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Brain Health Resources
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Sleep
Your body needs sleep, just as it needs air and food to function at its optimum. During sleep, your body heals itself and restores its chemical balance. Your brain forges new connections and helps memory retention. Did you ever consider that when your sleep is erratic, it could be a warning sign telling you something is out of balance? Impaired sleep is like an alarm letting you know that your body might be hormonally deficient, dehydrated or perhaps, your microbiome is overpopulated with bad bacteria impairing the signaling of the serotonin to your brain. Decreased serotonin or dehydration can disrupt your sleep creating havoc in your life.
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Hydration
Drink half your body weight in ounces daily
Water is the second essential habit in making a change to your mental health. Water is one of the most dynamic molecules existing in all three states of matter: liquid, solid and gas. Water covers seventy-six percent of the Earth’s surface and roughly seventy - eight percent of the human body. Water has zero calories, provides energy, and lowers heart risks by forty percent. Water is crucial for proper digestion and helps cleanse the body of toxins assisting in elimination.
Water helps to circulate your blood, carry nutrients throughout your body and is essential for good sleep. Being dehydrated can also affect your mood, skin, and focus. Feeling thirsty can indicate your body might be dehydrated and that you should increase your daily water intake. Tracking your water, by ounces in an app, can be helpful or carrying a large water bottle around to ensure you get those daily ounces consistently. Becoming more intentional about what you drink during the day, will help you stay focused on making health choices.
Water helps to circulate your blood, carry nutrients throughout your body and is essential for good sleep. Being dehydrated can also affect your mood, skin, and focus. Feeling thirsty can indicate your body might be dehydrated and that you should increase your daily water intake. Tracking your water, by ounces in an app, can be helpful or carrying a large water bottle around to ensure you get those daily ounces consistently. Becoming more intentional about what you drink during the day, will help you stay focused on making health choices.
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Movement
Exercise. Yoga . RUnning . Tennis . Rowing . Walking . CrossFit
Did you know that regular exercise can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression as effectively as antidepressant drugs? People who regularly exercise are trained to do so because it gives them energy and a sense of well-being reinforcing the behavior to exercise. Why? It makes them feel good! Morning exercisers declare that by starting their day off with exercise, it helps them feel more energetic, sleep better at night, and have more focused attention throughout the day.
Physical movement can also distract you from negative thoughts and provide you with new perspective. Additionally, it is an excellent outlet to work out your frustrations instead of stuffing yourself with unhealthy foods or binge watching Netflix until all hours of the night.
Physical movement can also distract you from negative thoughts and provide you with new perspective. Additionally, it is an excellent outlet to work out your frustrations instead of stuffing yourself with unhealthy foods or binge watching Netflix until all hours of the night.
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Digestion
Microbiome Gut Brain Connection Vagus Nerve
Nutrition effects the whole body and Americans especially lower middle class youth are eating and drinking a dangerous diet riddled with sugars that are causing inflammation, obesity, diabetes, anxiety, and depression. There is a significant increase in the risk of depression among teens and adults who demonstrate very poor eating/nutritional habits. This is especially true when consuming diets with a lot of fast foods, which are high in sodium and low in potassium. It is critical that we start looking at our foods and reading the ingredients, just like you would do for a prescription you were taking. It is a necessary step to decrease the hidden sugars in our diets that are leading to inflammation in our bodies and are a piece of the puzzle to elimanting the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
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Mindset
Intention Meditation . Prayer . Gratitude
Your life is driven by your emotions, thoughts, and choices. Your choices are either intentional or repetitious. You are either evolving or repeating your behaviors. If you are repeating emotions such as stress or worry it can affect your nervous system which can affect the pace at which your heart beats putting undo stress on your physical body. The vagus nerve hard wires your heart, brain and gut. So when we breathe slowly, the heart slows, releasing tension. But, when we breathe fast from fear or worry, our heart speeds up, creating anxiety and dread. Do you consciously consistently chose or do you live on autopilot? Choosing joy attracts joy. Try inviting joy into your morning by taking five minutes to focus your thoughts on what is good, visualize how you want your day to unfold, and take a moment to focus on what makes you feel happy and grateful.