191: Natural Healing Show with Catherine Carrigan - Episode 191

0:00Hey, it's Kelly Rowland. You may not know this, but I have Exema. So I get how it can steal your time. But why let Exema take over when you can talk to your doctor about Epglyce? Epglyce, lubricism app LBKZ, a 250-mg per 2-mg leador injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older, who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kg with moderate to severe Exema. Also called a topic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin, or topicals, or who cannot use topical therapies. Epglyce can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you are allergic to Epglyce. A allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have newer, worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Epglyce. Before starting Epglyce, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Paid partnership with Lili Respect your time. Ask your doctor about Epglyce and visit Epglyce.com or call 1-800-LiliRX or 1-800-545. 5-9-7-9

1:00Seems like every California homeowner knows someone whose insurance has been canceled. That's where Kin comes in. Kin can help with flexible coverage across all 58 California counties and policy options tailored to the risks you face where you live, including wildfire, wind, and severe weather concerns. CY California homeowners are turning to Kin at Kin.com slash potcat. That's k-i-n dot com forward slash podcast. Kin refers to Kin Distributor Insurance Services, a licensed California surplus lines broker. For UK Health Radio, my name is Catherine Currican, Medical Intuitive Hewler, Amazon

2:02Number One Best Selling Author. You can find out more about me and my work at caskringcurrican.com and in limitedenergynow.com. While you're there, definitely sign up for my newsletter, which is now available on Substack. Now, we've got a really important show for you today. If you're listening to this show, you have a brain. Your brain is your most important organ. Our guest today is Dr. Brent Courtwright. Dr. Brent Courtwright is the author of the neurogenesis diet and lifestyle. Upgrade your brain, upgrade your life. He is a professor emeritus with the California Institute of Integral Studies and a clinical psychologist. You can find out more about Dr. Brent Courtwright and his very important work at his website, brancourtwright.com. Welcome Dr. Brent Courtwright. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

3:03So Dr. Brent Courtwright, your book is called the neurogenesis diet and lifestyle. What exactly is neurogenesis? Good. So, we used to think for many, many years that the brain stopped growing after about 20 or early 20s. We knew about neuroplasticity, which is the brain making new connections among existing neurons. But up until about 25 years ago, we thought the brain stopped growing. And then it was discovered that actually the brain makes new brain cells throughout the entire lifetime. Now, again, at first they didn't know the significance of this, but recently it's been discovered that the rate at which we make new brain cells, right, our neurogenic rate has a big impact on how we feel, how we think, and on our general state of health. So as we age, our neurogenic rate slows down.

4:06And certain conditions are involved a slow neurogenic rate. For example, anxiety has a slower neurogenic rate. Depression has a much slowed neurogenic rate. Alzheimer's has a massively slowed neurogenic rate. Brain fog of all sort creates a lower neurogenic rate. When the rate increases, so a high neurogenic rate is associated with just the opposite of these things. Meaning protection against stress, protection against anxiety, depression, robust emotional resilience, cognitive enhancement, rapid learning, rapid puzzle solving. And because the brain depends on all the lower body systems in order for the brain to be in good health, the lower body needs to be in health too. So when the neurogenic rate is high, generally there's robust health as well. So the book is really about how do we increase our neurogenic rate for a more fulfilling

5:12life? Because when our neurogenic rate is high, we feel good. It feels there's a sense of vitality. Just being waking up and feeling alive feels good. Now Dr. Brent Court rate. So of course most of the people who are going to be interested in your book are older people. But we know that the brain grows rapidly when we're younger. And my understanding is the brain itself, just like younger people, children and adolescents grow much faster. Like I stopped growing tall at about age 11, I'm 5-3 unfortunately, always wanted to be taller. But my understanding is the organ, the brain actually stops growing around age 25 or 26. Were you explained to us about neurogenicists and younger people and how it compares to the neurogenicists and older people as in adults?

