KETONES?
When carbs are low, the brain can use ketones for fuel instead of glucose. Ketones can lower glutamate levels and increase GABA production in the brain. This is good because overstimulated neurons can die. High glutamate levels are linked to stroke, neurodegeneration, and seizures.
Ketones can also reduce inflammation in the brain. Inflammation is linked to dementia and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Ketones are good for the brain because overstimulated neurons can die. High glutamate levels are linked to stroke, neurodegeneration, and seizures. Ketones can also reduce inflammation in the brain. This is important because inflammation is linked to dementia and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
A cyclical ketogenic diet makes it easier for your body to burn fat and make ketones, which improves your metabolism, makes your cells work better, and makes you more resistant to respiratory viruses like the flu.
Effective Way to Get New Brain Cells: Fasting, And Ketogenic Diet
Ketones can increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This means ketones could improve learning and memory. Fasting can also increase ketones and BDNF. During fasting, the liver makes ketone bodies from free fatty acids. This only happens when insulin levels are low. Ketones are a good source of energy for the brain.
Fasting can make you stronger physically and mentally. It frees you from other people’s opinions about how you should feel and how your body feels.
Related: The Fastest and Most Effective Way to Get New Brain Cells
High-fat meals improve your body’s fat-burning ability. Eating a cyclical ketogenic diet plus intermittent fasting can boost your body’s fat-burning capabilities. For example Omega-3 fats are important for your overall health for several reasons. Researchers have established they have a significant effect on your brain. Beside, consuming fat signals the body to produce more bile, so eating more healthy fats such as butter can increase bile production and excrete more toxins.
2- Pornography Addictions, Dopamine Receptors, And Neuroscience
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that regulates mood, motivation, and reward-motivated behavior. The brain secretes dopamine when pornography is viewed. The greater the amount of dopamine in your system, the greater your tendency to engage in or fight addictive behaviors.
The main reason pornography is addictive is that it hijacks the reproduction system. It floods the brain with dopamine, producing a feeling of ecstasy. The issue is that excessive dopamine causes desensitization and an insatiable desire for novelty.
Mindful sex with matched partners releases empowering and energizing neurochemicals. Watching pornographic material causes the release of neurochemicals that inhibit the flow state and lead to addiction. When it comes to sexual satisfaction, porn is like sexy high-fructose corn syrup. You should make a rational decision.
This compulsion can be unhealthy. The affected individuals should be monitored by a physician and prohibited from viewing pornographic material.
Related: Porn Addiction Dangers: What You Need to Know
Solution: Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Exercise, and Meditation Can Help With Porn Addiction
Mindfulness is a useful tool in the therapies of porn addiction. It can assist the addict in regaining control of their emotions and overcoming the triggers that lead to addiction to this type of content.
While it is impossible to eliminate the craving for porn, meditation can help the addict regain control of their behavior.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy is also helpful for people who have an addiction to porn. This is because CBT focuses on teaching people how to recognize and challenge the negative, irrational thought patterns that lead to substance use.
Related: How To Take Meditation To The Next Level?
3- Procrastination and Staying in Comfort Zone
Life is full of chances to step outside one’s comfort zone, yet seizing them may be challenging. Our brain likes love, and wants that comfort zone.
Why does the brain want comfort?
When you’re comfortable, and life is good, your brain can release chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, which lead to happy feelings.
When you are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with a scenario, you may feel the following negative emotions: fear, anxiety, and stress.
Yet, fear also activates the amygdala; research findings suggest that the amygdala plays a significant role in controlling the fear response in humans and animals. (source)
Solution: Wim Hof Breathing Method With Cold Shower
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in our motivation and happiness. But, there are many downsides to living a low-dopamine lifestyle. Dopamine deficiency can lead to fatigue, depression, irritability, poor cognitive function, and memory loss.
Cold exposure releases chemicals in the body that cause a spike in hormones like dopamine and norepinephrine. Dopamine levels increase by up to 530% and 250%. These hormones can help boost mood, reduce depression, and even improve concentration.
These chemicals are released into your brain and help you feel better. To boost your mood, the electrical impulses also have anti-depressive effects. So, a cold shower can impact your dopamine and mood. And what’s more, it’s excellent for your health.
- Correct Breathing: Always breathe in and out through your nose. This is the most basic way to breathe. Hyperventilation, which happens when you breathe through your mouth, makes it harder for oxygen to get to your tissues. (which raises the amount of cortisol) Mouth breathing also lowers the amount of CO2 in your body and makes it harder for you to remove harmful particles from the air. When you breathe through your mouth, your heart rate and blood pressure can go up, which can make you feel tired and dizzy. (source)
Other Problem: Self-Discipline
Self-discipline is the ability to drive yourself forward, remain focused, and act regardless of your physical or emotional state.
As we know, self-discipline is key to achieving anything in our lives.
Do many people want to know why self-discipline Is so essential? Self-discipline is the ability to resist temptation.
Trying to do something that isn’t worth it is an easy way to make yourself miserable. Yet, having self-discipline means you can fight these temptations and stick to your goals.
How?
Ask the people around. How many people are willing to take cold showers in the winter? Not that much.
You are making yourself uncomfortable. You are fighting your inner comfort zone!
Also, martial art such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu and wim hof breathing other things will help you get more discipline.
Humans are wired for social contact. It’s not about how many Instagram friends you have — a real sense of connection matters. People who have that with even just a few close pals are happier and more productive.
Brazilian Jiı-Jitsu is the best way for social contacts to release “oxytocin” chemicals while enjoying self-defense exercises. (source)
You Can Change Yourself: Thanks For Repetition And Neuroplasticity
Your brain always receives signals from your environment, the foods you consume, and your routines. What you do in your spare time, what you read, whether or not you play video games, the type of video games you play, and your interests are all signals your brain can perceive.
Consider whether each of your acts aids you in training your mind as healthily and profitably as possible.
In simplest terms, what’s happening in the brain is that each message you send to it repeatedly creates a new neural pathway or strengthens an existing one.
When your brain gets a new message, it will first do a quick search to see how that message fits with other information it already has. If it’s a new message, your brain will store it, at least for a while.
Related: Reprogram Your Brain With Repetition And Neuroplasticity
One of the first things you notice when you become completely conscious of your programming is the quantity of programming you receive from the rest of the world.
You can program whatever you want into my head.” That is precisely what the world around you does.
Boost The Amount Of Magnesium in Your Brain’s Hippocampus
Hippocampus-dependent memories are impaired in those who do not get enough magnesium in their diet, which is bad news for our brains. As a result, the hippocampus’s memory function depends on dietary magnesium. (source)
Magnesium L-threonate has been shown to have a high binding affinity for the brain and influences memory, learning, and cognitive function. Magnesium dramatically raises BDNF levels in the hippocampus.
However, there is another form called magnesium acetyl taurate. Magnesium acetyl taurate was considerably more successful than magnesium malate, magnesium oxide, or magnesium glycinate in raising magnesium levels in brain tissue. This finding has been associated with reduced rat anxiety and improved cognition and memory. (source)