Top 10 Brain-Building Breakthroughs

Hey guys, Dr. Josh Axe here. Welcome to Ancient Medicine Today. Today I'm going to be talking about the top 10 brain-building breakthroughs including the best supplements, diet, exercises, essential oils, and a whole lot more to help take your brain To the next level. You know, there's a lot of people today I know struggling with issues related to the brain.

It could be ADHD, it could be autism, it could be dementia, Alzheimer's, it could be you struggle with brain fog on a regular basis, poor memory, or just lack of motivation. All of these things can be related to you're not getting the proper nutrients and not doing the right activities that can really help improve your brain. Yeah. Your overall brain function.

And so what I'm going to do is go through all of the things you can do today that are going to be incredibly beneficial for your brain, but also for your entire body. And also, hey, help me spread this message. There's a lot of people today, think about all the people who are struggling with kids who have been diagnosed with ADD and autism who need to know this information.

Think about all of the people who are struggling with dementia. And people taking care of them who just, they don't know what to do, they don't know the natural alternatives. So hey, take a minute right now, help me spread this message that food is medicine, punch that share button, click that like button, and let's dive right in. So here we go, number 1 here is yoga.

Now, I want to mention this when it comes to yoga, I believe yoga can be a very therapeutic practice for the brain and practicing yoga. You know, really focusing on your body and really that brain-muscle connection. Now, I know there's a lot of people in a lot of different religious circles who feel different ways about yoga. Now, my belief system is that yoga can be greatly beneficial.

I know there's some people though that believe that it is a spiritual practice that, you know, started with, you know, in Asia or actually India. And it may have some religious— people may have religious issues with it. But let me just say this, you know, for me and having a Christian faith, for me when I'm doing a certain pose, you can do that to whoever you want in my opinion.

You know, I can be bowing before Jesus and before God and doing it that way. So just let you know, it's all about your intention with what you're doing with your yoga poses. So that being said, Yoga can be greatly beneficial when it comes to obviously improving your flexibility, but here's the big thing.

When you're doing something in yoga, you know, I do a class called Hot 26 where I'm balancing on one foot. And in order to do that, I really have to use my brain and really focus on firing certain muscles in the body. It's also increasing something called proprioception in your body.

And proprioception is your brain working with your ligaments and tendons and muscles And actually, it's improving your brain-to-body connection. So yoga, especially doing those proprioceptive balance exercises, has tremendous benefits at actually boosting brain activity.

And also, when you're focusing on doing something, some of the activities and taking deep breathing, that's another big benefit of yoga class, is you work on deep breathing in and out of your diaphragm. That's actually been shown to help oxygenate So again, yoga can be greatly beneficial. And hey, if you don't want to do yoga, then practice deep breathing and proprioceptive exercises.

Now, juggling, very similar. Juggling has been shown to improve your levels of concentration. Now, if I had a few tennis balls here, I learned to juggle when I was younger, I would show you how to do it. But juggling is greatly beneficial because you are focusing on multiple things that are moving very, very quickly and it's actually helping increase your focus.

Focus, concentration, and your hand-to-eye coordination. And there are studies showing people that have improved hand-eye coordination also actually helps improve your memory and learning skills. So juggling can be greatly beneficial there as well.

And when you start juggling, you start with 2 balls and you start with one hand and then you add in a third ball and that's kind of how you work your way up. Number 3 here, meditation. Now, meditation can mean many things to many people. Whether you are really no matter what your religious background is, for me reading the Bible when I read the Bible meditation is something that many of them did.

And what I do when I meditate is I'll spend some time in the morning reading a Bible or a devotional or a personal growth book, and I'll pull out a principle I learned there: love your neighbor as yourself. There's a good example. And then I'll really sit there. I'll spend some time with God and just praying, and then.