6:14Well, it is faster. So in adults, although the brain in terms of its size has stopped growing, there are certain portions of the brain that continue to grow new neurons. Mostly the olfactory bulb, which does smells, and crucially the hippocampus. So the hippocampus is this sort of crescent moon-shaped structure in the brain. There's actually two of them on each side of the brain. We have two hippocampi. So the hippocampus, part of it is involved in emotion regulation, particularly the regulation of anxiety and depression. However it is involved in cognition and the processing of new memories. So the hippocampus doesn't store new memories, but it processes new memories. So in Alzheimer's for example, Alzheimer's massively attacks the hippocampus. And that's why Alzheimer's patients have a hard time forming new memories.

7:16They don't remember what happened the day before or what they even just said. So and their neurogenic rate is minuscule at this point. So in adults as we age, again, the neurogenic rate slows down. However, we live in a very neurotoxic environment. Excuse me. There are so many things on our environment which slow down the neurogenic rate that even people in their 20s and 30s often have a slowed down neurogenic rate. And so that is what's behind this spike in anxiety and depression that we have seen. It's rates of anxiety and depression have skyrocketed over the last 50 years. It turns out that among late teenagers in early 20s, rates of depression are five to eight times what they were 50 years ago.

8:18And for anxiety, eight times what they were 50 years ago. And that's not due to better testing. That's the exact same standardized test that we used 50 years ago. And I have to believe that this is environmental, that there's a big environmental piece to that. Now, some of this of course is social media, cell phones, things like that, which have their own impact on the neurogenic rate. But a lot of it is that we live in an inflammatory environment, both in terms of diet and in terms of just the neurotoxins around us. Smog for example is, some people think that up to 30% of Alzheimer's cases can be traced to smog because these really tiny 2.0 micron particles enter across the blood brain barrier, quick into the lungs, get into the bloodstream, cross the blood brain barrier.

9:18And they act like little wrecking balls in the very delicate tissues of the brain, creating inflammation, oxidation, mercury, right? A lot of people have a high fish diet that involves a lot of mercury. Mercury is, I believe, the second most potent neurotoxin known outside of plutonium. Just a tiny bit of it, again, slows your neurogenic rate, rate inflammation. Microplastics, we're hearing more and more about microplastic endocrine disruptors, forever chemicals. The list goes on and on. We live in a minefield of daily neurotoxic bombs about to go off. So part of the strategy is we need to decrease our neurotoxin load and we need to increase what is nourishing and which increases our neurogenic rate.

10:21So it's a two-pronged strategy. We want to avoid things that decrease neurogenesis, things like inflammation, stress, deprivation or too much stimulation, which is what more people suffer from, or physical assaults like mercury or lead or things like that are mold. And we want to increase things that enhance neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. And so there is diet, there is physical exercise, there's a number of things we can do on the physical plane, there's a number of things emotionally, a number of things mentally and spiritually, right? Because we are multi-dimensional beings, meaning we exist on several levels simultaneously. We exist on this physical level of our body and brain. We exist on this emotional level of the heart, right? Emotions give us information about the environment and about people we don't get any other way.

11:24We exist on this cognitive or mental plane and a spiritual plane of spirit or soul. And the brain integrates all of these into one coherent experience that we have of ourselves. So there's no such thing as like a magic pill or a silver bullet that's going to dissipate all of this. We need to really work holistically on every level of our being in order to really have a lifestyle that enhances our brain and thus our quality of life. Now, Dr. Brent Courtwright, going back to my question because we know that the brain develops really quickly as younger people up to about the age of 25, 26 when the organ, the brain is fully formed. How would you compare the rate of neurogenesis of somebody under the age of 25 with an adult? It's significantly faster. I don't know that they've actually measured how much faster, but we do know it is significantly

12:29faster. Yeah. So what I find interesting is that teenagers think they're really smart. But I think that part of what it is going on, my theory, is that they're growing new brain cells and their brain is expanding so rapidly and they're aware that they're learning. What's your observation of this? Yeah. What exactly causes the kind of, I don't know if it's arrogance or it's just a sense of growing new power and feeling a certain inflation because of that that sort of goes beyond the actual capacities. It's a good question. What actually causes that? It may well be that the brain is coming in full force and with that comes a flood of good feeling. And again, when our brain is on all cylinders, we feel good.

