20 Game-Changing Insights on Brain Health 🧠

Welcome to episode 400 of the Kwik Brain Podcast. I am so proud to share with you our 400th episode. It has been my absolute honor to bring weekly episodes to you, our listeners, for the past 8 years. And I want to extend on behalf of our team a heartfelt thank you to every single one of you that has tuned in, be it for one episode, or some of you I see on social media, all 400 episodes. We're celebrating this milestone by diving deep into the most impactful insights that we've uncovered about the brain, health, the mental part of your business, and personal growth. This special episode will be split into 2 parts. In part one, we'll discuss 20 game-changing topics around brain and brain health. And in part 2, we will continue discussing another 20 topics that we've learned from these solo and guest episodes around business and personal growth. So let's get started. I encourage you to take some notes. There are a lot of treasures, a lot of gems here, and let's Talk about what we've learned together about our brains. Number 1, meditation. There is no shortage of things to be stressed about, and we will always find reasons why we cannot find the time to meditate. Yet if you take the time to reset and invest in yourself, you end up having more time in your day, feeling better, and getting more high-quality sleep that leaves you feeling fresher. We had the incredibly vibrant Emily Fletcher on the show to share her Ziva meditation technique, where meditation is combined with mindfulness so that you could start to create a more intentional life for yourself. Emily also shared her 2-minute morning practice that will help you get into the flow slowly but consistently in a fun way. Start with a 1-minute rant. Set a timer on your phone, press start, and let it all out. Everything that you have kept bottled in, you have the freedom for 1 minute to get it all off your chest. Notice what comes up in your 1 minute of raging or crying, whatever comes up for you. Then have a 1-minute dance party. Tune on one of your, your favorite songs and have a ball. Dance, get Be silly and be free to move and have a great time. There is a quote that says, everything has been created twice, once in thought and once in reality. Everything starts with a thought. So remember, meditation is not a luxury. It is one of the most important pieces of mental hygiene that we need to practice every day. Now, by the way, we'll put a link in the show notes to these other shows. So one of the best resources you could go to is at jimkwik.com/notes to go deeper into these episodes. Number 2, let's talk about light and memory. We had Dr. Shelli James on the show to explain the incredible link between light and brain functions. And here are 4 ways light can affect our memory and our learning. Attention. Light can be used to direct attention, heighten emotional intensity, and improve retention. Bright, cool light is like coffee for the brain when it comes to tasks that demand sustained attention. It helps to increase reaction times, accuracy, alertness. It boosts speed and fluency in children learning to read and helps to beat the post-lunch dip in college students. Number 2, sleep. Bright light in the morning and a regular bright day, dark night cycle improves quality and quantity of sleep. It could boost memory by up to 40%. For children, slow-wave sleep during naps can improve episodic memory. And then let's talk about mood. Bright light, particularly in the morning, can on some occasions be considered better than an antidepressant to lift mood and improve motivation, even for those who do not suffer from clinical depression. Always talk to a healthcare professional. This episode, like all, are not meant to treat or diagnose any condition. But it is suggested to get outside for at least 30 minutes every morning. It's not always possible. For me, sometimes it's 10 minutes to help reset my circadian rhythm. But you could boost with bright light. There's cool light sources and specialist lamps in the winter. Vitamin D was also a topic of that episode. Low vitamin D levels are linked to decline in episodic memory. cognition, and the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Vitamin D is synthesized by UVB wavelengths found in sunshine, but not in most artificial light sources. And it could be filtered out and blocked by windows also as well. So get outside and boost with vitamin D-rich foods and specialist UVB lamps. If needed. Number 3, third thing that we've discovered in the 400 episodes is placebos. According to Eric Vance, placebo happens because our brain acts as a prediction or expectation machine that spends a lot of time looking at the past to figure out the future. Our brain then starts to take shortcuts based on the expectations it has. It is actually easier for your brain to change the reality than it is to change the expectation. So in order to accommodate this glitch, our brain starts to adapt, and this is where the placebo effect starts to take place. So what does that mean? Some of the ways you could start applying placebo for better focus and sleep are getting into a mindset where you set out to achieve positive outcomes or expectations in your thoughts. Another way is to engage in daily rituals, such as