Boost your brain safely while keeping it intact

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

There is a myth that the brain works at 10%. In fact - always one hundred percent. But, if there is a feeling that it is you who are still ten, the reason may not be in the brain at all, but in other organs with which there is a serious disorder.

Diseases of the liver. With them, bilirubin and ammonia rise in the blood. Both act on the brain like a glass of vodka in the morning on an empty stomach: a person is sluggish, sleepy and does not want to think. Donate blood for bilirubin, ALT, AST and GGT. If something is elevated, go to the doctor. Among other things, he will prescribe glutamic acid to remove excess ammonia.

Chronic renal failure. Ammonia again, even more. In addition, diseased kidneys produce less erythropoietin. The number of red blood cells decreases, there is also less oxygen in the blood, and the brain is starving. A symptom of a problem is an increase in creatinine and urea in the analyzes.

Latent hypothyroidism. In contrast to the obvious, which is easy to notice by the sudden impotence, here it is only hard to think and sleepy. This is because there are few thyroid hormones, and they affect the speed of thinking. The main symptom is an increase in TSH in the blood.

Elevated prolactin levels. Again, a strong increase is easy to notice: your breasts will grow. Not very big, zero. But even a slight increase gives dullness and dullness. Prolactin grows with pituitary tumors and a dozen other pathologies.

Boost nutrition

If you have not found ailments in yourself, but your brain cannot guess the famous Russian president (five letters vertically), he, his brain, may not have enough food. This is not a three-course lunch with a vitamin for dessert.

Oxygen. If you aren’t turning blue yet, it doesn’t mean that your brain has enough oxygen. Sedentary work indoors is enough to make him starve. Banal fitness three times a week will revive thinking, but portable oxygen cartridges from a pharmacy and the drug "Hypoxen" can help as an urgent measure.

Glucose. A low carb diet can be difficult to focus on. This is because glucose, like oxygen, is the main food for the brain. If diet is very important, but you also need to work, throw at least glucose tablets under your tongue.

Amino acids. Some of them in the body are converted into neurotransmitters - substances that carry signals between neurons. If you add them to the power supply, the signal will get better. These are tyrosine (the precursor of dopamine and norepinephrine) and tryptophan (the precursor of serotonin). They are sold in the form of dietary supplements, but be careful with tryptophan, it cannot be combined with antidepressants from the MAOI group.

Iodine. Even if you don't have hypothyroidism, a lack of iodine can lower thyroid hormone levels and slow down mental activity. Use iodized salt, that's enough.

B vitamins. Almost all of them affect the transmission of nerve signals, and B6 also reduces prolactin levels. There is a drug called sulbutiamine, a vitamin B1 that has been modified so that it can easily enter the brain. It improves memory and relieves chronic fatigue, but you can take it for no longer than a month.

Give acceleration

Suppose you are healthy like Fedor Emelianenko and your diet is full of amino acids and vitamins. But by the end of the week they were asked to come up with a simple scheme for the takeover of Gazprom through the pledge of promissory notes, and it was necessary to push the brain to work. Here's what there is for it.

Nootropics

None of them have passed the study according to the standards of the US FDA, so they are prescribed only in the countries of the former CIS and here and there in Eastern Europe. But they are actively appointed, and many say that it helps.

Piracetam. The very first nootropic, born in 1972. Enhances the action of the neurotransmitter glutamate on brain receptors. This improves the connections between neurons, and therefore memory. Plus, piracetam increases dopamine levels, which is responsible for motivation.

Phenotropil. Improves the consumption of glucose by the brain and increases the level of adenosine triphosphate - the main fuel for all biochemical processes. Slightly stimulates the speed of thinking and speeds up the reaction.

Encephabol. It enhances the uptake and consumption of glucose, which makes the brain work at maximum speed, if there is enough oxygen.

Stimulants

Caffeine. Those students who brew coffee with boiling Red Bull before the test are wasting their energy. Caffeine is the protagonist of all legal stimulants, including Red Bull. Even the famous guarana contains it. And chocolate invigorates because of caffeine, and the story about the "love hormone" phenylethylamine is a beautiful fairy tale. It is in chocolate, but it breaks down in the stomach and does not reach the brain.

Methylphenidate. It is forbidden in our country, in the West it is allowed, but only by prescription. And only for the treatment of narcolepsy, apathy and autism. However, many people there eat it like M & M’s - for vigor and quickening of thoughts. Roughly the same story with modafinil, which is prohibited in our country.

Yohimbine and synephrine. The first is used as an aphrodisiac, the second - by athletes for drying. Both improve brain function by stimulating the release of adrenaline. For the same reason, you can theoretically grab a stroke.

Exercises

Neurobics. Self-appointed trainers suggest breaking the rules - brushing your teeth with your left hand, walking around the house with your eyes closed and mastering the language of the deaf and dumb. The idea is simple: loading the brain with new activities makes it work harder. True, the brain is very plastic, and after a week you will have to brush your teeth, holding the brush in your toes in order to surprise him.

Online simulators. Launched in 2007, Lumosity began as a collection of computer minigames to develop attention and memory. And it became a place for running programs not only for accelerating the brain, but also for diagnosing cognitive impairments. All this was tested at Stanford University, the result is ambiguous, but you can use it. No harm expected.

Safety engineering

While accelerating the brain, one must also leave it unharmed. Here are the main rules.

* When you move your mind beyond the normal operating mode, you rent power. And at the end of the action of the drug, you need to rest twice as much as usual. Otherwise, there will be burnout and asthenia.

* Mixing different means and methods at random without the participation of a doctor, you get an unpredictable cocktail that can result in insomnia, panic attacks and much stronger drugs.

* Any acceleration of metabolism is an acceleration of the aging of the brain. It's best not to practice too often.