What I'll do is I'll really reflect on what does that mean and how can I apply that to my life? That's one of the things I'll do when I meditate. Love my neighbor as myself. What does that mean? Well, that means I'm going to do something very kind. My closest neighbor is my wife, so I'm going to do something for her today. Maybe love my neighbor as myself. No, I don't want flowers, but she does.

And so again, love her as she wants to be loved. Another similar thing, love your neighbor as yourself, think about people in your workplace. Think about the people that you can love and do something for them. And actually, that type of meditation, really thinking deeply, is a principle of the Bible.

It's also a principle of ancient Chinese medicine where they believe that that actually increased your body's chi, your life force, your vital energy, that thing to— have you ever noticed there's some people, they just sort of look down and dreary, and some people, they almost have this light in their eyes, you know, this glow about them?

Well, in Chinese medicine, they call that your chi, your overall energy. People that are just sort of like just want to go out and just have very high spirits, well, in Chinese medicine, what nourishes your body's chi is actually reflecting on these things that where you're going to go out there. It's really meditation, meditation, deep thought and thinking.

Actually doing that internally overall helps increase your chi and your energy outward. Now, number 4 here, jumping to some advanced nutritional principles. Rosemary and rosemary oil are one of the most powerful nutritional plants in terms of improving your brain.

In fact, there are medical studies showing if you use rosemary essential oil, it greatly increases your memory and your focus all at the same time as thickening your hair if you're using it in your hair. So rosemary contains rosmarinic acid. It's also anti-inflammatory, but it's great for boosting the memory.

What you'll do is take about 5 drops of rosemary oil and rub it on your temples or massage it in your scalp. But rubbing it on your temples, rubbing a little bit under your nose, or deep breathing it in and out is great to help improve focus and study. Now, number 5 here, omega-3 fatty acids. So many people today are deficient in omega-3s.

Omega-3s are crucial for your cells and it's crucial for reducing inflammation of the brain, which a lot of people have. So you want to get more of these omega-3 fats from wild-caught salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, anchovies, just any type of fatty fish is going to be loaded with these omega-3 fats. So again, get omega-3s every day.

And if you're not getting them from wild-caught fish, get them from a fish roe or caviar supplement, a fish oil, a cod liver oil, but make sure you're getting omega-3s every day. And another fat I want to mention here. Are animal fats. Animal fats make up our bodies. And so getting good organic tallow, schmaltz, bone broth oil, these things on a daily basis is beneficial as well.

Another great thing in order to improve your brain, and there are studies on people who struggle with Alzheimer's on this, if you are learning something new, it actually can prevent dementia and Alzheimer's. So learn something new. Maybe it's a new language. Maybe it's a new skill. Juggling is a new skill. Maybe it's a new type of activity.

Maybe it's indoor climbing or practicing a type of exercise or doing puzzles or crossword puzzles, doing things where you're learning and activating your brain. You know, a lot of people, especially people that start to age, and once they stop to work, they stop having to solve problems, they get in the same daily habits day after day where literally their body Yeah.

Can do things repetitively without ever thinking. So again, doing things to where you're actually activating your brain, certain areas of your brain, learning something new, it is crucial for improving your overall brain health. Number 7 here is walnuts. Now, if you ever look at a walnut, think about the way it looks. It actually looks like a brain. It literally looks like half a brain.

If you have half a walnut there on the other side, it makes up a whole brain. Within Chinese medicine, we know that when you consume a food that looks like an organ, it typically supports that system. So in Chinese medicine, doctors recommended people consume walnuts to help improve the brain.

Well, today we know through medical research walnuts are packed with omega-3 fatty acids and magnesium, which both support the health of the brain. So consuming walnuts maybe with some raisins, those 2 things together every day, A great natural snack for the brain. Number 8 here, getting your runner's high. Now, you don't have to run to get a runner's high.

You can do that with burst training, you can do it with cycling, you can do it with swimming, but things where you're really going for a long period of time, you're really increasing your circulation, that's the key.