drinking tea every day at a certain time before going to bed. You know, decaffeinated tea. The tea itself might not have an effect on your sleep. However, the ritual will put you into a space where it can start to have An effect. Placebos are also more powerful in a group. So this is another reason to surround yourself with a group of people who have similar values and similar goals and outcomes in mind. Number 4, stress. To calm down, we need to work with our brainwaves. And this is why I sat down with Jim Poole, who talked us through how they have achieved this at their company NuCalm, N-U-C-A-L-M. Now, the reptilian brain, known as— part of it is the amygdala, has been developed, some people say, for 40 million years and controls emotions like fear, stress, anxiety, where the prefrontal cortex that helps us think rationally has only been developed for the last 4 million years. Those numbers is different depending on what you read. So it's important just to keep in mind that these negative and unwanted emotions have started millions of years. They've had a head start, and that is why it could be often harder to control them than we think. The first part of our brain that wakes up in the morning is the amygdala, and therefore we start to look for things that need to be completed. Things that we worry about, or any threats that need to be eliminated. Imagine you're pushing the blood flow from the back of our brain to the front of our brain so that our prefrontal cortex can take over and lead our decision-making. Number 5, another lesson that I wanted to share from reviewing 400 episodes is this concept between women's brains and men's brains. So dopamine lives primarily on the left side of the brain, which is viewed as the masculine side of the brain by many. And serotonin lives more on the right side of the brain, which is often viewed as the more feminine side of the brain. But we can control our own levels of dopamine. It's harder to control our own levels of serotonin. These levels get raised by our external environment. For example, receiving positive reinforcement from people around you. Once serotonin gets high, it will drive dopamine release. Now that sounds a little bit complicated. Let's simplify this. So, so the difference between male and female brains, there are many differences, but the one we're highlighting here lies in that women, according to the biology, the neurobiology, could potentially need twice as much positive reinforcement from their environment to drive up serotonin and consequently dopamine. The female brain also has more estrogen receptors in areas of the brain that drive language and communication and are therefore able to read nonverbal cues better, such as reading faces and listening to the tone of someone's voice. To give a simple example that will help to tie this together, let's say in a more real-life practical situation, this is why talking it out often helps women to deal with stress. Women heal through dialogue often. Men, on the other hand, they often don't need to talk as much to process stress because they don't have as big a language center as women do. Number 6, let's talk about Alzheimer's. Many of you know that this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart because I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's when I was 7 years old. This is why it was so important to me to bring on Dr. Richard Isaacson to discuss how we can prevent Alzheimer's through our diet. Alzheimer's has been often called type 3 diabetes, and it turns out that there is a significant connection there. People with diabetes have twice the risk of Alzheimer's due to things like high blood sugar and insulin resistance. The goal here would be to create a personalized risk assessment for everyone and come up with a plan that's suitable for every individual. But there are some general guidelines that can be followed in the meantime. Dr. Isaacson outlines his full 9-step plan in his book, but here are 3 things you could do now to support your cognitive health. Seeing a doctor on a regular basis, taking control of vascular risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, because these are the things that we can control and manage when discovered early on. Eating green leafy vegetables and maintaining a balanced diet consisting of whole foods, focusing on proteins like wild salmon and chicken, and substituting dessert with berries. I call them brain berries. Take a deep breath and grab the bull by the horns. Educate yourself, research and understand your risk factors, and work on creating your own personalized health plan. Number 7, the topic of grief. We had Dr. Mary Frances O'Connor. She found through her research that our problem-solving and learning parts of the brain get activated when we are grieving. Therefore, we can think of grieving as a form of learning. Grief is linked to our reward pathways and attachment. When we bond with someone, we get attached, and this in turn is connected to reward learning. When someone we love has passed, our brain is trying to understand and make sense of this new reality. that we have found ourselves in all of a sudden. When it comes to learning, we need to keep in mind that our brain is using the most powerful chemicals in our bodies to seek out