Your immune system is ecstatic to unite with your bed at the end of the day. That’s because tucking in for a restful night of quality sleep is one of the best immune supporting habits you can adopt. Sleep is essential for total body health, of course. But what your immune system does while you sleep connects the maintenance of proper protection to your nightly slumber.

Sleep brings the period of regrouping, repairing, and rejuvenation you need to maintain your healthy, and occasionally hectic, life. So, it’s not surprising study after study link sleep to maintaining healthy immune function.

You have probably felt it in your life. Running yourself down and burning the proverbial candle at both ends can leave you feeling less than your best. You’re off, weakened, grumpy, susceptible to poor health decisions, and generally gross.

You’ve also lived the end result of a solid night of slumber. You’re energetic, sharp, strong, mentally agile, and generally ready for what the world has in store. So, you understand the benefits of sleep. What you might not know is why or how sleep is vital to supporting immune health.

An eye-opening exploration of your body at rest is the way to reveal that information. It’s time to pull back the covers on what your immune system does while you sleep—including moving components around, making “immunity memories,” and triggering processes that support immune cell proliferation and effectiveness.

While You’re Sleeping … Your Immune Cells Move Around

Sleep is a complex, active process cloaked in serenity. You look calm and peaceful in your dreamy state. But your immune system (along with your brain and other bodily processes) are cranking away at keeping you healthy.

For one, some of your most important immune cells are on the move.

T cells (important white blood cells made in your thymus) circulate in your bloodstream while you’re awake. They’re like your security force ready to pounce on intruders. During sleep, T cells leave the blood, dropping their levels.

Where do they go? Researchers have had a hard time tracking them in subjects. But evidence suggests that some subsets of T cells tuck into lymph nodes for the night, only to return to the blood when wakefulness is upon you.

Why does this happen? It’s complex, but there is some agreement T cells’ overnight stopovers in the lymph nodes helps adaptive immune memory. You’ll read more about this process below.

The immune cell movements during sleep also help maintain equilibrium. Your body is always seeking homeostasis, and sleep gives the immune system the time to accomplish that.

While You’re Sleeping … Your Immune System is Creating Memories

Sleep helps your brain form memories. It does the same for your immune memories.

Hormones start the chain reaction of events that cements an immune memory. Those secreted by your endocrine system during deep, non-rapid-eye-movement sleep prompt creation of durable immune memories.

Part of this process is the nighttime lymphatic rendezvous of T cells and antigen-presenting cells. Movement into lymph nodes and lymphatic tissue allows antigen-presenting cells to pass information to T cells. This is key to immune memory creation and the responsiveness of your adaptive immune system.

How do scientists know this works? Researchers have studied how sleep impacts specific immune-memory-cell counts after vaccinations (one of the only ways to test this process without harming subjects by exposing them to active pathogens).

Results show adequate sleep after vaccination supported production of antibodies and antigen-specific T cells. Sleep-deprived individuals didn’t exhibit the same robust response to the vaccine. This shows the power of sleep to support your adaptive immunity and help provide optimal protection for your body.

While You’re Sleeping … Immune Cell Effectiveness is Being Preserved

Sleepwalking through the day after a late night is proof you’re your best self when you’re well rested. A good night of sleep makes you a more efficient and effective individual, who can tackle what life throws your way.

Your immune system is at its best after a night of quality sleep, too. Let’s go back to the T cells to see what your immune system does while you sleep to help these cells do their job keeping you safe and healthy.

To neutralize invaders, your T cells need to stick to them first. The tacky ability that helps T cells kill pathogen-infected cells comes from proteins called integrins. One study looked at how sleep impacts these proteins and your T cells’ ability to do their job.

Researchers linked sleep (and the corresponding drop in stress hormones) with the normal activation of these sticky proteins and maintained T-cell function. The sleep-deprived group showed reduced integrin activity. Those who slept had properly sticky T cells capable of effectively fulfilling immunity duties.

Sleep and its accompanying cocktail of hormones help maintain the effectiveness of important immune-cell processes. Studies have produced positive signals about the interaction between sleep and key immune-cell processes, including:

  • Proliferation of white blood cells and protective immune proteins (cytokines)
  • Activation of immune cells
  • Differentiation of new white blood cells
  • Optimization of natural killer cell function (quick-acting white blood cells of the innate immune system)

When your immune cells are cared for—as they are when you get quality sleep—your supply of bodyguards are stocked, locked, and ready to protect you properly.

Tuck into Immune Supporting Sleep

Reading about the immune benefits of sleep could have you extra excited about your nightly slumber. That’s understandable. You’ve gotten a look at what your immune system does while you sleep. And how important that is for your health.

Plan for at least seven hours of good sleep every night. You may have to adjust your routine—especially around technology. But it will be worth it for your immune system, and for everything else sleep does for your body.

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Coffee is one of the world’s most consumed beverages and remains one of the top five most popular drinks. Whether your opinion about coffee is pro or con, your conviction is likely as strong as a double-shot espresso. You know how deeply you feel about a cup of java, but how expansive is your knowledge of coffee facts?

For instance, did you know the origin of coffee is truly the stuff of legend? It’s been said goat herders in the ninth century saw their flock seeming to dance after eating coffee berries. That led a local monk to concoct a drink that kept him up at night using the fruit.

The earliest substantiated evidence of coffee drinking in its modern form was in 15th century Arabia. In what is now Yemen, coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed much like you’d see today.

Coffee’s ability to provide an almost immediate pick-me-up is well known. It’s the reason many people choose a coffee beverage to start their day. Various studies have confirmed coffee’s ability to increase wakefulness, alleviate fatigue, and support good concentration and focus.

But coffee isn’t simply a method of consuming caffeine. It also contains many beneficial nutrients including B vitamins, manganese, potassium, and many antioxidant phytonutrients.

Take This Coffee Facts Quiz

Whether or not you’re a fan, there’s a lot of interesting, lesser-known coffee facts. Enjoy this short quiz and share it with your friends. See how your coffee IQ compares.

 

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The human brain is an incredible organ. But it is also a hungry one. Weighing in at only around three pounds, your brain is an apex feeder. It uses 20 percent of all blood and oxygen produced in the body. So, it’s important to understand the connection between your diet and brain health so you can eat to support your cognitive functions.

Your brain does a lot, and it needs glucose to do all that work. Glucose is a type of carbohydrate—sugars found in fruits, grains, vegetables, and milk products. But the brain can’t store any of that glucose itself. It must continuously receive a supply from the body.

Because your body must absorb and metabolize sugars before they make it to the brain, it’s actually best to focus on eating complex carbohydrates. They power your body and keep your brain operating at optimal levels. This means focusing on whole, natural foods and limiting processed foods high in simple carbohydrates and low in fiber and micronutrients.

But what’s the best diet type to help your brain? Here’s a good rule of thumb: what helps your heart, helps your brain. Let’s dig deeper to examine popular diets and discover how to be mindful of what you eat.

Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean Sea connects Europe, Asia, and Africa. Since the time boats were first put into the water for fishing, trade, and conquest, the Mediterranean has been the aquatic breadbasket of the Western world.

There are over 500 different species of fish in the Mediterranean, including omega-3 rich, oily fish like sardines, mackerel, and herring. Traditional trading routes connect different cultures with regional foods: protein-rich chickpeas from Israel, Egyptian figs, Greek olive oil, Libyan couscous, and Italian tomatoes.

