The Science Behind Cocoa For Overall Health – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 249
Cocoa is a plant-based, food-based antioxidant that has so many benefits when it comes to our health. Here’s what you need to know.
Tag: brain
How Tart Cherry Offers Support For Memory Health – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 238
Tart cherry has been studied for its benefits for brain health, specifically memory. Here’s what you need to know.
Studies Show Phosphatidylserine Offers Support for Hyperactivity – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 219
Phosphatidylserine
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
Subscribe Today!
There are certain ingredients in foods and supplements that can help support brain health in children and adults with ADHD and ADD. ADHD is Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and ADD is Attention Deficit Disorder, the difference mostly being one is very hyperactive and can’t sit still, and the other is not. Either way, you can improve the way the brain functions, and this has to do with fats and certain nutrients that are incorporated into the fats.
Why does the brain need healthy fats?
Our brain is about 60% fat. The right fats are very important for your memory, mood, attention span, and we’ve known this for decades. These fats come from fish oils or flaxseed oil, omega-3 oils or omega-6 oils, which come from vegetable oils. These are very important for the housing of the brain cells. The outside of the brain cell is not hard. It’s mostly made out of lipids, which are fatty-type substances like the fish oils and the vegetable oils. This is important. The malleability of the outer layers of the brain cell allows nutrients to get into the cell quickly and toxins to leave the cell, but also the transfer of energy and information from cell to cell more efficiently.
We’ve known for decades that fish oils are really important for the brain. They rescue memory in elderly adults. They help control your mood. They help fight off the symptoms of stress and anxiety. But, unless you have key nutrients impregnated into these oils in the brain cell, it’s not going to help. The fish oils are not going to be able to protect you from memory loss. A key one of these nutrients is called Phosphatidylserine.†
Essential Nutrients for Attention and Focus – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 30. Listen Now >>
What is Phosphatidylserine?
There’s a lot of evidence that Phosphatidylserine, along with vegetable oils and especially fish oils, improves the brain function of children and adults with ADD and ADHD.†
Phosphatidylserine is primarily used for improving memory, learning and attention span. We can get it from fish, egg yolks, and legumes. The problem is that, for many of us, what we get through our diet is not enough. In fact, as we age, the amount of Phosphatidylserine, just like fish oil, in the brain declines. Also, people with ADHD do not utilize these oils from foods very effectively, so giving them additional fish oils or an evening primrose oil capsule helps them. But if you add Phosphatidylserine, that’s really key.†
Phosphatidylserine comprises a lot of the phospholipid layer of the brain. It was first discovered in 1941. It very quickly became popular in Europe because they did some pioneering clinical studies in Italy where they found it helped with the memory of aging people. We make Phosphatidylserine in our body a little bit and we get it from food. There’s an ounce in our body from the neck down and there’s an ounce in our brain. The American diet typically lacks Phosphatidylserine, so taking a capsule for anybody is often a good idea.†
Phosphatidylserine gets incorporated into the bilipid layer, the membrane of the brain cell. It helps keep it elastic, resilient and malleable, which allows nutrition to get into the cell. It also allows toxins to leave the brain cell. In addition to that, the Phosphatidylserine content of the brain cell facilitates the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and melatonin.†
Combating Stress-Induced Loss of Focus and Attention – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 212. Listen Now >>
For more details on the role Phosphatidylserine plays in the brain and how it can help with hyperactivity, tune into the full podcast episode.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
This Type of Dementia is Curable – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 216
Doctors are finding that there are brain diseases that seem to be curable, including what is called autoimmune dementia.
How Tocotrienols Supports Brain Health – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 207
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph Subscribe Today! Vitamin E is a very well-known nutritional supplement. It’s a chain-breaking antioxidant and fatty tissue. Considering that the brain is about 60% fat, it would seem that Vitamin E should be very important for …
Experiencing Brain Fatigue? L-Tyrosine Can Help! – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 190
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
Subscribe Today!
We’ve all experienced staying out late at night, but still having to get up early for work the next morning. You can feel awful and miserable all day long. If you’ve ever burnt the candle at both ends like this, the supplement L-Tyrosine can help. L-Tyrosine can offset the mental grogginess, grouchiness and fatigue, so you don’t feel awful all day. L-Tyrosine is not a replacement for sleep, but on days when you have not had enough sleep, L-Tyrosine can combat mental fatigue.†
Why Should Tyrosine Help Fatigue?
Our brain uses a wide variety of chemicals called neurotransmitters that are used to communicate messages. Science knows approximately 100 different neurotransmitters. Our body uses tyrosine to make neurotransmitters for mental alertness and focus. L-Tyrosine enters the brain and makes these important neurotransmitters. They are called dopamine and norepinephrine. When released appropriately, these neurotransmitters foster arousal, alertness, attention, motivation, and anticipating and seeking a reward but also, and importantly, reducing brain fatigue. L-Tyrosine enters our brain easily and is quickly converted into the neurotransmitter dopamine. It can also be converted into norepinephrine and, when needed, epinephrine, which is also known as adrenaline.†
Feeling Burnt Out? Rhodiola Can Help! – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 186. Listen Now >>
When tyrosine is converted into dopamine, it is involved in the reward system. This takes place in conjunction with other neurotransmitters and multiple brain regions, but mostly takes place in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway and the mesocortical dopamine pathway. These pathways improve motivation and reward seeking. Norepinephrine is involved with alertness, focus, attention, and arousal.
Dopamine and norepinephrine support many activities of the brain, including:
- Memory†
- Sleep and awake regulation†
- Paying attention and being focused†
- Arousal†
- Alertness†
- Motivation for willingness and goal seeking†
- Seeking reward†
- Motivation†
- Reducing brain fatigue†
Tyrosine is commonly used to improve learning, memory, and alertness, and works especially well if used during stressful situations.†
What is L-Tyrosine?
L-Tyrosine is an amino acid. Proteins are made out of amino acids, so when you eat protein you get some L-Tyrosine. When you eat yogurt, meat, fish, eggs, nuts, beans, oats, and wheat, you get some L-Tyrosine. But you’re not getting enough to combat occasional fatigue or help during stressful situations.†
Turmeric and Boswellia for Brain Health – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 24. Listen Now >>
When to use an L-Tyrosine supplement
- Mental performance: Research shows that taking tyrosine improves mental performance under stressful conditions. These include cold-induced stress, noise-induced stress, or even studying for an important exam like the LSATs or MCATs.†
- Memory: Research shows that taking tyrosine improves memory during stressful conditions. These include cold-induced stress, multi-tasking, or just overload of the brain.†
- Improving alertness following the loss of sleep: Taking tyrosine helps people who have lost a night’s sleep stay alert for about 3 hours longer than they otherwise would. Also, early research shows that tyrosine improves memory and reasoning in people who are sleep-deprived.†
For jet lag, take melatonin at bedtime and L-Tyrosine when you wake up. Tyrosine is not used in elderly people for brain energy or memory. It is used in healthy adults who’ve just overdone it and are experiencing brain fatigue. You don’t use it every day, you use it when it’s needed. You can keep tyrosine in your medicine cabinet and have it at your disposal for weekends when you stay up too late or have to focus on an important exam. To learn more about the role of tyrosine in the body, make sure to tune into the full podcast episode.