H E A LT H
ASK THE DR. How BDNF keeps your brain healthy—and how to boost yours. BY DR. FRANK LIPMAN
Forgetting your car keys or not remembering where you parked the car. Blanking on a name when making introductions. We all experience these forgetful moments. They unnerve us, and maybe they even strike fear in our hearts as we wonder if something sinister could be responsible. For most people, these blips are just that. For others, the news may be less reassuring. But the positive message for all of us is that there are things we can do right now to help lower the risk of neurological problems down the road. One of the most important may be to increase our brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to help improve brain function and lower the risk of neurodegenerative disease. How to boost yours? Start here: What is BDNF? A relatively new discovery, BDNF is a naturally occurring protein in the brain that helps keep your billions of brain cells thriving and healthy. It helps grow new cells and cell pathways while strengthening the brain and nerve
cells you already have, protecting them from damage caused by stress. Why does BDNF matter? If you care about your health span, the amount of healthy life you pack into your years, BDNF matters—a lot! Maintaining high levels helps your brain age more slowly, improves learning and memory, protects you from Alzheimer’s disease, and works as a natural antidepressant, with the ability to reverse chronic anxiety and depression. By keeping your BDNF levels high, you’ll help your brain stave off age-related shrinkage, fight off neurological problems—Alzheimer’s sufferers tend to have extremely low levels—and even improve your sleep. So, what robs your body of BDNF? On the food front, BDNF robbers include the classic dietary demons of sugar and processed foods, just in case you needed one more reason to strenuously avoid both. Sugar has long been linked with cognitive decline in humans, and animal studies have shown a direct connection with sugar consumption and reduced BDNF 30
production—not a lot of good news there. My advice? Ditch the stuff, no exceptions. If you must sweeten, use a very light hand and opt for healthier alternatives like raw stevia or monk fruit sweeteners. When it comes to lifestyle habits, you can thank your BDNF levels simply by not watching out for the classic, alltoo-common health eroders: chronic stress, exhaustion and social isolation will all take bites out of your BDNF. Unwinding with cannabis or cocktails? You might want to dial those two down a good bit, too. Although THC can boost BDNF levels in occasional cannabis users, low BDNF levels are common in both habitual cannabis smokers and heavy drinkers. What can I do to increase BDNF? BDNF is stimulated by any number of the positive habits and lifestyle tweaks I recommend to my patients every day, including: Frequent movement: Move throughout the day, even just a few minutes at a time if that’s all you can spare, but shoot for at least 30 minutes
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Swap sugary breakfasts for hearty avocado toast to raise BDNF levels.
