03/28/2018

Scientists Are Starting to Understand How to Fix Your Brain Without Drugs

Here’s how to fix your fatigue and increase focus without a prescription

Have you ever wanted to fundamentally improve the way your brain works? Just a few short decades ago, the notion that you might change your brain (short of chemically tinkering with it with pharmaceuticals) was considered an impossibility. But since the mid-nineties we’ve known that the brain is highly plastic—able to wire, and rewire, itself until death.

That finding closed the doors on “neurological nihilism,” a term coined by neuroscientist Norman Doidge, and paved the way for scientists to look into how we might maximize the function (and recovery in certain instances) of our brains at any age. This was of course good news for dementia patients and sufferers of TBI. But today, 14 percent (1 in 7) people between the ages of 18 and 39 complain of memory problems and 1 in 6 adults take a psychiatric drug, making it clear that many of us might benefit from that landmark finding. And where better to investigate first than what we’re eating?

It’s been known for some time that the Mediterranean dietary pattern, which is rich in foods like extra-virgin olive oil, fatty fish, and vegetables, has been associated with reduced risk for a number of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s, to name a few. But while correlational research cannot prove a causal link, intervention studies, such as the ongoing FINGER trial out of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, are highlighting the power of diet to make our brains work better while shielding them against decline.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Thrive Global.