The nations bordering the Mediterranean focus on a daily consumption of fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and healthy fats, like olive oil. Weekly, they consume oily fishes plus poultry, beans, and eggs for protein. Diets here have a limited intake of dairy products and very little red meat.

An abundance of cruciferous vegetables, nuts, and fresh fish supply the primary benefits of the Mediterranean diet. Oily fish are packed with omega-3s, a type of polyunsaturated fat the brain uses as a cell-building nutrient. Omega-3s are also important for normal brain function, preserving cell membrane health, and facilitating neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to form new neural connections.

The Mediterranean diet’s focus on vegetables, fruits, nuts, and limited red meat supports your brain and heart health. The connection between the two is important. Your brain requires 20 percent of all blood and oxygen supplies, so helping your heart will aid your brain.

Keto Diet

If you have a sweet tooth, this isn’t the diet for you.

The ketogenic diet focuses on foods that provide healthy fats, adequate levels of protein, and nearly zero carbohydrates. The idea is to consume most of your calories from fat and limit carbs, thereby putting your body into ketosis—a metabolic state where fat provides most of your body’s fuel.

Growing evidence suggests keto diets may help support and protect your brain and nerve cells. Ketones, the product of ketosis, may provide a neuroprotective impact on the brain, especially as you age. While it’s difficult to start and maintain a keto diet, there are a number of potential health benefits. By limiting carbohydrates and total calories in your diet, you can experience weight loss (and a healthy weight will stress your heart less), and protected brain function.

Your brain still requires fuel to function. Instead of relying solely on carbs to create glucose, the brain uses ketones to meet its energy needs. Your liver and muscles store glucose in the form of glycogen. After two or three days without ingesting carbs, these reserves are depleted and insulin levels drop. Your liver increases production of ketones by breaking down fat stored in cells.

A sample of foods you can eat on a keto diet are seafood, non-starchy vegetables, cheeses, avocados, eggs, meat, and plant-based oils. Providing the food is low/zero carb, your body will convert stored fat into energy, resulting in weight loss.

Avocados are an excellent food source for brain health. A medium-sized avocado contains nine grams of carbs. The good news is seven of those grams are fiber, so your net carb consumption is only two grams. Avocados are also packed with vitamins and minerals, including potassium.

Ultra-Low-Fat Diet

The polar opposite of keto is the ultra-low-fat diet. As the name suggests, the goal of this diet is to eliminate as much fat consumption as possible from your daily intake. You instead turn to whole grain foods, lean meats (skinless chicken and turkey), white fish, vegetables, lentils, and fruit. Butter, eggs, and cheese are out, but you can eat pasta, rice, and oats.

This diet requires a lot of discipline because your body still needs approximately 10 percent dietary fat to function. Foods like salmon and flaxseed help. And walnuts are an excellent option—loaded with omega-3s, antioxidants, vitamin E, and minerals to support your brain.

Since you can eat fruit, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries provide flavonoid antioxidants your brain needs to function properly. Berries can boost brain health by maintaining healthy communication between brain cells, fostering neuroplasticity, and supporting normal cognitive function as you age.

Intermittent Fasting

This diet is more about when to eat than what. On intermittent fasting, you avoid eating for set, extended periods of time. It’s a new diet trend with centuries-old roots. As hunter-gatherers, humans would often go long period of time between meals. Today, those who intermittent fast eat only during certain time windows, like 16-hour fasts with eight-hours of feeding or one meal per 24-hour cycle.

During fasting, scientists believe new neural pathways are created, strengthening both connectedness and communication paths in your brain. When you’re not eating, fat stored in your body can be pulled for energy to power your body. The stress of fasting makes the brain look for nutrients inside the body. The result is your brain receiving the energy it requires and your body losing weight.

This approach to eating brings other cellular-level benefits. Fasting helps your body adjust hormone levels to make stored fat more accessible. Human growth hormones help increase fat loss and muscle gain. Insulin levels drop. Cells undergo cellular repair processes, including autophagy—removing old cells and dysfunctional proteins from inside the cell.

Special consideration should be given to intermittent fasting. If you have a chronic health condition, you should consult a physician before starting—sound advice for anyone starting a new diet program.

Vegan Diet

Veganism is as much a lifestyle as it is a diet. Proponents of the vegan diet abstain from all consumption of animal products for ethical, environmental, and health reasons. Saying no to any meat, dairy, or other animal-based foods and ingredients requires discipline but comes with some brain benefits.

Cruciferous vegetables—bok choy, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, and broccoli—are packed with folate, a water-soluble B-complex vitamin that supports the formation of red blood cells to help the production of energy. Circulation and energy are important for feeding your brain oxygen and nutrients. Folate and other B vitamins (B6 and B12) also have been shown to help support normal cognition function as you grow older.

Beans and legumes, an important staple in a vegan diet, provide proteins and complex carbohydrates. Your body slowly digests beans, helping to maintain stable blood-sugar levels. Because your brain utilizes so much energy, beans are a good source of complex carbohydrates that slowly enter your bloodstream to continually feed your cognition.

However, a strict vegan diet can place demands upon your brain. You need choline to support healthy brain functions like the regulation of memory, mood, and muscle control.

Unfortunately, the best sources of choline are beef, eggs, fish, and chicken, while nuts, legumes, and vegetables contain little. Because it is difficult to obtain optimal levels of choline from a vegan diet, you may consider supplementing to meet your needs. The same is also true of vitamin B12, since it is only found in animal foods

Many may find a strict vegan diet to be difficult. But you should try to incorporate elements of a plant-based diet into your normal routine. Cutting back on animal proteins can benefit your weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.

Mindful Eating

As you’ve seen, parts of many popular diets can be good for your brain. So, how do you choose?

The best diet for you is the one you can stick with. Being conscious of your consumption helps you appreciate your food and, hopefully, encourages better food choices. Maintaining a healthy diet isn’t always fun. But a lifetime of considerate eating can fuel your brain and body with the nutrition they need.

And good brain health doesn’t stop and start with your fork. Exercise helps improve blood flow and memory by stimulating the release of growth factors—chemicals in your brain that enhance learning, mood, and thinking. Get smart. Include exercise and a healthy diet to live a healthy life.

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In today’s hyper-connected, fast-paced environment, the challenge more than ever is to have the discipline to slow down. Modern-day technology also inundates your life with distractions that draw your focus outward. It’s possible to mask chronic stress and other unhealthy psychological states, but society has begun to recognize the need for a counter movement.

Taking a “brain break”—relearning how to slow down and go inward—has become increasingly popular. That may be due, in part, to recognized meditation benefits for the brain.

Meditating is a great way to ease the frantic state of mind many find themselves in. Once thought to be an enigmatic practice, meditation has gained traction in recent years. One study shows regular meditation by adults tripled from 2012–2017. The growing literature on the benefits of meditation is expansive and promising.

The practice of cultivating mindfulness through meditation can be achieved in many ways. Put simply, it’s being aware of where you place your conscious attention. What comes up may be pleasant or unpleasant. But as you practice this inward dive with nonjudgmental attention, you’ll be able to access an inner peace that already exists within you.

Anyone can start a mindful practice of meditation to find a new level of calm. It’s all about the discipline of sitting down and going inward.

Big Brain Benefits

Meditation benefits for the brain are abundant. Meditating strengthens neural connections and can literally change the configuration of these networks. With regular practice, you can cultivate a more resilient neurobiology that:

And with practice, meditation can also help you develop empathy and be more compassionate.

