3 Reasons Why Investing In Your Brain Health Is Critical For Your Survival This Year

Alzheimer’s, depression, anxiety, ADHD, and other brain disorders run rampant in my family.

Can you relate?

Naturally, I’ve become very passionate about the brain over the past few years. While getting my hands on as much information as possible, it’s become apparent to me that there is so much more to brain health than just neurotransmitter balance (which includes brain chemicals like dopamine and serotonin). 

Unfortunately, brain-related issues come with a stigma, so brain health often gets put on the backburner when it should really be in the forefront of our minds (pun intended). 

It turns out that there are many factors that work together to create optimal brain health. And these factors affect the health of the rest of the body as well. 

So, focusing on brain health, in turn, creates optimal health for the entire body.

Now, I’d like to propose that this year be the year you put your brain heath at the top of your priority list. Let me show you why. 

1. Stress is highly toxic to the brain.

I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t feel stressed most of the time, especially with the world where it is right now. Everyone seems to be on edge.

We’re all stressed. So what?

High levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) disrupt almost all your body’s normal processes and is toxic to your brain.

It promotes blood sugar imbalance (a stressor on its own) and obesity. It makes us have carbohydrate cravings and pokes holes in our gut (leaky gut) that increases inflammation throughout the body. This inflammation turns into leaky brain, allowing toxins in the brain resulting in worsening brain function.

High cortisol levels also cause calcium to leech out of your bones into the bloodstream. This not only reduces your bone density, but the calcium can deposit in your blood vessels, disrupting blood flow and nutrient distribution (including in the brain). 

Cortisol also attacks the brain’s ability to make new neurons, as well as grow and maintain neurons associated with memory function.

So, having a hard time finding eggs in the grocery store, waking up to find that gas increased by 50 cents per gallon overnight, and feeling the pressure to be choosy with your financial decisions are, in fact, a really big deal for your brain.

2. The average age of someone already living with dementia is 49.

Yes! Our perception that brain dysfunction and cognitive decline are “old people” problems is flat out wrong. Brain dysfunction can affect anyone at any age.

This means you too.

3. The underlying processes leading to brain dysfunction can begin decades before symptoms appear.

In fact, Alzheimer’s can even begin in your twenties!

There are at least 36 factors that can contribute to brain dysfunction, and many people experience disruption in several of these factors, not just one. Disruption can also occur at any point in someone’s life, so just because you’re in your twenties doesn’t mean this doesn’t apply to you. 

Click here to read about these factors and the six categories they can be grouped into next.

So, if you experience brain fog, memory problems, concentration issues, or other brain-related symptoms, your brain has most likely been waging war for a long time. 

That’s why it’s important to prioritize your brain health now. Brain health is no longer something to look at only when you retire. 

You only get one brain, after all.

If you’re reading this, odds are really high that you’re already in some type of cognitive decline whether you see the symptoms or not. 

Please let this be your wake up call.

This needs to be the year you prioritize your brain health because…

Your entire future depends on it.