our lost loved ones. And on top of this, there are everyday programs running in the background of our body. We may experience things like a surge in cortisol or a decrease in oxytocin binding. And all of this requires a lot of energy from us. This means we need to be kind and patient with ourselves or the person who is undergoing the process. It is no wonder that we might notice a decrease in our ability to focus, remember, or sometimes feel like time is distorted. Number 8, let's talk about your memories. This was an episode I really enjoyed because I got to geek out with fellow memory expert and enthusiast, Dr. Turin, we discussed that memories are actually less useful to remember the past and much better used for predicting the future, and how memory also heavily drives how we make our future choices based on past experiences. Now, this isn't necessarily bad. However, keep in mind that memory is a good resource that serves, serves better as a copilot But you don't want it in the driver's seat at all times. There are many reasons why we might forget. However, one that stands out is that our memory is competitive, meaning that 2 separate memories about the same thing will compete with each other. For example, 2 different places where you have placed your keys will come up when you are looking for your keys. In contrast, some of the ways we can remember better is to apply our 5 senses. And like listen to music, new smells, locations, even tastes can help to retrieve and cement memories better. And music, by the way, helps to bring out emotions. We know that. All of these things help us to develop neuroplasticity and therefore gives us a mental workout. That will help to maintain our cognitive functions. Again, all of these episodes we'll put in the show notes. If you want to go deeper in these episodes at jimkwik.com/notes. Number 9, brain secrets of a 102-year-old doctor. Dr. Gladys believes that having a purpose for living your life is the single most important thing we can figure out for ourselves. We all have an inner physician, if you will, which can be contacted when we connect to the inner aspects of who we are, what we are doing, and why. Here is some of the wisdom she shared in this episode that we can use to boost our quality of life. You will get stuck, but you have to keep moving. There are times when life gets really tough. And you can get stuck, but if you stay stuck, you are blocking life from moving. And as it happens to all living things, it will die if we don't move. Movement is life. So do things that make you feel alive. Find a little bit of light and follow it to keep the life inside of you moving. Another lesson is that love is the greatest healer of all. It's what allows us Allows people to really connect with another person. Love activates the life aspect in us. And so just a reminder to love others, love yourself. And also another lesson, managing stress in that episode we talked about. If it gets so heavy that you cannot carry it yourself, lean onto your community and connect with people. Inner aspect of yourself also, that inner aspect is your guide. When seeking answers, turn inside. To listen what it's saying to you. All right, number 10. Let's talk about the mind versus the brain. The brain and the body are collectively made up of anywhere from 37 to 100 trillion cells that group into the brain, the heart, your hands, et cetera. They're physical organs that you can see and touch, but the physical is maybe 10% of who you are. It's more complicated, again, than that, but just imagine 10% of who you are. The mind is what allows you to communicate, to think about what you're saying while you're feeling and you're choosing. The mind is the force that is around and inside the body. It's an electromagnetic force. It's a gravitational field that is unique to each person. We talked about this with Dr. Deepak Chopra in that episode. It's not something you could take from anyone else, and they can't take away yours. Attached to the mind is a lot of mental chatter that we always are looking to control. I'm going to share some of Dr. Carolyn Leaf's wisdom here from that episode. Number 1, to manage the mind, You have to manage how you think. It's understanding that when you think, you're feeling. And when you're thinking and feeling, you're always choosing. The brain is a very complex organ that responds electromagnetically, chemically, and even genetically to our experiences. The consequence of which is that you build a thought. One of the first strategies in effective mind management is to develop your self-regulation skills. Skills. Be aware of how you're saying things and how people are responding to you. Can you alter what you're saying or how you're saying it, and will that change the impact of the conversation? One byproduct of this constant reflecting and capturing is being reminded of your own agency. Mind management is controlling The controllables. Second byproduct is that you can stabilize your brain within weeks and drop your inflammation levels. It has been shown that within 9 weeks, you can positively change your telomeres, which are involved in making millions of new cells every second and affect how even we age. Okay. Let's talk about the next 10 about brain health. Our brain health is a reflection