Sound amazing? Read on to reveal even more meditation benefits for the brain.

Mindfulness to Manage Your Mood and Well-Being 

Like exercise for your body, meditation helps to condition your mind. Confronting and letting go of unwanted psychological states, like anxiety and fear, releases their hold and the associated conditioned response. Studies now prove control over your internal experience, once thought to be fixed, can be altered with the simple practice of mindfulness.

Though not a cure for chronic emotional and psychological stress disorders, meditation has many extraordinary benefits for mood and overall well-being. A few minutes of mindfulness and meditating can help hold off overwhelming emotion and guard against the powerful thought patterns that fund unproductive worries.

Here’s a small slice of the research backing mindfulness and meditation benefits for the brain:

  • One randomized controlled study found mindfulness-based therapy over 56 weeks significantly reduced the period of time before relapse of episodes of low mood. It also helped with long and short-term healthy mood maintenance. Participants reported experiencing a better quality of life.
  • Another study showed eight weeks of mindfulness-based therapy improved participant’s mental health scores. This lead to important conclusions, like relief of anxiety in the mind from meditation being tied to the regulation of self-referential thought processes. Anxiety is a cognitive state that occurs when you’re unable to control your emotional state due to perceived threats.
  • After an eight-week mindfulness course, participant MRI scans showed a reduction in the brain’s fight or flight center associated with fear and emotion. The amygdala—a part of the brain that controls your body’s stress response during perceived danger—is a key biomarker of stress in your body.

Tune into Greater Attention and Focus

Everyone’s mind gets distracted. It could be putting off homework, losing track of your words mid-sentence, or thinking about work while your significant other tells you about their day. Humans developed selective focus as a coping mechanism for dangerous threats in the ancient past.

Today, there are fewer physical threats to worry about. Instead, people ruminate psychologically, letting worry and anxiety overtake the present with past emotional pain or future anxiety.

Your brain naturally, easily slides into boredom, so it may welcome distractions. A default-mode network of neurons is associated with mind wandering—also called the “monkey mind.” But scientists have found that abnormalities in this system of the brain can lead to anxiety, depression, attention disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Meditation allows you to be in the present moment, a timeframe associated with feelings of happiness. It can increase your attention span and combat mind wandering and excessive self-referential thoughts. With over-activity, these unhealthy states of mind can lead to a state of unhappiness.

Mindfulness helps you focus and ignore the distractions around you. It also helps to hone your ability to notice more in your environment. This gives you access to the present moment with a fuller perspective of your experience. Managing your monkey mind through daily meditation is a simple and easy first line of defense for endless modern-day distractions.

Play the Long Game: Aging and Brain

Free to all, meditation is a fountain of youth for mental aging. The human brain naturally begins to deteriorate in your 20s. Maintaining a healthy brain can be supported with the powerful practice of meditation.

Meditation is shown to thicken the pre-frontal cortex. This brain center manages higher order brain function, like increased awareness, concentration, and decision making. Changes in the brain show, with meditation, higher-order functions become stronger, while lower-order brain activities decrease. In other words, you have the power to train your brain.

Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist from Harvard Medical School, found consistency with meditation is key. In her study, she discovered that experienced meditators 40-50 years old had the same amount of gray matter as an average 20-30-year-old. In this older group, the health of the frontal cortex was maintained.

Brain Structures and Neuroplasticity 

Mindful meditation can create physical changes in the brain through neuroplasticity.

This increasingly popular concept refers to the brain’s ability to reorganize and change continuously throughout your lifespan. Behavior and lifestyle are major influencers on the brain. So, your life makes your brain constantly create new neural connections. That’s because neurons (nerve cells) actively adjust to compensate to changes in your environment.

Brain cells go through a process of reorganization, dynamically adapting by creating new pathways inside the brain. How you think and feel changes these neural structures. By flexing the muscle of thoughtful attention, again and again, you effectively change the “physique,” or shape, of your brain. And it’s doesn’t take much time, either.

Studies have shown it only takes eight weeks to change the shape of your brain, including an increase of gray matter volume. Gray matter is found in your central nervous system, and makes up of most of your brain’s neuronal cell bodies. This type of tissue is particularly important in areas responsible for muscle control, sensory perception, emotion, memory, decision-making, and self-control.

Through neuroplasticity, you can create and improve the connections between neurons as you alter the density of gray matter. You can effectively change your brain in just a few minutes a day.

Seeing the Brain Through Meditation

The gray matter in your brain tells a lot about what happens as you sit down for brain training. The many meditation benefits for the brain triggered by daily practice are staggering. But what happens, exactly, to produce these exciting effects?

During the first few minutes of your meditation session, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is the first area to light up. This part of the brain filters experiences through a self-referential lens. As you ease into a meditative state, your brain is still bouncing from thought to thought—the monkey mind active in the trees. Thoughts that surface can be exaggerated outcomes due to your lived experience.

When you’re able to rein in your attention, the lateral prefrontal cortex activates. Regardless of the method you use—a mantra or breath—this shift can help you override the “me” from moments earlier. Thoughts during this phase are more rational and balanced, helping you see a more neutral perspective. Now you’ve settled into the sweet spot of meditation.

Practice for several weeks (8 to 12) activates the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. In this state, empathy can develop, and compassion easily arises. This range of activation in the brain becomes stronger the longer you practice. The dedicated practice creates a gateway to a dynamic, gracious life.

Release Chemical Helpers with Mediation

Your brain naturally releases key neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) that help regulate the balance of vital hormones. They influence systems throughout the mind and body.

Studies show practicing meditation can directly impact the level of these crucial neurotransmitters produced in the brain. Mindfulness can have a measurable impact on these brain chemicals:

  • Serotonin—increases this “feel good” chemical to help regulate mood
  • Cortisol—decreases this stress hormone
  • DHEA—boosts levels of this longevity hormone
  • GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid)—improves the calming effect of this major inhibitory transmitter in your central nervous system (CNS)
  • Endorphins—increases the “natural high” of this overall happiness neurotransmitter
  • Growth Hormone—elevates levels of this youth-preserving chemical that naturally declines with age
  • Melatonin—boosts this “sleep hormone” responsible for restful sleep and helps with mood regulation

Moving Towards Alpha

Your bustling brain is a continuous source of electrical activity. It makes sense. Neurons communicate with each other through electricity.

Brainwaves convey information through a rate of repetition—oscillations so powerful they can be detected. An electroencephalogram (EEG) machine measures five basic types of brainwaves, at different frequencies, slow to fast. Corresponding to Greek letters: delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma. As you might guess by now, meditation allows you to manipulate the frequency of your brainwaves.

Meet the 5 Main Types of Brain Frequencies

  1. Gamma brainwaves: The fastest measurable brainwaves detected by EEG. This quick, oscillating brainwave is associated with heightened mental activity including perception, learning, consciousness, and problem solving. They’re active when your brain is processing information from different regions simultaneously.
  2. Beta brainwaves: Detected during active, alert, and busy thinking. They are present at times of concentration, conversation, or when you focus on a task.
  3. Alpha brainwaves: Identifiable when the mind is in a calm, relaxed, yet alert state. They are present during creative activities, found right before you fall asleep, and increase during meditation.
  4. Theta brainwaves: Measured during deep meditation, day dreaming, or REM sleep. They can also be detected while performing automatic, repeated tasks that disengage the brain, like showering or washing dishes.
  5. Delta brainwaves: These slow brainwaves occur during deep, restorative sleep where you lose body awareness altogether.