13:29And it's easy to then overestimate our cells, right? And how do we also have a sense of humility as that's happening? You go into perspective. Yes. Now, why should the average person care about neurogenesis? I mean, so many people just accept or think that, you know, I'm going to get older and everything's going to fall apart. That's a very common belief, whether it's people, believe their body's going to fall apart or their mind is going to fall apart. Why should we care about neurogenesis? Well, I think that the vast majority of people are actually functioning at a much lower level than they need to be. Again, because of A, all of the neurotoxins, the environment that are slowing down our brain function and B, the knowledge we now have, which we've never known before in history, about all the ways we can increase our neurogenic rate. People can be living at a much higher rate where, again, you're firing at all cylinders

14:31where it feels like cognitively, I grasp things more quickly. I remember things better. I have better executive function. Emotionally, I'm more resilient. I have the capacity to bounce back from difficulties. But also I have a possibility of being able to go deeply into my relationships, to feel more deeply and fully my experience. We are live to the degree that we can feel. One thing that I think is also pretty endemic, along with this reduced brain function, is people are walking around somewhat numb. Some would numb from all the medication that's going on for sure. That's one thing the medication does is it numbs us. But also just because of lower brain function, we feel less alive. And again, most teenagers feel very alive and with that comes a really positive feeling.

15:34So would you say, would you agree that as we focus on what we can do to improve neurogenesis that's basically dementia prevention? Exactly. Alzheimer's, I think more and more people are now realizing is voluntary. It's a lifestyle choice. And again, most people have stumbled into it, stumbled into cognitive decline. Not really knowing because we didn't really know until recently, what are the dietary and lifestyle factors that contribute to Alzheimer's and dementia and cognitive decline? That's right, cognitive decline is completely preventable. Usually when you get into your 90s and hundreds, there's going to be some fall off even under the best of circumstances. But you can stay sharp till quite old age, I think. And with that, let's take a break and listen to a message from one of our commercial sponsors here at UK Health Radio. My name is Catherine Kuregen, medical and tutofiller, Amazon number one, bestselling author.

16:40We're listening to Dr. Brandt Courtwright, author of the neurogenesis diet and lifestyle. We'll be right back. UK Health Radio. This nation, I make you feel good. Hey, it's Kelly Rowland. You may not know this, but I have XM. So I get how it can steal your time. Why let XM take over when you can talk to your doctor about Ebglyse? Ebglyse, lubricism ab LBKZ, a 250-milligram per 2-milliliter injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older, who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe axima. Also called a topic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies, Ebglyse can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Let's use if you are allergic to Ebglyse. A allergic reaction can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur.

17:41Tell your doctor if you have newer, worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Ebglyse. Before starting Ebglyse, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Paid partnership with Lili. Respect your time. Ask your doctor about Ebglyse and visit Ebglyse.com or call 1-800-LiliRX or 1-800-545-5979. For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. So where will your journey take you? Etzihad, beyond borders. Okay, health radio. This station makes you feel good. So Dr. Brent Corte Wright, I have a question I'm dying to ask you.

