Tag Archives: neurotransmitters

Maintain Your Brain

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The other day, I was working at a café when in walked a group of women who slid a couple of tables together, spread out a table cloth, and proceeded to set up for a game of Canasta. I couldn’t resist approaching them and chatting about the benefits of ‘exercising’ our brains to keep them young and vital, and I mentioned my competitive card-playing parents—whose brains are remarkably youthful for being in their 80s.

Yes, research has shown that regularly making our brains ‘work’ is one strategy for keeping our wits about us.  Anything that stimulates the formation and strengthening of new neuronal pathways, like learning a language, reading, singing (which is also great for stress reduction and getting oxygen to the brain), solving the crossword in the Sunday paper, and even meditating and/or praying (which my parents also do for several hours daily) keep our brain cells healthy and firing.

Of course, there’s more to maintaining a healthy brain than belting out a daily tune—like a healthy diet. And if you had to pick a good reason to get physical exercise, consider preservation and even optimization of brain health.  If the benefits are not immediately obvious to you, here are a few:

  • Better delivery of oxygen and nutrients to brain cells
  • Balancing neurochemicals and neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and GABA for better moods, focus, and concentration
  • More restful sleep
  • Optimal blood sugar management which can help brain cells maintain insulin sensitivity and stave off neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s Disease
  • The production of neural stem cells and the maturation of neurons and oligodendrocytes—the cells that insulate the neuronal axons and enhance signal transduction and that are attacked by the immune system in multiple sclerosis

These are all good reasons to make sure you’re getting regular exercise and many of these same benefits can be applied to the health of your entire body.  You can’t go wrong with exercise—that is, when you do it within your physical limits, you do it in a safe manner, and you don’t overdo it.

BTW, I checked in on the ladies before I left the café and they were still having a ball playing cards.  One in particular had a pretty good hand—as you can see, that she was excited to show me.  Meeting these women reminded me that maintaining your brain doesn’t have to feel like work. It can be fun.

Feeling Blue? Get Outdoors and Soak in Some Sun

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20180714_112340 By now, we all know about the dangers of getting too much sun as it applies to accelerated aging of the skin and the increased risk of skin cancers like melanoma.  As a result, many of us have done a complete 180 and resorted to avoiding sun altogether, whenever possible—which means staying indoors, always wearing a strong sunscreen, and always covering up when exposed to the sun.  While on the surface, this may do a good job of delaying skin aging and lowering the risk of skin cancer, it prevents us from taking advantage of the health benefits of sunshine.

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For example, our skin is considered a neuroendocrine gland and sun exposure stimulates skin production of most neurotransmitters.  One in particular is serotonin, a neurochemical involved in such things as feeding behavior (when it gets low at night, we reach for carbs!), mood, pain, and sleep—since serotonin gets converted to melatonin—also produced in the skin.

Moreover, the brain’s production of serotonin is influenced by sunlight and sun exposure also increases the binding of serotonin and dopamine to their transporters.   If you live in a climate where the winters are long with dark, cold days, then you may experience the impact of very little sunlight exposure through seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.

Vitamin D is another important hormone produced in the skin upon sun exposure that regulates thousands of genes and is important for a healthy immune system.   Too little sunlight has also been linked to autoimmune diseases, like multiple sclerosis.

You can read here about my recommendations for protecting your skin from sun damage, including covering up when the sun is at its hottest, wearing a safe sunscreen if you will be spending extended periods in direct sunlight (even under the clouds, for that matter), and eating your veggies, as they provide a wealth of antioxidants that can protect our DNA from UV damage.

Particularly in the summer, it’s best to get your sun early in the day and then later in the afternoon/early evening, when the sun starts to go down.  When I lived in CT, this meant that I would stay out of direct sunlight between 10 am and 2 pm.  However, now that I live in Texas, it’s more like 10 am – 6 pm.

The bottom line is, there are benefits to soaking in sunlight through our skin.  However, like with so many things, to get the benefits of the sun while avoiding the harm it can do, we need to strike a balance between safe sun exposure and overdoing it.