Your brainwaves are just one aspect of the complex processes in the mind that produce your experience. And meditation can help you control them.

As you meditate and turn attention within yourself, alpha and theta waves increase. Producing alpha waves helps you tap into the voluntary onset of rest and relaxation. This wave comes over you when you’re not focusing with effort on anything in particular.

Dipping into alpha oscillation through meditation can also fuel your creativity. A 2015 study showed a surge in creativity induced by producing more alpha waves. Moving towards alpha waves isn’t a magic elixir, but it’s a promising start to accessing a calmer, more imaginative life experience.

Your Mindful Destination

For a beginning practitioner, developing mindfulness takes dedication. But as you deepen your craft through physical repetition and mind-body connection, you’ll experience the mediation benefits for the brain. Increased research on meditation presents proven benefits for well-being, enhanced memory and attention, a boost in serotonin, and the list keeps growing.

Training your brain to still fluctuations is easier than it sounds. If you haven’t tried it, meditation is simple. It requires no extra equipment, no previous training. Simply sit in a comfortable position, either in a chair on the floor, and begin to focus on your breath. When your attention strays, gently bring your thoughts back to your breath.

Countless methods exist to practice creating a healthy brain and body through meditation.

Try varying your technique by trying out vipassana, breathwork, transcendental meditation, chanting, focused attention, and moving meditation, to name a few. Each of these can be guided or silent.

Seek out the method that’s best for you. But just trying it on for size is the important part. Step off life’s crazy ride for a few minutes each day to go deeper into the mechanics of your own mind. With regular training, you’ll bring resilience to your mental state, better manage high levels of stress, and become more agile in the face of distressing thoughts, anxiety, and distraction.

Meditation, just like exercise, can transform your brain. As a more mindful individual, you’ll create a more whole, conscious experience with more meaningful connection. It’s within your power to change your brain—start today.

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Neurotransmitters are the language of your brain. They allow neurons to communicate to other brain cells. That’s not it, though. Muscles receive cues from neurotransmitters, too. In fact, these chemical messengers send information throughout the body.

The different types of neurotransmitters vary widely. Some manage your heart rate and blood pressure. Others make you feel motivated, stabilize your mood, or help you fall asleep.

To understand how neurotransmitters work in your body, let’s study the most notable chemical messengers. And you’ll learn how important they are for your brain and body.

How Neurotransmitters Help Your Body Communicate

Communication is key to your health. Neurotransmitters do that work, sending instructions from one brain cell to the next and transferring information throughout the brain and body.

The process starts where these chemical messengers are stored in tiny compartments at the end of neurons. These are called synaptic vesicles. Neurotransmitters live here until your brain needs to relay a message.

When a neuron makes a command (known as firing an action potential) neurotransmitters spring into action. These action potentials temporarily boost neurons into a higher energy state. More energy means brain cells can dump chemical neurotransmitters into the space between them and the next neuron. This gap between neurons is called the synapse.

Neurotransmitters are then collected from the synapse by neighboring neurons after an action potential sparks. A chain reaction follows. Each brain cell releases neurotransmitters to spread the message. When the command is completed, the neurotransmitters break down, float away, or are taken back up by the synaptic vesicles they came from.

Understanding 7 Major Neurotransmitters

While there are dozens of known neurotransmitters, there are seven major ones to focus on. They fall into two different types, depending on their actions.

Some are excitatory neurotransmitters. This means they encourage other brain cells to fire commands. Other neurotransmitters are considered inhibitory. They stop action potentials and help your brain turn actions off. Both are useful and necessary for your body to function at its best.

Familiarize yourself with each of the major chemical messengers that influence your health. They do a lot to keep your body and brain working in tandem.

1. Glutamate

This amino acid is common in your diet. And it acts as an excitatory neurotransmitter, stimulating neurons to fire commands. Glutamate isn’t just in your diet. It’s present in 90 percent of synapses, acting as the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system.

It only takes a small amount of glutamate to excite neighbor brain cells. When neurons are working properly, all the glutamate released by the cell is picked back up by glutamate transporter molecules. This ensures levels of glutamate remain low in the synapse.

Too much glutamate can be tricky for your brain. Excesses can over-excite cells. So much so that neurons can’t bring their energy back down again. This toxic excited state causes brain cells to lock up and stop working. Good thing those transporter proteins are there to clear away the extra glutamate and protect your brain by cleaning up the synapse after each action potential.

Neuroplasticity also relies on glutamate. That’s because your brain uses glutamate to build pathways between neurons that reinforce your memory and help you learn.

2. GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid)

If glutamate is the most excitatory chemical messenger, then GABA is its polar opposite. GABA is a main inhibitory neurotransmitter. It reduces the activity in the central nervous system and blocks certain signals from your brain.

Without GABA, your brain would be “on” all the time. You need GABA to produce a calming effect that slows you down. It lowers your heart rate and blood pressure. GABA helps you relax and fall asleep. The normal stresses of your life respond well to GABA.

Take time to wind down before bed. Reducing your exposure to blue light can support the production of GABA in your brain. Deep breathing and mindfulness meditation can boost GABA, too. Helping you lower stress and fall asleep faster.

3. Dopamine

The most thrilling neurotransmitter has to be dopamine. That’s because it plays a major role in your brain’s reward system.

Dopamine floods the synapse between neurons when something rewarding happens. It’s responsible for that rush of joy when you accomplish a goal or succeed at a task. Dopamine perks your brain up and brings feelings of pleasure.

Some drugs prey on your brain’s reward system. They stimulate the brain to release an overabundance of dopamine. This creates a temporary sensation of pleasure, or a high. But coming down from a dopamine high is a hard fall. Afterward, you might feel depressed, tired, and less interested in your favorite activities.

Drugs aren’t the only way to mess with the normal dopamine levels in your brain. Addictive activities like video gaming, gambling, and shopping create similar highs. The surge of dopamine in your brain can make these habits hard to shake. That’s why it’s so important to understand how dopamine works so you can keep these behaviors in check.

Dopamine has plenty of positives, though. It encourages wakefulness. It helps your pancreas release the appropriate amount of insulin after you eat. Dopamine also coordinates your brain and your body to create voluntary movement. Writing your name, typing, and driving a car are all possible because of dopamine.

4. Adrenaline (Epinephrine)

If you have ever been spooked before, you know the feeling that comes from adrenaline—also called epinephrine. This neurotransmitter is responsible for your body’s fight or flight response.

Adrenaline is produced by adrenal glands located above your kidneys. But the chemical messenger works throughout the central nervous system to ramp up your heart rate and bring oxygen to your muscles quickly.

Why do you need adrenaline if you may never be in a true fight or flight scenario with a predator chasing you? Because your daily life provides plenty of situations where a similar—less life-saving—response is needed.

Adrenaline is your body’s defense mechanism against stress. If you’re running late and are afraid to miss your plane, epinephrine speeds up your breathing and heart rate so you can run through the security line.

Theme parks profit by taking advantage of adrenaline. They capitalize on the thrill a jolt of adrenaline can bring. It can make you feel jumpy in a haunted house or make your palms sweaty while you ride a rollercoaster.