of our overall health and vice versa. So here are some of the most impactful lessons that we picked up from our podcast guests when it comes to how to best maintain both. Are you tired and frustrated of struggling with forgetfulness and longing for greater mental retention and clarity? I have a special invitation for you to watch my free 3-part memory power video training where you'll discover the secrets to effortlessly recall crucial information, details, experiences, remembering what you read, giving a speech without notes, and remembering names, transforming you into an exceptional mental achiever. You'll also discover 10 powerful ingredients to supercharge your brain. So don't miss out on this life-changing opportunity. Simply click the button or go to jimkwik.com/power. Number 11, vision. Now, this episode was one of our most popular and fascinating ones, gaining over 600,000 views on YouTube. We had Dr. William Li on the show to discuss how we can heal and maintain our vision through food. And let me tell you, I picked up a bunch of new information for myself. Treating food as medicine is a well-known practice. However, very few apply this to the delicate sense that is our vision. The most common cause for vision loss are abnormal or unhealthy blood vessels, and there are some treatments out there for natural or diabetic vision loss. However, they involve having injections in your eyes, which is probably not the preferred way for many. So here are 3 things that Dr. Li suggests to lose from your diet and 3 things to add to your diet to support your vision. So here are 3 things you should avoid according to his research for vision loss. Number 1, soda, due to its lots of added sugar, which interferes with our gut health. Number 2, ultra-processed foods because they harm our overall health defenses. And number 3, processed meats because many have found it is recognized as being more carcinogenic. And here are 3 things that he recommends you should add for better vision. Number 1, tea. Green tea, oolong tea are proven to light up your gut health, improve blood pressure, and lower stress symptoms. Number 2, berries. You can choose your own. They can be fresh or frozen. Just make sure that they are as natural and organic as possible. The bright colors of the berry are actually full of bioactive goodness. And number 3, brassica, bok choy, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, light up your blood vessel health. Number 12, let's talk about your oral health. Inflammation in your teeth can activate a fight or flight response in our bodies. And in some more severe cases can even cause toxic vagal syndrome where you are too deep in the parasympathetic state. Each tooth is connected to a specific part of our body in a similar way to meridian points in Chinese medicine. And our guest, Dr. Dom, has seen patients release tension, eczema, chronic joint pain, and even knee pain that wouldn't get better with multiple surgeries after fixing their teeth with biological dentistry. Here are some of his tips in this episode for better oral health. Number 1, make sure your cavity fillings come from natural sources. Materials like mercury and aluminum are toxic and will eventually spread throughout your body. Number 2, test your vitamin D3 and K2 levels. Tooth decay can indicate low levels of these vitamins, as they could potentially help to bring in calcium and magnesium better. Number 3, use a coconut oil-based toothpaste instead of a fluoride-based one. Number 4, stop using mouthwash. Oral microbiome is the second most diverse one in our body, so we don't want to kill all the bacteria inside of it. Instead, try his recommendation, which is coconut oil pulling. And then finally, focus on a diet that includes a good amount of protein, collagen, vitamin C, and Antioxidants. Number 13, hot and cold exposure. This was a very popular episode. We had Dr. Susanna Soberg on to discuss the very popular hot and cold exposure protocols in more depth. And here are some of the key points I took away from her episode and her research. Let's talk about cold. Cold therapy is used to gain more focus, energy, and cultivate a more positive mindset. Cold therapy can help with lowering blood pressure over 3 to 6 months and reduce chronic pain in the body. Exposing yourself to cold immediately activates brown fat, which will automatically increase your metabolism and fat-burning processes. We also talked about heat. Heat exposure exercises your body just like you would in the gym. Very similar. Heat exposure lowers blood pressure and chances of cardiovascular diseases. Research also shows lower mortality rates in people who do heat therapy 6 to 7 times per week in small doses. Heat exposure helps to increase BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factors, which helps with memory retention and lowers risk for dementia and Alzheimer's. The ideal protocol that we discussed for cold exposure would be 11 minutes per week, and for heat, 57 minutes per week divided across 3 days or more. If you don't have access to cold waters or saunas, you can substitute cold plunges with cold showers and saunas with hot baths. Number 14, sleep. And we've done many episodes on optimizing your sleep. As we all know, Lack of sleep can impair several cognitive