The Neurogenesis Diet and Lifestyle: Upgrade Your Brain, Upgrade Your Life

A neurotoxic lifestyle, on the other hand, sends the brain into rapid decline. When the brain is exposed to toxins—whether these toxins are pollutants, stressful relationships, impoverished environments, financial strains, or lack of nutrition—the brain tries to avoid them and shuts down to protect itself from further noxious exposure. The brain’s

Ponder this for a moment: everything you experience, you experience through the brain. There is nothing you see, hear, feel, or think that doesn’t come to you through your brain. Every moment of your life, every hope, every memory, every love or hate, triumph or defeat, every sight and smell and taste—every single thing comes to you through your br

The brain’s breathtaking complexity exists in a highly sensitive, fragile environment, which is why a head injury or sharp jolt can damage this “wiring” and disrupt the delicate synaptic connections.

Attention and focus. Attention can be diffuse and global, like a floodlight, or tight and focused, like a spotlight. The ability to concentrate attention and keep it focused is necessary for accomplishing just about anything in life. More complex tasks require a greater capacity for sustained focus and attention, whereas conditions like ADD and ADH

But because of its many protective systems, the brain cannot be manipulated like a chemical in a test tube. It reacts to such intrusions on many levels by increasing or decreasing other chemicals and neurotransmitters in its infinitely complex electro-chemical conversation, a dialogue that goes far beyond our current ability to even track, let alon

When you diminish your feelings, you diminish your aliveness. Expanding your capacity for intimacy, love, and connection is one of life’s most precious gifts and stimulates neurogenesis, for the brain is wired for emotional relationships. With negative relationships and chronic feelings of stress and depression this capacity shrinks—and so does neu

The secret of finding your own body’s optimal weight is to eat to support your brain. When your brain is well nourished, your optimal body weight follows as a matter of course. Neurohealthy eating has the happy side effect of supporting your body’s natural metabolism. It’s not a special “diet” requiring willpower and feeling hungry all the time. To

Executive function. This comes from the most recently evolved part of the human brain, the prefrontal cortex, which is part of the neocortex. Executive function allows us to plan for the future, to postpone immediate gratification for the sake of greater gratification at a later time (for example, building a business or going to college). Executive