Natural Ways to Improve Cognitive Ability
We experience so much external stimulation from our world, especially with the advent of technology. It’s no surprise that ADD and ADHD are becoming common diagnoses, especially with the speed at which social media platforms feed us never-ending information. There’s also the impact of the depletion of nutrients in our soil, and the constant barrage of toxins and radiation in our environment that contribute to the healthy functioning of the brain. I’ve been experimenting with different ways to increase my focus and productivity for many years, and while in my earlier years I’d taken various ADD medications, I found over time that there are far more effective ways to increase your ability to focus and have a clear mind that don’t involve the use of pharmaceuticals and don’t have negative side effects down the line.
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Lifestyle Choices
Before I get into natural supplements that have helped me, I would like to mention a few basic lifestyle choices that also improve brain function. While it’s great to boost your mental strength with natural supplements, there are a lot of free ways to keep your brain healthy. Let’s get into it!
1. Exercise
I’m a huge proponent of healthy diet and exercise, as it’s something that helped me immensely when I started my healing path. There is so much research on the subject that at this point it’s hard to ignore. For the sake of time I’ll only include a couple; there’s this study that showed that a single round of high intensity exercise improved the attention processes of young men. There’s also another great study about how doing cardio-style exercise has been shown to increase neuroplasticity, leading to cognitive and motor performance improvements. There’s an incredible video I reference often that goes into this in more detail. Even outside of the studies he references, he makes the case that aerobic exercise 3x a week was more effective to him than taking ADD medication.
2. Getting Enough Sleep
I’m sure you’ve noticed the changes that happen on a day of not getting sleep; feeling foggy, needing more time to understand what you hear, and not accomplishing tasks as efficiently. This is another basic human need that influences performance. This study found that getting poor sleep resulted in people needing more time to complete tasks, and that their brain needed to activate more neural resources to complete them. The way the brain ages is also influenced by the amount of sleep we get. In other words, if you’re not getting enough sleep, the brain shows greater signs of aging. Luckily, they’ve found that this is also a reversible process.
3. Removing Excess Sugar From the Diet
While the brain does use glucose as a fuel source, excess sugar consumption leads to inflammation, so you may want to limit how much you consume. Higher sugar intake is also associated with long term mental health issues, notably depression. In a set of studies done on sugar and cognitive function, it was found across the board that excess sugar leads to cognitive impairment. The only exception to this was the foods having natural fructose (fruits). For the foods with natural fructose, they found a reduced risk of cognitive impairment.
Nootropics
Nootropics are brain-enhancing substances, typically taken as supplements. They can help with keeping the mind clear, improving memory and the ability to process information, and give more energy. There are different ways nootropic substances do this; reducing oxidative stress, increasing blood flow to the brain, stimulating the compounds that contribute to neuron development and reducing inflammation.
Here’s a list of my favorite natural nootropics:
Lions Mane
Lions Mane
This is a medicinal mushroom that I blend into my coffee daily. Some known benefits include:
Increased memory
Protects the brain from neurological issues like Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Promotes the growth of neurons and nerves
Relieves mild depression/anxiety
Immune boosting
Anti-Cancer
Reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes
Protects the digestive tract
Anti-inflammatory
Gingko Biloba
Gingko biloba is a tree native to China that’s high in antioxidants. I take this in a pill form, but you can also find it as a tincture in most health food stores. Here are some of its benefits:
Improves blood flow to the brain (It also improves circulation to the extremities and skin surfaces)
Can enhance memory and brain function
Can help with tinnitus, dizziness, and vertigo
Acts as an antioxidant to protect brain cells from damage
Slows the aging process, protects the nervous system
Caffeine
I know there are mixed opinions of whether this can be good or bad for you, but you don’t need to be drinking coffee or tea to use this as a supplement (it’s also available in pill form). It’s been found that if you wait to have caffeine until your in the middle or end of your studying, it will help you retain the information you take in. The benefits are:
Improves reaction time
Prevents cognitive decline
Gives more access to neurotransmitters associated with short term memory and learning
Curcumin
This is a compound in turmeric known for its anti-inflammatory properties. However, it does have benefits as a nootropic:
Increases the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin
Enhances neuroplasticity and BDNF (the brain’s growth hormone)
Protects against Alzheimers, depression, epilepsy, and other neurodegenerative disorders
There was a long period of my life when I was a vegan/vegetarian as well, so out of curiosity, I began to try out some of the nootropics recommended for people on plant-based diets.
Here are the ones I’ve tested out so far:
Aceytl-L-Carnitine
This is a form of L-Carnitine, an amino acid that your body makes naturally. It can help your body process fat, giving you more energy. As you age, your body produces less of this amino acid, making fat and protein synthesis in the body take more effort. This is one that is recommended for people on plant-based diets, as it’s an amino acid found much more readily in animal products.
I tested this one out for myself after experiencing several days of brain fog. My vision felt sharper, and my memory recall had seemed to get back to normal.
L-Tryptophan
This is another amino acid that your body uses to make proteins. After reading about how tryptophan doesn’t make you as sleepy as people think, I decided to give this one a try. I would take it in the mid-afternoon, and I never experienced the tiredness that people typically talk about. This amino acid is associated with turkey, so that’s probably why it’s gotten that reputation. However, I didn’t notice any particular differences in my cognition, but it may just not have been the one for me.
Essential Oils
Our sense of smell gets processed through the limbic system of the brain, which is our center of emotion and memory. According to this article, scent can activate the immune system, change blood pressure, affect digestion, trigger memories, evoke emotions, and kick off a host of other physiological responses.
Some oils known to improve memory, mental clarity and concentration are rosemary, cedarwood, and peppermint. In fact, if you smell rosemary oil while studying for a test, if you were to bring rosemary oil in while taking that test, you will have improved recall of what you were studying.
In Conclusion
There are so many ways that you can increase your brains capacity to learn and concentrate, whether that’s through proper exercise and diet, or supplementing with natural herbs and amino acids. The health of your brain doesn’t need to decline from our fast-paced digital age; you just need to know how to give yourself the proper fuel. The natural world, and our natural ways of being can provide a lot of answers for us that we won’t find in the world of western medicine.