This week we will briefly talk about how your brain detoxes and why this is so important for our health. As well as tips to increase it’s productivity so that we can optimize our brain function and detox pathways.
We talked last week about the lymphatic system and it’s importance in keeping it flowing. We have a similar system in our brain it’s called the glymphatic system, or the “brain drain”.
This system was only recently discovered in 2012. It’s uses the cell’s mitochondria (energy system) to remove cellular waste from the brain. The cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) in the brain is what is responsible for draining toxins from brain. The brain has no lymphatic system, just the CSF fluid.
The kicker here, is this system is especially active during sleep! That being said if you enhance the mitochondria’s ability during sleep, you will turbocharge this maintenance system and get more cleanup in less time.
In 2013 as well, researchers found that something called “autophagy” is required for healthy brain cell mitochondria. This is a natural process called autophagy (literally “self-eating”), and it’s the bodies system of cleaning house: Your cells create membranes that hunt out scraps of dead, diseased, or worn-out cells; gobble them up; strip ’em for parts; and use the resulting molecules for energy or to make new cell parts.
It’s like an internal recycling program. We get rid of faulty parts, stop growths, ect. When the scientists monitored rat specimens who had difficulty with autophagy, they were fatter, sleepier, had higher cholesterol and impaired brains.
How to increase autophagy to boost the cell’s mitochondrial function:
1. Exercise. “Regular exercise is the most popular way that people unintentionally help their body to cleanse.”
2. Fasting. Although I don’t usually recommend skipping meals, occasional fasting is actually beneficial. Practitioners usually forgo food for anywhere from 12 to 36 hours at a time, making sure to drink plenty of water. (You might also want to limit activity to gentle yoga or stretching.)
3. Lower your carb intake.Ketosis, is an increasingly popular diet among bodybuilders and anyone seeking a longer lifespan. The idea is to reduce carbohydrates to such low levels that the body has no choice but to use fat as a fuel source instead.
Ketosis is like an autophagy hack. You get a lot of the same metabolic changes and benefits of fasting without actually fasting.
Keto diets are super high fat (good fats): Between 60 and 70 percent of one’s overall calories should come from fat. (Lots of steak, bacon, and peanut butter shakes are a definite bonus for the keto crowd.) Protein makes up 20 to 30 percent of calories, while carbs are kept below 50 grams per day.
So, increasing good fats, moving and intermittent fasting improve this system. But what about getting it flowing directly at its source? What about actually changing it in the brain where it flows in and out of?
That’s right! Cranial care!
Craniopathy care has been proven to increase the CSF flow in the brain and in the entire system. When there is pressure on the brain from the bones of the head, this fluid cannot maintain its flow.
This means the CSF flow is hindered. Therefore, the detox pathway is hindered.
Additionally, as I mentioned previously, this system is active entirely during your sleep. So if your sleep is hindered, or you aren’t getting adequate deep sleep you won’t be detoxing your noggin and body very well.
Sleep can be helped in many ways.
1. Getting cranial care
2. Supplementation, including minerals and herbs
3. Exercise
4. Reducing EMF exposure. No tv or cell phones in the bed room. Turn off your wifi in your home every night, and make sure there’s no light in your room. Completely dark room allows your brain to produce melatonin. EMF exposure actually calcifies the pituitary which releases melatonin.
5. Essential Oils and CBD. Certain oils can be really helpful for creating calmness and allowing sleep to happen.