Adrenaline sharpens your decision making, too. You can feel it kick in when you’re taking a test in school. Neurotransmitters like adrenaline can help your body to know how your brain wants to respond to stressful situations.

5. Serotonin

Take a break from your brain and shift your focus to your gut. Serotonin is an important brain chemical that does a lot of its work in your small intestine, too.

Serotonin in your digestive tract promotes feelings of satisfaction after eating and keeps your appetite in check. When a food you eat doesn’t sit well with your stomach, serotonin helps your body get rid of it.

Rotten or spoiled foods can make you feel nauseous. That’s because serotonin kicks in when you eat a potentially toxic food. It triggers your brain to make you feel queasy and helps your bowel dispose of the food quickly.

In your brain serotonin works a bit differently. It has a lot of influence over your mood, promoting feelings of wellbeing and happiness. Serotonin also helps you achieve more restful sleep and sets your body’s internal clock.

A serotonin imbalance can happen. When the brain doesn’t produce enough serotonin, you might experience a lower mood and sleeplessness. Confusion and brain fog may even set in.

On the other hand, too much serotonin coursing through your brain can be more dangerous. Some illegal drugs cause your brain to dump all of its serotonin stores into the synapse at once. This sudden spike in serotonin and later crash is called serotonin syndrome. It can create paranoia, impair your judgement, and negatively impact your memory. So, safeguard your brain’s supply of serotonin to maintain the delicate balance.

6. Oxytocin

Let’s debunk some myths about oxytocin. This neurotransmitter is much more than the “love hormone.” It’s more than the cuddly chemical messenger it’s been made out to be.

Oxytocin is a powerful neurotransmitter that affects many bodily functions. Your brain makes oxytocin in the hypothalamus and releases it via the pituitary gland to trigger responses all over the body.

Oxytocin urges the walls of the uterus to contract when a woman delivers her baby. This same chemical messenger fosters the bond between mother and child immediately following birth. Oxytocin also makes breast feeding possible, and stimulates the release of milk from mammary glands.

Men, don’t feel left out—oxytocin plays a significant role in your body, too. It helps your brain form strong connections of loyalty and trust. This helps you create important relationships with friends and family.

Be grateful for the chemical messenger the next time you interact with the people you care about. Your body needs oxytocin for its physical and social health— to live and love.

7. Acetylcholine

It may be last on this list, but this neurotransmitter was the first discovered in the human body. Acetylcholine is unique because it directly affects your muscles.

Acetylcholine works at the neuro-muscular junction. That’s the point where your nervous system and muscles meet. When acetylcholine is released from neurons, receptor proteins on muscle fibers take hold of it. Then the presence of acetylcholine triggers an action potential or command in the muscle fiber. But instead of sending signals to a brain cell, acetylcholine makes your muscle contract.

Every time you move your muscles, acetylcholine is in play. This can be voluntary movements or unconscious ones like your heartbeat or the contractions of peristalsis that moves food through your digestive tract.

Muscle movements aren’t all acetylcholine does for you. Your brain’s learning and memory functions are also impacted by this important neurotransmitter.

Apply Your Neurotransmitter Knowledge

Now that you know how neurotransmitters work, consider ways to help them be more efficient for your health.

Planning for enough sleep each night is a great way to give your brain a break that’s possible because of GABA.

Serotonin keeps your gut happy by eliminating foods that upset your stomach. So, eat plenty of protein to restore the serotonin levels in your gut.

You can increase the production of oxytocin by holding your kids close and spending quality time with the people you love.

And you can keep your dopamine levels in check by keeping an eye out for addictive behavior creeping into your daily routine.

Take a minute to appreciate all the work neurotransmitters do in your body. From your heartbeat to your breathing, digestion, and bonding, chemical messengers keep your brain and your body communicating.

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https://www.hormone.org/your-health-and-hormones/glands-and-hormones-a-to-z/hormones/adrenaline

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https://www.healthline.com/health/epinephrine-vs-norepinephrine#takeaway

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https://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/m/s1/chapter11.html

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-acetylcholine-2794810

Exercise and brain health are closely connected. That’s because your brain, like the muscles in your arms and legs, is strongest when you exercise regularly. And while there’s no machine in the gym to work your brain, it still reaps the benefits of physical activity.

Raising your heart rate perks your brain up, too. And moving your body is good for your weight and great for your memory. The brain benefits come from the increases in blood flow and oxygen that comes from regular exercise.

With lots of available blood and nutrients, your brain is fueled for optimal performance. Daily movement also allows new brain cells to develop while reinforcing neural pathways. Your memory improves through exercise, and physical activity helps maintain your cognitive health as you age.

Ready to up the intensity of your daily exercise to maximize your brain power? Start by checking out all the ways physical activity supports your brain health.

Science of Exercise and the Brain

Current research establishes the link between regular exercise and better brain function. As little as 30-to-45 minutes of movement each day is enough to trigger a cascade of memory-preserving benefits. Explore the five ways working out can support your cognitive skills.

1. Exercise Increases the Size of the Hippocampus

The area of your brain responsible for learning and verbal memory is called the hippocampus. When you exercise, your hippocampus increases in volume. It literally grows. Neurons in the hippocampus become denser, and connectivity in the region is reinforced through your physical activity.

The hippocampus is the first region of your brain to dull with age. Exercising regularly helps keep it sharp and protects it from the normal, age-related decline.

Exercise also ramps up activity in this memory and learning center. Just 10 minutes of mild-to-moderate exertion is enough to strengthen the connection between neurons and the memory-focused section of the brain.

This improved connectivity in the hippocampus can lead to better performance on memory and cognitive skills tests. Short spurts of exercise—which may fit better in your busy life anyway—can even boost recall. This could include remembering where you parked your car, or what appointments you have during the day. Think about your hippocampus and all the good you are doing it the next time you hit the gym.

2. Working Out Reduces Stress Hormones that Inhibit Brain Activity

Many people seek solace from stress in a walk or jog. If you’re stressed, your brain is, too. And exercise is a powerful tool for relaxing your mind.

Physical activity reduces the stress hormones (cortisol and norepinephrine specifically) that build up in your brain when you’re worried and anxious. Too many stress hormones can make you feel sluggish and contribute to brain fog. This can even slow your cognitive skills and dampen brain power.

Bust through the haze of stress by planning regular exercise. The endorphins released in your brain after exercise clear away stress hormones and boost your mood. Exercise and endorphins also stimulate growth in the hippocampus—as you learned above.

Your brain and body need exercise to relax. Think clearly and improve your mood by prioritizing regular exercise.

3. Sleep Improves With Exercise

Another way exercise improves your mind is by helping you sleep well at night. Challenging your body every day makes it easier to fall asleep. And it leads to the kind of sleep that helps you feel rested and recharged come morning.

Restful sleep also improves mental clarity and executive function. You need good sleep to focus, make decisions, and process your emotions. It provides much-needed time off for your brain to rest and prepare for the day ahead—even though your brain still does work during sleep. Your brain is at full capacity after a good night’s sleep. Cognitive skills are sharpened and memory is reinforced. Start working out for the sake of your sleep and the strength of your brain.

4. Aerobic Exercise Triggers the Release of Growth Factors

Your memory relies on the neural pathways and connections deep inside your brain. Proteins called growth factors are necessary for your mind to create new connections and reinforce old ones. Lucky for you, regular exercise is an easy way to increase the amount of growth factors available in your brain.