processes. So how can you sleep smarter? Episode we're highlighting here is we had the pleasure of welcoming Shawn Stevenson on the show where he shared 3 quick tips for better sleep. Number 1, exercise in the morning. A study done at Appalachian State University had people exercise at 7:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 7:00 PM. What they found is that on average, morning exercisers spent time in the deepest, most anabolic stages of sleep. They slept longer and had more efficient sleep cycles. Morning exercisers also had a 25% greater drop in blood pressure in the evening, which is correlated with the activation of your parasympathetic rest and digest system. This is because exercising in the morning resets your cortisol, upregulates your metabolism, and helps you to sleep better. Next, number 2, get the right sleep nutrients. The microbiome in your gut is incredibly important for sleep because there are 400 times more of the sleep hormone melatonin in your gut than in your brain. Magnesium is responsible for over 325 biochemical chemical processes, many of which involve sleep, stress regulation, and recovery. However, it is also the number one mineral deficiency in our world today. So make sure you keep your magnesium levels optimal. Number 3, practice meditation. We've heard it before. The American Sleep Foundation and the American Journal of Sleep Medicine found that meditation is as effective as Some of the best sleep medications. But the difference is that meditation is free and lacks side effects. Meditating in the morning helps you sleep better at night. In one study, people who meditated for 8 weeks improved their sleep latency. That's your, the time it takes to fall asleep. Didn't wake up as frequently during the night and slept longer. Number 15, let's talk about longevity. There are many new technologies out there that support Healthy aging, ozone therapy, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, plasma treatments, and much more. But as I've learned with many things, there are nice add-ons, and everything actually starts from the basics, like fixing your diet by removing excess sugars and starches, adding resistance training to your workout routine. And it doesn't have to be weights. It can be simple Resistance bands or your own body weight. Taking a really cold and hot shower interchangeably in the morning. We have had Dr. Mark Hyman on the podcast several times to discuss how to age better, whether it be your body or your mind. And I'd like to share a quick summary here of some of his personal protocols from these episodes that shows a real-life example of how the most Simple things create a big impact. So Dr. Hyman's daily morning routine for a longevity protocol, and we'll refer to the full episode again in the show notes. Prioritizing sleep the night before. Meditating 15 to 20 minutes in the morning, followed by journaling. Doing a resistance workout with bands, followed by hot and cold exposure. Finally, he makes this healthy aging shake that consists of goat whey, adaptogenic mushrooms, creatine, and pre- and probiotics. These are easy practices that all of us can start applying now to kick off your healthy aging process. You could find more about this in his book, Young Forever. Number 16, gut health. Here are my takeaways from the conversations I had with Naveen Jain about gut health. Your gut produces approximately 90% of the serotonin in your body and is directly connected to our brain through the vagus nerve. There are more foreign cells in your body than human cells. You are less than 1% human when it comes to gene expression. 95% of diseases are caused by chronic inflammation and microbiome imbalances. Research has found connections with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, depression, and cancer. According to Naveen, there is no such thing as a universally healthy diet or healthy and unhealthy food. What is healthy for one person may not be healthy for someone else due to differences in what your microbiome can digest. Things your microbiome cannot digest Gets converted into toxins leading to inflammation. For more information about a microbiome test, he has founded a company called Viome. You can get a link in the show notes. Number 17, hormones and fasting. Fasting shouldn't be treated as an optimal diet trend according to Dr. Mindy Pelz. It's a must for everyone's health. So according to her, here are some of the ways you could start your journey. Move from processed oils, toxic ingredients, and refined flours that create brain inflammation to healthy oils, nature's carbs, potato, apples, and lastly, get rid of any synthetic ingredients like food coloring. Number 2, start looking at your day in 2 windows, a fasting window that lasts for approximately 16 hours, And an eating window that could last for 8 hours. Break your fast with high protein. According to Dr. Mindy, women need to honor their hormonal cycle when fasting because they are balancing 3 hormones: estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone, as opposed to men who balance testosterone. The week before a woman's cycle is critical. Work on bringing down stress and increasing glucose levels. This is why you crave carbohydrates. Number 18, mental health. We had Dr. Chris