18:49So I'm an expert in natural healing. I've been engaged in natural healing now for 33 years. I'm age 67. As a result of my study and practice of natural healing, there's definitely things that I do. And there are things that I don't do. What are the things that you are a brain expert and expert in neurogenesis? What are the things that you personally do not do to keep your brain healthy? Okay. Well, part of it is diet. I stay away from inflammatory foods, such as deep fried foods. French fries. I used to love fish and chips. I just don't do them anymore. Inflammation, when we eat inflammatory foods, inflammation is a major cause of aging. And it's behind all the major diseases we now know, cancer, heart disease, diabetes,

19:54Alzheimer's. So when inflammatory cytokines get into our system, they get activated by inflammatory foods, they chew up the inside of our blood vessels. And in the brain, they have this very deleterious effect of slowing down the neurogenic rate to a crawl. So deep fried foods would be avoiding those, would be one thing. For me, also, I need to avoid sugar and carbohydrates. Some people don't. Some people don't have insulin resistance. When I was young, I didn't. If you're young, you probably don't have insulin resistance. But increasingly, about 80% of the population now has insulin resistance to some degree. And we know that high levels of insulin and of blood glucose also cause inflammation, oxidation, and are a significant cause of cognitive decline.

20:54One blood test that it's helpful for everybody to run is called the hemoglobin A1C, which is a snapshot of our blood sugar over the last three months. So many people are in the pre-diabetic range. If you're not, most doctors will say you're fine. Don't worry about it. But it's not true. Even if you're not in the pre-diabetic range, which is like 5.8 and above, even if you're 5.7 or 6, 5.5, still, every 0.1 increase is a faster rate of cognitive decline. You want to be around 5.0 or 5.2 maybe. So if you are higher than that, as I was, avoiding carbohydrates, which alternate into sugar, and refined sugar is important. Let's see. I also try to avoid over stimulation, meaning too much time on the internet.

21:58This also can be deleterious. So much time, just passive TV watching slows the neurogenic rate. I try to get enough sleep as well. Low sleep can severely slow down the neurogenic rate. The brain cleans itself during sleep. You probably know about this already. The glymphatic system, which has recently been discovered, during sleep, the glial cells shrink by about a third, and the brain gets bathed in cerebral spinal fluid. So it's almost like a shower or a bath where the amyloid plaque that's built up during the day gets washed out of the brain. And if we don't get enough sleep, that process doesn't happen because it happens towards the end stages of sleep, particularly. So those are some of the top things that I want to avoid. I also actually don't eat that much fish because I want to avoid the mercury. Yeah, I don't eat fish at all because in addition to the mercury that you mentioned,

23:06many fish are actually loaded with parasites, which kind of disgusting to think about. Now again, as a brain expert and an expert in neurogenesis, what are the things that you have learned that you absolutely do every day or on a regular weekly basis to keep your brain healthy? Okay. Well, one of them is exercise. And there's two types of exercise which have been shown to increase the neurogenic rate. One is aerobic exercise and the other is weightlifting. When neuroscientists want to increase the neurogenic rate in mice, they just put a running wheel on the cage. That gets a go. If you can do high intensity interval training once a week, and if you can do zone two training for 30 or 40 minutes, two, three, four times a week optimally, you're going to dramatically

24:08increase your neurogenic rate. Zone two is where you're walking very quickly or you're jogging slowly at a pace where you can have a conversation, but you don't feel like having a conversation. And it's a pace most people can maintain. If you haven't done that before, you can build up to it pretty easily. So exercise aerobic exercise and also then lifting weights, lifting heavy things, two, three times a week. I'm going to ask you, I'm going to interrupt and follow up. I have taught yoga. Now this is my 33rd year teaching yoga. The scientific research that I've read shows that older women, and I'm 67, who practice yoga eight years or more, have more gray matter in their brain. So you've read the research on this. What about practices like yoga, Tai Chi, Chi Gong, which are often more easier for older

25:08people to adopt? Yeah, yeah. I also do yoga every day, along with weights and running. I think it's really helpful. However, and I think most of the research that I've read have shown that it's helpful in that it reduces stress. It doesn't directly increase the neurogenic rate. So that's why I think these other types of exercise are also particularly important for brain health in particular. But also stress is a major decrease of neurogenesis. So anything that's going to decrease stress is going to be important. Again, there's two types of stress. There's chronic stress, and then there's temporary stress. We need temporary stress. We usually talk about stress as if it's all bad, but small amounts of stress are actually good. You know, a hermetic stress stresses the organism in a way that makes it stronger, like