Moving your body triggers the release of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This protein helps your brain generate new cells and preserves aging ones. BDNF is also responsible for developing new blood vessels in and around the brain. This allows more nutrient and blood circulation in the area.

If you want to help your brain grow and receive the blood and nutrition it needs, start moving. BDNF levels increase whenever your exercise, even for a few minutes. That means giving your brain support only takes a few minutes of activity.

5. Regular Movement Slows Aging of the Brain

Growing older doesn’t mean your brain has to slow down. There are lifestyle measures you can take now to preserve your memory and keep your mind sharp. A lifelong habit of regular exercise can help you keep a healthy brain later in life.

A study of the tie between memory and exercise illustrates this well. Research shows older adults who exercised consistently in their youth outperformed their peers on memory and cognitive skills tests. Their scores matched most closely with other test takers up to 10 years younger.

Since you are only as old as you feel, keep your body and mind feeling young by prioritizing regular exercise throughout your life.

Pick Either Aerobic and Anaerobic Exercise for a Healthy Brain

Your brain isn’t too picky about the exercise it needs to thrive. All you need to do is ramp up blood circulation to start seeing improvements. Like you learned above, the brain benefits of exercise come from increased blood flow to the region.

High-energy activities like tennis, cycling, swimming, and soccer elevate your heart rate above its resting norm. These movements are considered aerobic exercise and are great at quickly moving blood through your body. Aerobic exercise and brain health go hand in hand. Fast-paced movements increase blood flow in your head and neck, supplying your brain with plenty of oxygen and nutrients.

But it doesn’t have to be all aerobic exercise all the time. Anaerobic exercises produce similar brain-boosting results. Resistance movements and strength training are also great ways to work out for your brain.

You don’t even have to go all out for your brain to see benefits. Activities like yoga, tai chi, and other low-impact sports hone your concentration skills and focus while lowering stress levels.

Variety of movement is great for your body and brain. Developing multi-faceted workouts that include strength training, balance, low-impact, and aerobic movements should be your goal.

See this relationship in action yourself. Protect the health of your brain and body with regular physical activity. Exercise daily and notice how your brain responds.

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https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax

https://time.com/4474874/exercise-fitness-workouts/

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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-exercise-affects-your-brain/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-fifth-vital-sign/201901/why-exercise-is-good-your-brain

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https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/mild-exercise-rapidly-stimulates-hippocampus-to-improve-cognitive-ability-and-memory-309925

COVID-19 (the disease caused by the novel 2019 coronavirus) has changed the world. The health and safety of our readers and everyone around the world is at the forefront of our minds. And we know right now—maybe more than ever—health and wellness occupies a place of prominence in yours.

At Ask The Scientists, we will continue to provide you with the accurate, science-based information about nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle you need right now. We believe information and understanding is power—to maintain your health, to keep your family healthy, to battle fear with truth.

That’s why below you’ll find collected stories about topics of utmost importance—immunity, mental health, self-care, and healthy habits at home. We aren’t experts on the novel coronavirus, so there are no specifics about symptoms or the virus’ spread. But you’ll also find a guide to sourcing trustworthy, scientific information about COVID-19 and the ever-evolving global pandemic.

And if you need an answer to a question about health, wellness, nutrition, or healthy living, we’re here, in this with you. We’ll be doing what we always do—arming you with quality, science-based information to help you continue living your life in these uncertain times.

If you don’t find an answer or the information you’re looking for, all you have to do is ask. Reach out through the site or on our Facebook page.

Understand More About Your Immune Health

Practicing Self-Care and Attending to Your Mental Health

Thriving at Home

Your Guide to Quality Sources of Coronavirus-Specific Information

What you didn’t find in the links above was specific information about COVID-19. We aren’t experts in epidemiology, virology, or infectious disease. But we can point you to quality sources about symptoms, how the virus spreads, case numbers, vaccines, and more. And remember that the information you put in your brain is as important right now as the food you put in your body.

Here are tips for finding trustworthy sources of coronavirus information and links to those sites:

  • The World Health Organization is the first place to look for global COVID-19 information.
  • National government health departments (like the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health in the U.S.) will have more specific information about what’s happening in your country.
  • Local government health department sites have resources that will be most applicable to the situation unfolding around you.
  • For the latest research, turn to reputable scientific journals, like Nature Reviews Immunology, New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and the Journal of the American Medical Association.
  • Seek out more general coronavirus information from recognized experts. This includes places like the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, and academic sites from credible universities around the world.
  • Quality information about how COVID-19 vaccines are approved can also be found from the CDC and FDA in the US, TGA in Australia, Health Canada, and the World Health Organization.
  • Also turn to the Examine.com and Worldometers coronavirus pages for solid statistics and information.
  • Entertain and inform yourself by turning to blogs from brands and authors you can trust. Maybe check out What’s Up USANA? for more lifestyle tips about working from home and much more.

What you don’t want to do is constantly scroll through your social media feeds, plucking out the most sensational tidbits being posted. Evaluate the sources of any information popping up on your Facebook or Twitter feeds. Or slim down your information diet to only include trusted sources like the ones listed above. Managing your mental health might even mean taking a break from the deluge of news about the global pandemic.

When you’re ready for more information, we’ll help you find the best source. And if you’re curious about your immune system, eating to help support your immune health, or healthy habits at home, we’ll be here for you. Come back to Ask the Scientists for more immunity, overall wellness, nutrition, and healthy living content you can trust and act on to help you maintain your health.

You don’t need to be a neuroscientist to grasp the basics of how the brain works. Sure, your body’s command center is complex—a lot happens inside your skull. But a handful of key concepts can help you establish a working knowledge of the fundamentals of brain power. 

Start flexing your mind muscles and learn about four basic brain-science concepts. 

The Mechanics of Brain Power  

Your brain is packed with nearly 100 billion (100,000,000,000) neurons. Each links with other neurons to create networks that, in total, boost trillions of connections. This massive, complex web makes your brain the powerful central computer it is. And that’s how it’s possible for the brain to handle all the world throws at it—thinking, reacting, recalling, and controlling every aspect of your life.

But how does it work? The complexity makes it hard to understand. But knowing the parts and spinning a simple metaphor can help unravel the mysteries of brain mechanics.

The neurons in your brain look like a tree stump, with a main body (called the soma) and roots reaching out all around. A tree’s roots are for collection—spidering into the soil to bring in nutrients and water. The roots coming off a neuron body need to collect and communicate. 

That’s why neurons have two types of extensions—dendrites and an axon. Dendrites collect information and take in signals from other neurons. And the axon transmits messages using specialized chemicals called neurotransmitters.

Synapses are the interfaces where messages are transferred. These connections between the axon terminals of one neuron and the dendrites of another make communication in the brain possible. 

Each of your neurons is like a tiny TV news network. The reporters and producers are the dendrites reaching out to sources, collecting facts, and gathering the news. The anchor who broadcasts the news is the axon, passing on messages from the news network (or, in this example, the neuron). 

Together, this connected community of information sharers keeps your brain up to date and communicating fluidly. 

Exploring Your Ability to Adapt with Neuroplasticity

Your brain takes in so much data every minute of every day. Your environment, emotions, and other circumstances are also constantly changing. With all the input and perpetual transition, your brain has to adapt.

Neuroplasticity describes your brain’s incredible flexibility.