When your body gets a flood of circulation, you're— actually, this might surprise you, your small intestine, not even your brain, your small intestine starts producing loads and loads and loads of serotonin and other neuropeptides which boost your mood but also keep your brain healthy. Think about this, if you are sitting all day and you're not getting circulation, your body is like a swamp.

You're not getting certain nutrients out to various areas of your body especially that are distal such as your brain. So again, getting lots of circulation all the time can actually help. Feed the brain, bring it nutrients, helping you heal your body naturally, improving focus, memory, and a lot of issues over time.

By the way, if you're enjoying this live training with me, do me a favor, take a second now, punch that share button, click that like button, help me spread the word that food is medicine because there are a lot of people watching who do not know these truths here as well.

And by the way, as well, if you are a person who is doing a practice or you know of a practice that I haven't mentioned here That helps improve brain health and function? Hey, post that right now on Facebook Live and YouTube Live. I'd love to hear from you some of your best tips for improving brain health. Number 9 here, intermittent fasting can actually help clear the brain.

Now, fasting is something that was used and referenced biblically for overall health, and it's even in medical studies today that intermittent fasting can help improve brain function. You know, when you're eating, You've probably heard of not just the brain-body connection, but the brain-gut connection, okay? Your gut is connected to your brain.

So if you have something going on in your gut called leaky gut, proteins and toxins and bad bacteria can leak through the bloodstream, circulate, and cause brain issues. This is very common with a condition like autism where a child is having an outburst. If they consume gluten, they have leaky gut. Yeah.

Goes through their bloodstream, affects the brain like opium would actually, like an opioid, causing these behavioral issues. Now, similar thing though, if you're fasting and not eating, you're not having that issue and that's actually giving your gut more time to regenerate and heal and seal that gut lining.

So again, intermittent fasting, so skipping breakfast and lunch and eat— or at least skipping breakfast and just consuming between maybe consuming a meal at noon, 3:00, and 6:00. And not eating those other hours of the day can be greatly beneficial at improving your brain health. And also, 10, many different types of mushrooms.

Lion's mane mushrooms, one of my favorite mushrooms for boosting your brain health. So again, lion's mane mushroom, you can see here some of the different types of mushrooms here. There's a lot of psychedelic mushrooms which are beneficial, but especially lion's mane mushroom. One of the best for boosting your overall brain health. So remember some of these tips. Number 1, using yoga.

Again, you use the right type of intention when you do the poses. Number 2 here, juggling, meditation, rosemary, omega-3 fatty acids. Learn something new. Walnuts because of their omega-3s and their magnesium and minerals. Getting your runner's high. Again, any type of circulation is good, just getting movement and blood flow. A mini tramp is actually a great thing to do too.

A mini tramp is actually good for getting that going. Intermittent fasting and lion's mane mushroom, all of these things are very, very beneficial at improving your brain health. And again, I would love to hear from you. What are your top tips for boosting overall brain health? And listen guys, there are a lot of other things I could have covered here as well.

Again, we could have covered things like animal fats and their benefits. We could have covered other oils like rosemary. And not just rosemary, vetiver essential oil and cedarwood oil have tremendous benefits for the brain as well.

But again, hey, if you know someone you love or you yourself or a child is struggling with some of these issues of the brain and really need brain-boosting benefits, hey, start applying these things into your life today or take a minute and share this with someone you love.

And remember, every Monday through Thursday at 10:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Central Time, myself and my business partner Jordan Rubin, we are coming to you live talking about how to use food as medicine. Every Friday we're doing pop-ins.

And if you don't want to miss one of the great pop-ins we're doing in the future, in fact, myself and Jordan are traveling to Florida soon, actually Atlanta, California, going all over the place. And you want to see our favorite restaurants, things we do, places we eat, hey, make sure you subscribe here. As well on Facebook and YouTube Live. I want to say, hey, thanks so much for watching.

This has been me, Dr. Josh Axe, talking about brain-building breakthroughs.