Palmer on the show to discuss what really causes mental illness. And what we discovered was that the answer to this might hide in mitochondria and metabolism. According to him, the best starting point for someone with mental health issues is to assess Assess your metabolic health first. It's important to care about your weight, glucose and blood sugar levels, and blood pressure. After this, consider if there is a food sensitivity or maybe an allergy that might be contributing to your high inflammation levels in your body, especially in your digestive system. All of these symptoms can lead to depression and many other mental health issues. However, the biggest challenge might be to actually adopt the idea that what you eat will affect your digestive tract, which in turn will affect your brain. However, the science is overwhelming and proving that what you eat, how much you sleep and exercise has a direct effect on your mental wellbeing. Number 19, sensory deprivation. I have been practicing float therapy, otherwise known as sensory deprivation, for over a decade now. And this is why I invited Max Kassa on the show to discuss its many benefits in more detail. So I will summarize some of the benefits with you here. You can definitely watch the episode again. We put the link in the show notes. So floating is this process of going into a sensory deprivation tank. It has water. And lots and lots of salt so you float. And the temperature is your body temperature, so you can't see, hear, or even almost feel anything. So it's incredibly relaxing. Floating has helped me to reduce stress and anxiety. I always get a boost in my creativity. It deepens my meditation practice, and it's helped me with some chronic pain. Benefits of that zero gravity sensory deprivation and also the magnesium environment It increases blood and oxygen flow. It can potentially increase neuroplasticity. It's easier to access for me, those flow states. You absorb the magnesium through your— transdermally through your entire body. You can activate the same brainwave states as you would during a meditation. You could practice either a passive float therapy where you simply float And leverage the power of silence and darkness. It gives your senses a little bit of a break. Or you can try the active type, which I enjoy also, that incorporates different kinds of sounds that you could use to accelerate learning, that really works on your subconscious. Sensory deprivation has been used to help accelerate learning, as we talked about in an episode on the Navy SEALs example, where they've increased their language learning speed by around 75%. More information about floating, again, we'll put in the show notes, including a link. You could find most cities have a place where you could go, like a spa-type environment to do a floating session. So put a link to Max's recommendations for your own float tank. Number 20, let's talk about glucose. Glucose levels and apple cider vinegar have taken over the internet, and it continues to prove as one of the most sought-after topics. Our episode with Glucose Goddess reached over 2 million views this past year on YouTube. We had Jessie on the show to talk about her 4-week plan, where each week you add a simple food principle into your lifestyle, your diet, and watch your glucose levels become more steady. And to summarize it, I highly recommend you watch the episode. Week 1, Swap your sweet breakfast for a savory one. When you eat sugar, it releases dopamine and you actually feel pleasure instead of energy, and you will board a roller coaster of unstable moods. Week 2, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to a large glass of water. Drinking this will reduce the glucose spike and allow you to still eat the food that you love. Without the cravings. Week 3, have 1 vegetable starter each day. Fiber creates a protective mesh on the inside to slow down the glucose absorption into your blood. And then finally, week 4, her recommendation, after 1 meal a day, move for 10 minutes. Contracting the muscles for 10 minutes will help to soak up some of the glucose that you just You can either walk, do some calf raises, some squats, go for a walk with the dogs after dinner. The perfect food eating order for your glucose levels would be eating vegetables first, followed by protein and fats, and then always ending with carbs. This will help to reduce the glucose levels upwards of 75% without having to change what You eat. It's just how you eat. Following these simple principles will help you combat mood swings, brain fog, and fatigue throughout the day. And there you have it, Kwik Brains. We just scratched the surface of the incredible insights we've gathered over 400 episodes. From the power of placebos to the secrets of a 102-year-old doctor, from maintaining better vision to hormones, we've covered a lot of ground. Remember, your brain is your most valuable asset and investing in it, its health is the best gift you could give yourself and somebody else. So make sure if you enjoy this episode, be sure to share the episode and be sure to tune in for part 2, where we'll explore 20 more transformative topics on using your brain for greater business and personal growth. This is your brain coach, Jim Kwik. Until next time, be limitless. Limitless.