This is much more than the ability to change your mind about a topic. Neuroplasticity is the physical adaptations your brain makes by rewiring neural connections and networks. Using neuroplasticity, your powerful brain can switch the area where certain tasks are performed if the need arises. (Be careful not to confuse neuroplasticity with neurogenesis, which is the process of creating new neurons.)

Many circumstances have been shown to prompt the brain reorganization done through neuroplasticity. Physical injury, emotional trauma, and emotional stress all initiate change. More positive situations, like learning and improving your environment, can also stimulate neuroplasticity.

You know your brain is going to adapt. What you can do is help guide that rewiring through positive habits.

Executive Functions Help You Grow Up Mentally

Your ability to conquer your daily life has a lot to do with a collection of cognitive skills called your executive functions. And you learned and earned these skills—because you aren’t born with fully developed executive functions.

They include:

  • Shifting attention around
  • Controlling your impulses
  • Regulating behavior
  • Considering consequences before acting
  • Remaining focused

Executive functions also help you toss around abstractions until you eventually create concrete conclusions. And they encompass your working memory, mental flexibility, and aspects of your creative problem-solving abilities.

Even if this concept is new to you, it’s not to your brain. You’ve used your executive functions to make your way through school. They’ve helped you achieve physical health goals. Executive functions even aided with managing emotions during tricky or rough times. And now you know what to call them.

Working Memory vs. Short-Term Memory

Defining memory seems simple. It’s what you can remember, right? Your brain’s storage capacity. What you can recall when you need to.

There’s a little more to memory than that. It starts with defining and differentiating the main types of memory.

Long-term memory is pretty self-explanatory, and easily separated from short-term and working memory. If it’s stored for more than a minute, it likely falls under long-term memory. But comparing working and short-term memory is a little bit more involved.

Short-term memory is the ability to remember small amounts of information for under a minute. Your ability to keep a number in your mind for long enough to write it down is an example of short-term memory. But you forget a lot of what’s stored in short-term memory. 

Working memory has limited space, but it’s a conduit for moving information from the senses to short- and long-term memory. And it also shuffles longer stored items to the front of your attention and mixes them with current stimuli to help you accomplish tasks in front of you.

Cooking your favorite meal provides an example of working memory. You’re pulling the ingredients, proportions, and timing from your long-term memory. Your working memory helps you complete the dish by mixing sights, sounds, and smells with the stored data in the recipe. That helps your meal come out right—without extra or incorrect ingredients and cooked properly.

So, the main different between working and short-term memory? Working memory allows you to manipulate memories and stimuli. Short-term memory is just temporary storage.

What’s Next for Your Neuroscience Journey?

This is just the tip of the brain-science iceberg. But now that you know more about these topics, you can expand your learning with some interesting facts about your brain. Or maybe it’s time for you to take action. Start feeding your brain the right foods, and establish a baseline to aid in tracking the progress of your cognitive skills.

No matter where this rabbit hole leads, you understand how your brain will adapt, the way neurons will facilitate the communication of new information, and how facts will be stored in your memory.

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Look in the mirror and you see dead skin. Don’t be shocked. Your body needs it to be that way. All the skin cells that interact with the world are dead by design. This layer protects you. But if it doesn’t move over for more freshly deceased cells to pop to the top, it could be time to exfoliate.

What is Exfoliation?

The simple definition for exfoliation is clearing away excess dead cells on the surface of your skin.

“Out with the old and in with the new” is the principle behind exfoliating. Remove the older cells to make room for newer, fresher skin.

Why You Should Exfoliate

You might want to understand more about exfoliating before you start scrubbing, peeling, or otherwise expelling the top layer of your skin. The practice of exfoliation comes from the knowledge of how your skin cells grow and replenish.

Cells are born deep in your skin, and they’re pushed to the surface by the growth of new cells. By the time they reach the surface, your skin cells have died. But they shingle together to help create a protective barrier before eventually being shed completely.

Exfoliation speeds up the shedding. And it helps you avoid buildup of stubborn dead skin cells that can impact your skin’s appearance. If you’re seeing dry patches or dealing with flaky areas, exfoliating could be for you.

Additional benefits of exfoliation include:

  • helping skin appear brighter
  • aiding in the absorption of your skincare products so they work better
  • assisting in keeping breakouts at bay by clearing pores of dead-skin buildup
  • supporting production of a key skin protein—collagen

Discover the Different Varieties of Exfoliation

Picking a way to expunge the outermost layer of your skin may sound like choosing your preferred version of torture. But exfoliation shouldn’t be painful. Whether you choose a mechanical or chemical means—the two main types of exfoliating—you’ll have plenty of pain-free options.

Mechanical exfoliation (sometimes also called physical exfoliation) isn’t the most comforting term. But it just means using the force of friction to remove dead skin. That encompasses a lot of options:

  • light buffing with a washcloth
  • grainy sugar polish or other gentle scrub
  • homemade coffee scrub
  • wet pumice stone (never use a dry one on your skin)
  • exfoliating glove
  • brushes
  • microdermabrasion

Even though you may have guessed how chemical exfoliation works, it’s not quite as harsh as it sounds. Yes, chemicals are involved. Typically, they are enzymes, retinoids, and gentle, natural acids. These compounds loosen the bonds holding skin cells together so they’re more easily removed.

Those choosing to chemically exfoliate often opt for alpha or beta hydroxy acids. Popular alpha hydroxy acids are water soluble and similar to the acid found in citrus fruit, apples, grapes, and yogurt. Beta hydroxy acids are often used as treatments for skin issues. But these oil-soluble acids (like salicylic acid) are also exfoliant options.

Enzymes provide a more ancient approach that started with putting fruit on the skin. Even today, the enzymes used in chemical exfoliation also come from fruits and vegetables. These enzymes work on skin proteins, breaking them down to eliminate dead-skin buildup.

Retinoids (commonly found in plant pigments) are more modern, and they’re commonly used as medication. These compounds come from the antioxidant vitamin A.

You have your choice of over-the-counter options for chemical exfoliation. Choose wisely, with your skin type and goals in mind. You should consult your dermatologist or healthcare provider before starting a new exfoliation practice. 

How to Exfoliate for Your Skin Type

Just like your cleanser, moisturizer, and other skincare products, the exfoliation tactic you choose depends on skin type. If you don’t know it, take this skin type quiz to find out where you fall on the spectrum.

Removing your outside layer of skin is an inherently irritating process. So, your skin type should guide the form and frequency of your exfoliation experience. Sensitive, dry, oily, and combination skin all tolerate exfoliating differently.

Here’s what you need to know before you choose an exfoliating method:

  • Sensitive Skin Type: Exfoliate gently and less frequently to minimize the redness and stinging that comes easily for this type. A very mild scrub or a simple washcloth may be all the mechanical exfoliating your skin can tolerate. And mild hydroxy acids and enzymes are your best bet for chemical exfoliating.
  • Dry Skin Type: Like those with sensitive skin, care should be taken to minimize over-exfoliating. Gentle is also the standard for mechanical or chemical exfoliant methods. But the flakes and rough buildup of dry skin does require regular exfoliating to keep those issues at bay and maximize your skincare products’ effectiveness.
  • Oily Skin Type: Exfoliate away. This type tolerates more robust approaches to chemical and mechanical exfoliation. Tools like brushes and pumice stones, along with rougher scrubs, are great for oily skin. Stronger chemical peels are also options for this skin type. And exfoliating more frequently isn’t off the table like those with dry or sensitive skin.
  • Combination Skin Type: You have two skin types to deal with, so exfoliate them separately. Be gentle with the dry sections and stronger on the oily parts.

