Cart
0
You may also like
by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath Last week we proposed the question, is anti-aging possible and this is an absolute yes. We discussed the importance of optimal brain health, provided a free assessment to help establish your personal level of brain health and reviewed three factors to directly assist in improving brain health. If you missed the part I of this article visit, Is Anti-Aging Possible? Today we are going to address the main factors we witness with clients in our clinic that would effect brain health and ultimately accelerate your aging process. Address these factors are a key component to anti-aging and feeling young again. First and foremost this starts with our fundamentals of health. This is such a key to discuss because you really should not expect much as to work if you cannot take care of the simple things in life.
- The air you breathe – It is essential to breathe to thrive rather than breathe to survive as most of us do. This difference between this is as simple as short shallow breathing patterns as opposed to deep belly breathing. Understand that when you take in a breath of air, you expose approximately one quart of your blood to the oxygen in that breath. It only take a matter of seconds to transport that oxygen throughout your body to oxygenate the cells in your body, which is your number one fundamental of health. While all of your cells depend on oxygen, your brain requires high levels of oxygen to slow your aging process. To achieve this we recommend taking 3 – 5 deep belly breaths once per hour during your waking hours of the day. Take a deep breath through your nose for about a count of seven while focusing on extending your stomach, hold that breath for about a count of four and then forcefully exhale this breath out your mouth for about a count of eight, while focusing on contracting your stomach muscles. This simply tip can go a long way in enhancing your life and feeling young again.
- The water you drink – Staying properly hydrated is your second fundamental of health, yet I see clients all the time that are moving through life dehydrated on a consistent basis. Here is a simple recommendati0n to follow. Drink one quart of water for every fifty pounds of body weight daily and also pay attention to the color of your urine. If your urine is clear, you are overly hydrated and you should but back slightly and if your urine is a brighter yellow you will likely need to increase your water consumption. If you are properly hydrated, your urine will be have just a slight tinge of yellow.
- The food you eat – Nutrition is your third fundamental of health but this has three different categories to address. Number one is your digestion. We have all heard the saying many times “you are what you eat.” The problem with this saying is that it is actually false, you are not what you eat, you are what you absorb and assimilate. I have seen many clients in our clinic that eat well, yet they are still malnourished. Minimally take care of the simple areas of digestion, chew your food thoroughly and take a quality prebiotic/probiotic formula and a full spectrum digestive enzyme. The second part of nutrition is tied into food sensitivity. If you are making a food choice and eating something that you are sensitive to, this will lead to inflammation in your gut, hinder your digestion and have a long term affect on your brain function, immune regulation and adrenal function. Our first focus with our clients in our clinic is with gluten associated cross reactive food sensitivity. The third area tied into nutrition is based on something that Hippocrates shared with us about 2,600 years ago “one man’s foods is another man’s poison.” This is just as true today and the reason why we always focus on each individual’s Nutritional ID. After all, we are all bio-chemically different and our food choices need to reflect this individuality. Lean more about your Nutritional ID and take your free assessment.
- Your sleep patterns – To feel young again and achieve optimal brain function, healthy sleep patterns are a must. This would be defined as getting to bed near 10:00pm, waking near the time the sun comes up, sleeping through the night, waking no more than once, falling right back to sleep and waking feeling invigorated and ready to take on your day. If you are not achieving this health pattern, this is likely either a hormonal issue or a digestive issue. Assessing your adrenal function will go a long way in defining this for you.
- Movement – This area is tied into three categories and number one is bodily movement and/or exercise. Your body is designed to move and regular movement is essential for a health brain and autonomic nervous system. The other aspect of movement that is essential is tied into your vertebrae. While I am not a chiropractor, I definitely support quality chiropractic care. Each vertebrae of your spine needs to move independently and a health spine leads to a health brain and the opportunity to feel young again. Lastly tied into movement is movement of your colon. The gastrointestinal tract and your brain have a very intimate connection and the health of one is dependent on the health of the other. It is essential to have two or more healthy bowel movements per day. Your first should be in the morning and the second would be in the late afternoon or early evening. This would allow you to clear our your gastrointestinal tract once per day, leaving you with an optimal gut/brain connection and well on your way to feeling young again.
- Exposure to the sun – While most of us have heard that this sun is bad for us and to stay out of the sun, sun exposure is an essential nutrient for our bodies, both on our skin and through our eyes. Now of course we do not want to be staring at the sun or stay out too long to actually occur sun damage, but daily health exposure to the sun is essential on so many levels and achieving sun exposure through our eyes is needed for proper hormone imbalance. If you missed the article on Facebook last week or our newsletter, make sure you catch this article on sun exposure.
- The foundation of the metal/emotional body – The foundation of your fundamentals of health is tied into your mental/emotional body and/or your vibrational/spiritual body. Regardless of what you call or categorize this aspect of your being, it plays a huge roll in your brain function and you feeling young again. Long term chronic stress or the suppression of emotions from past trauma in your life has an accumulative affect on your brain. This affect will challenge brain function and accelerate your aging process. This is why we regularly teach our clients techniques to perceive and process stress in a healthy manner. The reality for most of us is that our stress levels to not change much in our lives, but we can absolutely shift how we react to our stress, leaving our brains relieved of this burden.