26:12lifting weights. You're stressing the muscle, you're tearing it down, but then it builds back up even stronger. So moderate stress or stress that is, that's not chronic where we get some relief from it, is actually good for the brain. The brain needs to be challenged, right? For stressful situations or challenging situations, we're forced to come up with new resources inside ourselves. And so we deal with the stressful situation. We deal with the challenging event in a way that often brings out some new part of us, or increases something that's an important part of who we are that wouldn't come out otherwise. And that increases the neurogenic rate. But the kind of stress most people suffer from is chronic stress. That's where you just don't get a break from it. And that over time increases inflammation. And it degrades many of our body systems, right?

27:12And so that's where you get real cortical shrinkage at that point. So in fact, severe stress can really reduce the hippocampus by about a quarter, which is a strand of amazing. Which I would release severe stress, like the person's old battalion was wiped out and they were the only survivor. So severe stress can have a very damaging effect on the hippocampus. So if you're under chronic stress, which is what most people suffer from, the idea is to get a break from it. So to do something where you can actually get relief and have your parasympathetic nervous system kick in, not just be sympathetic dominant. Which most people are, but we can also relax and digest and repair. So that's one function of exercise, right? It stimulates us and then we relax and we heal.

28:15That's why sleep is important. That's why avoiding like too much coffee for many people that can be highly anxiolytic. That can be highly anxiety producing for some people. My understanding about just drinking one cup of coffee in the morning can immediately put you into stage one of adrenal stress. So actually they have found that caffeine, even at the lowest biologically effective amount, decreases the neurogenic rate. And also, and I hate saying this because so many people drink coffee. I don't want to rain on the parade, but it also, it's these are constricting. And so it makes the blood vessels in the brain smaller and we want more blood in the brain, not less blood. So even though it is this kind of adrenal whip that gets you going, against you are sort of depleting long-term stores over the long run.

29:16Yes. Now, let's go back to more about what you do to your brain. Okay, so you exercise, you do yoga every day, you do aerobic training and weight lifting. What else are the positive things that you focus on to increase your own neurogenesis? So in my latest book called Radiant Brain Health, I talk about the four pillars of Radiant Brain Health. And these are a diet that is neurogenic, ketogenic, or low carb, if you need it, you may not. Anti-inflammatory and gut friendly. All of those things increase our neurogenic rate. So there are a number of supplements and herbs that increase dramatically in some cases. Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. Number one is Omega-3 fatty acids.

30:17I'm going to interrupt because I have so many clients over 60 and I tell them you want to get on Omega-3 fatty acids and take them forever. And you cannot get enough from your diet. I'm interrupting because you're the expert. But I've run two radio shows. I remember my first radio show, I interviewed Dr. Barry Sears who's an expert in fats. And he said you would have to eat 15 cans of tuna every single day to get enough fish. So you're just not going to get it by eating fish a couple of times a week. Anyway, continue. I'm glad you're on that bandwagon. I am too. Most people need three or four grams a day of Omega-3s. And it's... Christian... Sandrine Thurey, professor of neuroscience at University of London, I believe, increased the neurogenic rate, the rate of neurogenesis in monkeys by 40% just by adding

31:18Omega-3s to their diet. Wow. So here's where another blood test is really helpful. It's called the high sensitivity C-reactive protein. It's a general marker of inflammation. So if your inflammatory level is above 0.5 for a man or 1.0 for a woman, if it's above that, then you want an Omega-3 formulation that is 2 to 1 EPA to DHA. Right? So Omega-3 consists of EPA, DHA, and ALA. ALA is not very important. EPA is the main anti-inflammatory. DHA is the main building block of the brain. The brain consists of about two-thirds fat. And a third to a half of that is DHA. So we need high-quality building blocks for our brain every single day. We can't make it ourselves. We have to get it from our diet.

