Brain Health

Feeding your brain involves more than just the food you eat, but the activities that you do.  One of the most beneficial is meditation.  There are many different styles of meditation: mantra, visualization, kriya, mindfulness… the list goes on and on.  In my own practice of over 15 years, I have found that different...
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Feeling like you need to yawn? Yeah, me too. That’s ok though. Go ahead and yawn. In fact, I encourage it. Even if you don’t feel like yawning, go ahead and give it a go. Give yourself half a dozen good yawns. I bet you end up feeling refreshed and more alert by the...
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Today is Thanksgiving, and if you’re like a lot of people you may be feeling prematurely guilty about all the food (and turkey!) you may be eating today. Well, don’t be. Turkey actually has a lot of benefits for your health, and it is a meat that seems to be neglected regularly in favor...
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First there was the research showing that a glass of red wine per day over the long term has beneficial cardiovascular effects. Then, it seemed like research was able to show that other alcoholic beverages like beer could have similar healthy effects, when consumed in moderate quantities. And suddenly it seems like everyone just...
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When plants come under attack from bacteria or fungi, they do something very similar to what animals, including human beings, do when confronted with famine: activate a system of protective molecules known as sirtuins.  The sirtuins act through complex molecular cascades to increase the lifespan of cells.  In 2003, researchers at Harvard Medical School...
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Before we talk about brain health and brain damage, pause with me a second and let your imagination and memories drift. As we approach the holidays, think about those wonderful meals, the smells of the turkey cooking, the warmth of your home, a fire burning, family chatting and getting ready for a meal that...
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Results of Randomized Controlled Trials Several randomized controlled trials have been performed utilizing omega-3 fatty acids as a monotherapy for depression, or as augmentation therapy (added to an antidepressant for major depressive disorder.)  Two recent meta-analyses aggregated these data, and found that there is evidence for an anti-depressant effect of omega-3 fatty acids when...
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Maybe there is something to that whole joke about being a meathead. New research in mice placed on different types of diets has shown that those mice placed on high-protein diets had 5% lower brain mass as compared to mice placed on a high-fat, high-carbohydrate, or balanced diets. There is mounting evidence, as more...
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In this classic article to the Lancet, JR Hibbeln demonstrated that there was an inverse correlation between annual fish consumption in a country, and that country’s incidence of depression (Hibbeln, 1998.)  As you can see from the graph, those countries that consumed the most fish per capita, such as Japan, had the lowest rates...
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We recently had a patient at the hospital where I work who became psychotic, or lost touch with reality, believing that the CIA wanted to assasinate him, and hearing voices whispering death threats through the hallways.  The only cause that could be found was vitamin B12 deficiency.  Once we gave him injections of vitamin...
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