Your Brain Too!

The benefits of exercise and good nutrition are certainly well known.  Not only can a balanced and consistent exercise program and healthful eating lead to a better quality of life and even lengthen your life, some recent research indicates that it is also great for your brain, especially in avoiding and curing depression.

Depressive disorders affect approximately 18.8 million American adults or about 9.5% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. Everyone will at some time in his or her life be affected by depression -- their own or someone else's, according to Australian Government statistics. (Depression statistics in Australia are comparable to those of the US and UK.).  Anti depression medication, such as Prozac and Zoloft, are the most prescribed class of drugs in the United States today.  In 2005, 115 million prescriptions were handed out.  We don’t know yet how and why these medications work and they can be quite expensive, especially when coupled together with psychotherapy.  But there seems to be a simple and inexpensive alternative.  Have you ever noticed how much better you feel about life after a brisk half-hour walk?  Recent studies have shown that exercise is just as effective at fighting depression, as anti-depression drugs are.

Our brains are composed of nerve cells known as neurons.  The gaps between these neurons are bridged by chemical neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, also known as the “mood” chemicals.  These are the chemicals in the brain that effect alertness, vitality, tranquility and euphoria and more importantly, they stave off depression. 

A recent study lead by Dr. Monika Fleshner at the University of Colorado at Boulder has shown that exercise works to improve depression and that it increased serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain. And for those who must take medications, exercise in conjunction with anti-depressant drugs seems to cause the drugs to work more effectively. 

Exercise also helps the brain in other ways such as cognitive functions.  Children who engage in aerobic exercise score higher on tests, says Dr. Charles H. Hillman at the University of Illinois at Urbana.  In addition, he also discovered that aerobic exercise not only increases the levels of serotonin and dopamine, but also actually increases the size of your brain, particularly the hippocampus, which is the part of your brain that controls emotion.  Also, it seems that exercise allows the brain to retrieve latent memories.

Anyone who has exercised knows how much better you feel after a session.  The “runner’s high” is a well know phenomenon that distance runners can often experience. It is difficult to know exactly how much exercise we need to do in order to achieve these positive feelings and effects, but Dr. Fleshner feels that 70% of the program should be cardio (aerobic), 20% strength training, and 10% flexibility training (stretching). 

Looking at the nutrition side of this equation, we know that just like poor eating can harm normal blood circulation to your heart, the same is true of the brain. The better blood flow is up to your brain, the more oxygen and nutrients are available in order to sustain itself.  Therefore, an eating program that is vegetable and fruit dense and low in trans fats and saturated fats, and yet includes monounsaturated healthy fats will help keep your arteries from clogging.  But there is even more.  Lately, vast amounts of research has been done on the effects of omega 3 oils on brain function. 

A 2005 study showed that adequate nutrition is needed for many aspects of brain functioning. Poor diet quality, ever-present in the Western World, may be a modifiable risk factor for depression. Insufficient omega-3 fatty acid status particularly increases the risk of depression. Historically, the ratio between omega 3 and omega 6 was 1:1.  In today’s western diet, the ratio is 1:10 or even as high as 1:20.  There is a much lower instance of depression amongst Asians where fish consumption is higher, giving the body more Omega 3 than amongst those of us in the West.  Today’s consumption of Omega 3s is about half of what it was before WWII and it is precisely from that period that the rates of depression have gone up considerably. A lack of Omega 3 might also explain why one in ten postpartum mothers experiences depression.  Since Omega 3 fatty acids play a major role in building the brain and maintaining its balance, these fats are the principle nourishment the fetus takes in through the placenta.  That is also why the mother’s reserves, which are already low in our western style diets, drop dramatically in the last weeks of pregnancy, often leading to post partum depression.   Omega 3 rich foods are Fatty fishes like salmon, sardines and tune, flaxseed, canola oil and walnuts.

We all know that the sedentary lifestyle of the last two generations has brought on a whole host of medical problems. It seems that this lifestyle is partly responsible for the increase of depression in the world as well.  So, get off the couch and away from the computer, put on those running shoes, get outdoors and go for a walk, do some strength training and start to feel great about life!  Keeping your brain in shape as well as the rest of your body is another way to “add hours to your day, days to your year, and years to your life.” 

ALAN FREISHTAT is an A.C.E. CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER and a LIFESTYLE FITNESS COACH with over 16 years of professional experience. He is the co-Director of the Jerusalem-based Lose It! The Center for Health and Wellness along with Linda Holtz M.Sc. They have begun working with Dr. Michael Bunzel, M.D., a psychiatrist in Bnei Brak, Israel on incorporating exercise as a therapy for Stress, Anxiety and Depression.  Lose it! can be reached at 02-654-0728 or 050-555-7175, or by email at alan@loseit.co.il. You can also visit the Lose It! website at www.loseit.co.il

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