32:18So if you have low inflammatory levels, below 0.5 for a man, below 1.0 for a woman, then you want a 1 to 1 ratio of EPA to DHA in your Omega-3. And again, you want, I do a little over four grams a day. Most people should do at least three to four. I think the federal government suggests at least three. And they're usually low on these things. You also want to get a formulation that is molecularly distilled. Because fissiole, many fissiole come from fish that have a high lead content or a high mercury content, you're going to get that as well unless you get molecularly distilled Omega-3s. So that is number one. Yes, and I'm going to interrupt you again because I've done this work for again very long time. And I've had people, clients bring in their cheap fissiole, and they're actually loaded with heavy metals. So if you're going to do this, spend the money to get really clean fissiole.

33:21Continue. Okay. Another thing is blueberries. The berries are highly neurogenic. They're anti-inflammatory, they're antioxidant. People have shown that they do better on cognitive tests after doing blueberries for a while. The anthocyanin dye in there stimulates neurogenesis to a very high degree. And I'm going to interrupt for our audience. Anthocyanin is a phytochemical that is water soluble. It's the purple color, the purpleish blue color, and purple fruits and vegetables. Yeah. And you can use frozen blueberries as well. Oftentimes frozen blueberries are even better because they freeze them immediately after they pick them. So curcumin is another thing that is very powerful. Elzumin is turmeric, yes. Not just the most active ingredient in turmeric. But it's also not very bioavailable.

34:23So it's important to do it with pipering, which is this pepper extract, or micronized or liposomal. And also green tea. The EGCGs in green tea is one of the best things we can do, both to decrease inflammation and oxidation, but also to increase our neurogenic rate. We want about the equivalent of 10 to 15 cups of green tea a day, but we do not want that much caffeine. So you can get caffeine-free green tea extracts just in a capsule, which is what I do. Elkarnazine is another important thing, anti-glication, as well as anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, antioxidant, and also increases the neurogenic rate. And that goes into about 15 or 20 different supplements. And I'm going to interrupt for our audience. And Dr. Courte-Rate said, Elkarnosine, not Elkarnatine, which is something else.

35:27Yeah, good. Good night. So with that, let's take a break and listen to another message from whenever commercial sponsors here at UK Health Radio. My name is Catherine Kirikin, medical intuitive healer, Amazon number one bestselling author. Our guest, Dr. Brandt Courte-Rate, is explaining to you how you can grow your brain no matter what your age. He's the author of the neurogenicist diet and lifestyle will be right back. Hey, it's Kelly Rowland. You may not know this, but I have Exema, so I get how it can steal your time. But why let Exema take over when you can talk to your doctor about Ebglus. Ebglus, lubricism app, LBKZ, a 250-mg per 2-ml injection, is a prescription medicine

36:28used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older, who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe Exema. Also called a topic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin, or topicals, or who cannot use topical therapies, Ebglus can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you are allergic to Ebglus. Illurgical reactions can occur that can be severe. I-problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have newer, worsening eye problems, you should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Ebglus. Before starting Ebglus, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Paid partnership with Lili. Respect your time. Ask your doctor about Ebglus and visit Ebglus.com, or call 1-800-LiliRX or 1-800-545-5979. Paid pros trust Fiber-Sement Party Backer Board to keep tile firmly in place, resist cracking, and help block moisture. Chosen in over 40 million kitchens and bathrooms, Party Backer Board, what the best build on. Shop now at participating Home Depot,

37:33Lowe's, and floor into core stores. For more information, visit jameshardy.com slash Hardy Backer. Dr. Brandt Courtwright, I love that you're talking about food and how we eat and also supplements because there's some things like Omega-3 fatty acids that you simply cannot get enough of by eating actual food. If somebody's listening to this, what are the must-have supplements that you would absolutely recommend that everybody do if they want to improve their neurogenesis? Well, first would be Omega-3s, 3 to 4 grams a day. Divided into two doses, morning and evening. Sometimes the morning dose can be used as food