Your skin will tell you if you’re exfoliating too often or taking an approach that’s too harsh. Pay attention to what the color and feel of your skin is telling you. Exfoliating improperly or too often can cause problems for your skin. Watch for redness, small breakouts, and unusual sensitivity to your normal skincare products.

Help Reveal a New Shine for Your Skin

Taking care of your skin sometimes means shedding some of it. Properly exfoliating one to three times per week (depending on skin type) is the best way to scrub or peel away the buildup of dead skin to help you shine. Just remember to consider the proper approach for your skin and always follow-up with an appropriate moisturizer. And like with your overall health, listen to what your body is telling you. The good news is that the results of your exfoliating efforts should be obvious—and written all over your face.

https://www.aad.org/skin-care-secrets/safely-exfoliate-at-home

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0029646507000266

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5vHICgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA29&dq=exfoliation+skin+aging&ots=kspNpwXoIk&sig=LfeIlZWtkLqzd8VrtmCaKNTfyQY#v=onepage&q=exfoliation%20skin%20aging&f=false

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118655566.ch56

https://www.dermascope.com/skin-care/10296-alpha-beta-enzymes-the-science-of-chemical-exfoliation

https://hbmag.com/exfoliation/

https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/meaning-of-exfoliating

https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/over-exfoliating

https://www.dermascope.com/exfoliation/9935-what-is-physical-exfoliation

You’re probably pleasantly (or painfully) aware of your current physical fitness. But can you gauge the sharpness of your mind? In a world where exercise is king it’s important to whip your brain into shape, too. That starts when you test your cognitive skills so you can judge your baseline brainpower. And it’s trickier than you might think.

Instead of counting push-ups or running speed, you need different means to assess your memory and cognitive skills. Luckily, there are metrics you can measure to see where you’re at. And plenty of resources exist for gathering data on your brain.

Take the first step and familiarize yourself with the mental skills you can measure and tests you can take to establish your baseline brainpower.

Assessing Your Short-Term Memory

Your short-term memory is an easy cognitive skill to test. And quick, too. Short-term memory lasts for about 30 seconds—one minute at the most—and only stores about five to nine items of information. You use this type of memory for a phone number before you dial, or the confirmation code on a plane ticket.

There are dozens of online quizzes and mobile phone apps dedicated to improving your short-term memory. But, first, it’s important to see where you’re starting from so you can track progress.

To appraise your current short-term memory capacity, you can complete tasks that involve recalling a series of numbers or letters from a master list.

Here are two tests you can take right now to see where you’re at:

https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/stm0.html

https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/puzmatch.html

Put Your Working Memory to the Test

Knowledge stored in long-term memory and information from your environment combine to create your working memory. Reading, cooking, driving, and mental math all require working memory. These tasks take the rules and skills stored in long-term memory and apply them to solve new problems.

Attention and concentration are also made possible through working memory. Your brain uses working memory to help you focus on work and ignore distractions.

Testing working memory can be fun. Activities like Sudoku and search-and-find games put your brain to work filtering out competing sources of information. They challenge you to focus your attention to complete a task.

Another good assessment of working memory and attention is the Stroop test. You use this type of memory to identify words and colors with variable rules.

Try these working memory tests out for yourself:

https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/memory/distraction/

https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/memory/types/Stroop-test.pdf

Look at How Your Sensory Memory Stacks Up

A final component of memory you can test involves your senses. Your brain is always receiving sensory information. Scent, sound, taste, touch, and visual data enter the brain and are stored in your sensory memory for a very brief period of time.

When you test this kind of memory, you do it one sense at a time. A common evaluation is called a change blindness test. It plays on your sense of sight and requires your brain to tell the difference between two very similar images.

Take a stab at a sensory memory test with these change blindness demonstrations:

Test Your Cognitive Skills

Cognition may be the most subjective brain metrics. By definition, cognition is the sum of all the processes going on inside your brain. Language, thought, judgment, and memory are all part of cognition.

Your cognitive capabilities are as unique as you are. So, in an effort to create a measurable standard, there are tests available to summarize your cognitive strength. Some cater to specific groups of people (young children, for example), but a few can be applied to anyone looking to gauge their overall cognitive abilities.

  • Inductive reasoning tests task your brain to identify patterns and find meaning in large amounts of data. Games that ask you to guess the next in a sequence of numbers, letters, or shapes are examples of this sort of test. The children’s game “one of these things is not like the other” also assesses inductive reasoning skills.
  • A situational judgement test is another evaluation of cognition. It’s often administered in questionnaire form, asking you to judge the best or most appropriate response to a given situation. Job applications and interviews often utilize situational judgement testing to narrow down a list of candidates.
  • Intelligence tests are a common form of cognitive skills assessment. These are tricky, because many factors influence a person’s intelligence, including education, nutrition, environment, etc. But the Miller Analogies test (MAT) is a reliable version. The MAT uses analogies to evaluate your logical and analytical reasoning.

Check out these online resources to test your cognitive skills:

https://www.shldirect.com/en/assessment-advice/example-questions/inductive-reasoning

https://www.shldirect.com/en/assessment-advice/example-questions/situational-judgement

https://magoosh.com/mat/miller-analogies-test-mat-sample-questions/

 Measuring Neuroplasticity

You might be wondering how your brain can keep up with all the information you learn and absorb. Neuroplasticity makes it possible for your brain to grow and change over time. And while it doesn’t literally grow in size, your brain can definitely grow in strength.

The vast networks of neurons in your brain shift and grow as you learn and gain new experiences. Your brain’s ability to adapt and create new neural pathways makes it possible for you to learn a foreign language or pick up a new hobby.

Learning a new skill is the best way to test neuroplasticity. But you can see your brain’s neuroplasticity in action through the power of an fMRI machine that makes neural networks visible.

These machines track the flow of blood in all the regions of your brain. When fMRI scans of the brain are compared over time, it is possible to see new brain pathways develop. This kind of testing is incredibly interesting and expensive, though.

A Word to the Wise About IQ Tests

Odds are you have heard of an IQ test, or even taken one before. IQ stands for intelligence quotient. So, it makes sense that this test aims to quantify your intellectual capabilities and compare them to a general population.

The catch is it’s really difficult to assign a number to anyone’s intelligence. Many factors determine how “smart” you are. IQ tests measure concepts, rather than actual intelligence. They don’t account for the more abstract and individual traits that make a person’s reasoning skills and personality.

They may be interesting, but don’t read too much into IQ tests. They serve a purpose but aren’t the end all be all. Instead, try to use multiple cognitive tests and brain tasks to see where you’re at.

Take Ownership of Your Brainpower

You have a lot of brainpower available to you. Apply some of it to measure your cognitive skills. And use what you’ve read in this review of memory tests and mental tasks to establish your cognitive-skills baseline. Then put your skills to the test or start finding ways to strengthen different aspects of your brainpower.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3721021/

http://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-scientists-discover-fundamental-rule-of-brain-plasticity-0622

https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/memory/types/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/working-memory-capacity

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/10/07/neuroscience-yes-brain-training-actually-can-work-when-done-correctly/#34e5be341a2e

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-term_memory#Measuring_digit_span_and_short_term-memory

https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2016/sep/05/change-blindness-can-you-spot-the-difference

https://www.mpg.de/38888/hm09-PlasticityHumanBrain.pdf