THREE things you need to know this week.

1. At the age of 40, the volume of your brain starts to decrease

2. You can make faster decisions with a better performing brain

3. Everything and everyone is taking away parts of your brains energy supply every second of the day

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Neuro Athletes,

Good Morning and Happy Sunday! I hope you have had some form of brain fuel today whether it be form of hydration, nutrition or sleep because boy, you will need it after reading this email. It’s not super lengthy like last weeks, I promise 😉

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This email was inspired by my recent podcast episode with Hellah Sidibe, the first Black man to run 3,000 miles across America. Plus, it’s a good chance to answer one question I get asked so often which is, “how can I train my brain to perform faster”.

So, here we go.

Primer

Think about what happens when you run. Really THINK about it. What does it take to run? You are moving your feet, you’re constantly scanning the environment in front of you and where you are stepping, your muscles are moving all at the same time and you need to understand where you are going geographically. All of these commands and decisions come from one area in your body- your brain.

So to be able to train your brain to perform better we have to think about it in terms of more than just running, we have to think about how your brain processes information because when we know that, we can train it to processing information faster and in turn be able to perform tasks more efficiently and with less effort.

In this newsletter we will cover:

1. The neuron structure

2. Brain processing speed (IPS)

3. Two hacks for faster brain performance

The Neuron

Neurons (also called neurones or nerve cells) are the fundamental units of the brain and nervous system, the cells responsible for receiving sensory input from the external world, for sending motor commands to our muscles, and for transforming and relaying the electrical signals at every step in between. More than that, their interactions define who we are as people. Having said that, our roughly 100 billion neurons do interact closely with other cell types, broadly classified as glia (these may actually outnumber neurons, although it’s not really known).

The axon is the elongated fiber that extends from the cell body to the terminal endings and transmits the neural signal. The larger the diameter of the axon, the faster it transmits information.

Some axons are covered with a fatty substance called myelin (yellow) that acts as an insulator. These myelinated axons transmit information much faster than other neurons.

Brain Processing Speed

Processing speed means just that: the rate at which a human can take in a bit of new information, reach some judgment on it and then formulate a response. Studies suggest that the speed of information processing changes with age along an inverted U-shaped curve, such that our thinking speeds up from childhood to adolescence, maintains a period of relative stability leading up to middle age, and finally, in late middle age and onward, declines slowly but steadily.

Some compelling evidence suggests that such a decline reflects wear and tear of the white matter in the brain, which is made up of all the wires, or axons, that connect one part of the brain to another. Slowed information transfer along axons may impede processing speed. But what causes this axonal communication to slow down in the first place?

• Poor diet

• Lack of quality sleep

• Poor exercise habits

• Environmental factors

• Vascular risk factors can wear away at the blood vessels feeding the brain's white matter, starving axons of much needed oxygen and glucose

To better understand this concept, take a look at the video I uploaded to Twitter this week that shows how neurons that have thicker myelin are able to conduct signals faster.

Energy in the brain is generated almost exclusively from a form of metabolism that requires oxygen. However, neurons only maintain a small reserve of energy and these cells require a continuous supply of oxygen, especially when the cells are firing and communicating with their neighbors.  In fact, the brain’s oxygen demands are enormous; despite comprising only 2 percent of the body, our brains consume 20 percent of the body’s oxygen supply.

Our brains require a tremendous amount of energy and in order to meet this demand the flow of blood must be precisely choreographed to ensure that oxygen is being delivered where it is needed and when it is needed.

When I think of peak performance or when I am working with an athlete to get them that extra result on the pitch or at work, I think about what I can do to enhance the performance of their brain from a neuronal level.

So let me give you two hacks that you can work on this week to help with this.

HACK 1 - Increasing blood flow with Zone 2 training

Exercise affects the brain in many ways. It increases heart rate, which pumps more oxygen to the brain. It aids the release of hormones which provide an excellent environment for the growth of brain cells. Exercise also promotes brain plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells in many important cortical areas of the brain.

Let’s look at one brain structure that is often overlooked- the hippocampus. This study shows, in a randomized controlled trial with 120 older adults, that aerobic exercise training increases the size of the anterior hippocampus, leading to improvements in spatial memory. Exercise training increased hippocampal volume by 2%, effectively reversing age-related loss in volume by 1 to 2 y.

Zone 2 is steady training just coming above the easy zone, It's not moderate or anything above. The main benefit form zone 2 heart rate or zone 2 power is that it builds aerobic base and endurance. By Improving aerobic capacity this improves your ability to maintain a faster pace for a longer period of time.

HACK 2 - Tennis ball drill

If you haven’t seen some of the tennis ball drills I do, check this Instagram post out that shows my athlete switching attention from the lights to the ball drill but all you need to do is grab two tennis balls or even just one and spend 10 minutes per day throwing them to the wall working hard not to drop the ball for as long as possible. This really works your hand-eye-coordination as well!

That’s it for this week! I really hope you enjoyed this newsletter, if you did please feel free to comment or share this along to someone who you think could benefit.

Until next time,

Louisa x

This Week On The Neuro Experience Podcast

Meet Hellah Sidibe. Born in Mali, Hellah emigrated from to the States from West Africa when he was a teen, becoming a professional soccer player and now, a U.S. citizen and the first Black person to ever run 3,000 miles across America.In this episode we discuss:1. Hellah's journey from birth to now2. His mindset running through America- mental performance3. How to start running with no fitness4. How Hellah grew his media presence5. His inspiration to keep pushing through the pain6. What Hellah went through financially and how he hit rock bottom7. His contract with GoPro8. Science of running: Vo2 Max, threshold training and which zones to train in.9. HELLAH'S TOP TIPS FOR RUNNING:The visually inclined can watch it all go down on Youtube. And as always, the podcast streams wild and free on apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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