38:34rather than building the brain, so it's good to do it in the evening as well. So these things I've just mentioned, blueberries for sure, and you can do blueberry extracts. So curcumin, and you can do curcumin as an extract in a capsule. If you do turmeric, it's only got a small amount of curcumin in it, so getting pure curcumin is actually better. The EGCGs from Green Tea Extract, Elkhana Zine, let's see. Magnesium L3inate is another thing. So this is a discovery by some MIT researchers, a form of magnesium that crosses the blood-brain barrier. Most people are deficient in magnesium. It's one of the major minerals we need, and it helps relax the muscles of the body. But magnesium L3inate crosses the blood-brain barrier,

39:35and helps relax the neurons of the brain. And it also increases neurogenesis. Let's see what else. Black human seed extract, black human seed oil, powerful anti-inflammatory, as well as a neurogenic booster. I don't want to do too many because people get overwhelmed. In the book, there's a list of quite a few of these. So going back to what you said about magnesium, when I do medical and tutor readings, one of the most common things that I find is actually mineral deficiency. If people are having leg cramps from their knee down, especially at night, that's calcium magnesium potassium deficiency. Anybody with digestive disorders are also often deficient in minerals,

40:36because they just can't simply absorb. So going back to the things that you absolutely do to boost your neurogenesis, we talked about exercise, we talked about how you eat, we talked about supplements, any other lifestyle activities that you absolutely engage in to improve brain health. Yeah, so there is this diet piece. There is this whole physical level piece of diet. There are certain probiotics, there are certain bacterial strains, which have been shown to decrease anxiety, decrease depression rates, as well as boost cognitive function. And increasing the gut's intestinal integrity is also important. A lot of the things the environment, such as glyphosate, the active ingredient roundup, which is everywhere. 90, I think you see us have to study and found that 93% of Americans have measurable levels of

41:42glyphosate in their blood. That opens up the tight junctions of the gut. So the tight junctions are what keeps out the bad stuff and lets in the good stuff. When those open up, then we get these food particles, we get liposaccharides, we get all sorts of toxic stuff coming into the body, which then creates inflammation. And the tight junctions of the blood brain barrier operate with the same molecular signals. So those that also opens up, letting in particles into the brain as well, creating more inflammation in the brain. So decreasing glyphosate, which means eating organically, if it's all possible. If you eat organically, you'll reduce 80% of the pesticides that are coming into the system. So there's also like emotional factors, mental factors, and spiritual factors. So emotionally, it's important to reduce stress, reduce chronic stress, for sure. And again,

42:48have episodes where you're not stressed, where your body can reset and heal. Relationships, the most important thing our lives are people. The best things in our lives for our nervous system is people, but also the worst things our lives can be people as well. Oh, it turns out that toxic relationships, relationships of fear, anger, also isolation, slow the neurogenic rate way, way down. These are also inflammatory processes. And it turns out that, you know, psychology is known this for a while, in the spiritual traditions of known this forever. Loving relationships are also good for brain health. It turns out that loving relationships increases oxytocin in the brain, which is highly neurogenic.

43:49Oxytocin is what happens when the mother gives birth and starts breastfeeding. It's the bonding neurohormone. And it causes us to trust more. And so having relationships with people who really see us, right, who we're not just projecting some image of ourselves or doing image management or having kind of these role-playing relationships. But we have friends, intimate close friends, maybe family members, maybe friends, our lover, our partner, our spouse. Having these kind of relationships where the person really sees me, my deepest essence, and where I feel free around the person, I feel nourished and loving in this relationship, highly neurogenic, really good for brain health. Sexual activity. If it's in a loving, totally permissioned environment,

44:55very good for brain health. If it's not bad for brain health, it has to be those mental stimulation. We need ongoing learning, lifelong learning. It turns out when we learn new things, that also increases our neurogenic rate. This is why I love running the natural healing show for UK health radio. I get to interview experts like you and learn something wonderful every week. And if you want to learn more about natural healing, then just go back and listen to all of our eight years of interviews. So Dr. Courtwright, I've got some friends whose significant partner were recently, actually, a number of people whose partners recently diagnosed with dementia. If somebody has been diagnosed with dementia, do your strategies still work? There's been some interesting new research that's recently come out about this.

46:00There's a physician named Dale Bredison, who has a book called The End of Alzheimer's and another book as well. He completed a study where using his intervention, which is a lot of what this, my interventions have been also. And one of his biggest interventions is the ketogenic diet or ketogenic light diet. He has found that in early stages of cognitive decline, and sometimes even later stages of cognitive decline, it can be reversed with these lifestyle changes. And again, he also emphasizes exercise, sleep, a lot of the same stuff. I learned about his stuff after my book came out, but I'm now appreciating what he is doing. So yes, I think for, you know, it used to be thought that once the person went over the cliff of cognitive decline, there was no stopping. It was only downhill. But now it looks like there actually is evidence to show

47:02that some of it can be reversed. Again, depending on the type of dementia, right? Some of it could be through environmental toxins like mold, some of it could be through high blood sugar, insulin resistance. And when we switch to a ketogenic diet and are using ketones as fuel, rather than glucose the brain functions at a whole other level. Sometimes people just come back because they're now operating on all cylinders with ketones, which is a very clean fuel as opposed to glucose, which is a dirty fuel, which produces a lot of other toxic byproducts. So yes, I think that actually is the case. Fantastic. Now, Dr. Brand, Dr. Brand Courtwright, what one thing do you really wish that everyone all over the world understood about neurogenesis? What's the most important thing that you want people to get from your very important message? Just that your rate of neurogenesis

48:04is probably the most important biomarker for your mental health and for your physical health that there is. When that goes down, the quality of your life is going to go down. When that goes up, the quality of your life is going to go up. And so paying attention to that is key, I think, to a good life. And a final question, Dr. Brand Courtwright, are there any medical tests that people can turn to that actually measure the rate of neurogenesis or is this something that we just notice? That's right. And right now, the only way you can determine the rate of neurogenesis is if you actually go into the brain. And so it can only be done dead people at this point. So the imaging studies, some of them are close. They can look at glucose uptake, they can look at oxygen use. And so those indicate it, but they don't definitively show it. So there are certain things that are suggested, but basically it's really how you feel. And then there are also

49:09these other blood markers that I've mentioned. Looking at your insulin levels, looking at your hemoglobin A1C, looking at your general inflammation levels, high sensitivity, C-reactive protein, those things can give you a good snapshot, probably, of how your brain is doing as well. But the main thing is how you feel and how your brain is actually functioning. Are you functioning on all cylinders? Or does it feel like you're not quite up to snuff? Great information. You've been listening to the natural healing show for UK Health Radio. My name is Catherine Kyrrigan, Medical Intuitive Healer, Amazon Number When Best Selling You can find out more about me and my work at cosseringcuregan.com and LimitedEnergyNow.com. While you're there, sign up for my newsletter, which is now available on Substack. Very important work by Dr. Brent Courtwright, author of the neurogenesis diet and lifestyle.

50:09His book is The Neurogenesis Diet and Lifestyle. Upgrade your brain, upgrade your life. And you can find out more about Dr. Brent Courtwright and his very important work at his website, BrentCourtWrite.com. And remember that your brain, if you're listening to this show, your brain can continue to grow. And as you take better care of your brain, you will upgrade your life as well. Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you next time. Thank you for listening to The Natchah Healing Show. Keep it Natchah with The Natchah Healing Show. Hey, it's Kelly Rowland. You may not know this, but I have Exema. So I get how it can steal your time. But why let Exema take over when you can talk to your doctor about Epglis? Epglis, Lebrichizema, LBKZ. A 250mg per 2ml injection is a prescription medicine

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