Neuro Athletes,

There has never been a time in the history of the human race that our brains have needed to perform as optimally as they need to today. A combination of the increase in perceived stressors, rapid acceleration of technology and our ‘always on, always connected’ world means our brains feel fried with stress and exhausted on a regular basis.

High cognitive performance or “peak brain performance“ refers to the achievement of optimal and effective functioning of cognitive capabilities and executive functions.

People who wish to perfect and further refine the results obtained at cognitive level improve, for example, memory, processing speed, and decision-making. These capabilities are boosted to optimal levels, better adjusting to the high demands of 2021.

The question then is, what habits, routines, activities, and stimulations really work? What can you do daily to train your brain to achieve performance? There’s no substitute for intellectual labour, but there are ways to maintain a healthy brain and there are also ways to train your brain to work at its peak.

The following five categories are strategies that you can use to implement into your daily routines that have been used within the domains of a Neuro Athletics program.

What is Inflammation and Immunity? Medicine Redefined with Austin Perlmutter, MD

One key hallmark to reduce ageing and increase performance is decreasing chronic inflammation. Inflammation has been completely misunderstood which is why I sat down with Dr. Austin Perlmutter to do a complete overhaul/ masterclass on inflammation and immunity.

Did you know…

Some types of inflammation are damaging to the body, while others, usually more transient and playing a signaling role, can be beneficial. Chronic inflammation creates reactive oxygen species that damage DNA, cellular proteins, and lipids. This type of inflammation plays a key role in the development of many diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Whereas…

The immune system is the body’s natural defense system. It does not reside in one single part of the body—rather, it is made up of a network of cells, molecules, tissues, and organs working together to protect the body.The most crucial part of this entire podcast?When Austin and I break down the what and the why behind increased inflammation and decreased immunity. We go into strategies and interventions you can use to have a better performing brain and live a healthier life.

2 Supplements Every Athlete Should Add to Their Daily Routine

1. Electrolytes: Personalized hydration strategies play a key role in optimizing the performance and safety of athletes during sporting activities. Athletes commonly consume insufficient fluid and electrolytes just prior to, or during training and competition. Unlike non-athletes or athletes who do not engage in frequent rigorous and prolonged training sessions, "hard trainers" may require additional sodium and better benefit from a hydration plan tailored to their individual physiology. One of the course requirements at Neuro Athletics is to ensure that all athletes are hydrating adequately. I wrote more about this and why high performing people think faster and better when they are hydrated properly, you can check that out here.

2. EPA/DHA: Yep, here we go again, Louisa harping on about omega-3’s 🙄 Every membrane of every cell is formulated with fatty acids and they are all made up of a unique suite of fatty acids depending on the type of tissueI wrote about Omega-3’s here but to give you an overview, each cell has its own role to play in metabolism, the membrane has to have certain physical characteristics being real loose and floppy or being real stiff depending on the need of that cell and the fatty acid composition is unique to afford a certain kind of chemical flexibility.

HBOT- A Worthwhile Investment?

Over the weekend I did my very first HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) session as I have been researching so much about it and spoke about it with a friend of mine, Dr. Dom D’Agostino.

Here are the two biggest reasons why I wanted to try it so I could start to implement a HBOT strategy for my athletes:

1. HBOT helps heal challenging injuries: 

Tendon and ligament injuries are extremely common in the world of sports. The majority of sports injuries are lower limb. The most common are in the ankle. They’re time-consuming and challenging to heal, which often derails an athlete’s performance and plans.

Normally, oxygen travels to your tissues through your circulation. However, if you’ve had an injury, your circulation is usually disrupted. Tendons and ligaments have a slow healing time because they don’t have the same level of circulation as other parts of the body, like muscles. It creates a problematic cycle. Your tissues need oxygen delivered by the blood vessels, but they don’t have sufficient blood vessels to give them the oxygen they need.  When torn or exposed, they often struggle to get the oxygen they need to repair.

But HBOT quickly delivers oxygen to the cells that need it. Instead of only relying on blood vessels to deliver oxygen, HBO therapy pushes more oxygen into the bloodstream with pressure. And this pressure feels no more intense than going down in a submarine.

1. HBO decreases inflammation

After strenuous workouts, your body has an inflammatory response. This helps your muscles recover but gives you soreness. It’s also problematic if you need to perform soon after the previous workout. Too much swelling, or a constant state of swelling from frequent workouts, puts your cells at risk for damage.

The mechanisms aren’t well understood, but HBOT has been shown to reduce inflammation. It helps break the cycle of inflammation, which keeps cells from becoming oxygen-starved from the swelling. This can benefit virtually any kind of tissue. Whether it’s healthy tissue that just needs rejuvenation, or damaged tissue that needs multidisciplinary therapy, HBOT can benefit both.

The combination of pressure and pure oxygen is what creates these dynamic effects. Pure oxygen alone requires a prescription, and when simply breathed, only works as well as your circulation. A controlled pressurized environment is very hard to access other than through a hard hyperbaric chamber. Together, they have exponential results.

Sleep Enhancing Tools

1. Smart Mattress Technology

Insufficient sleep undermines our ability to reason, problem-solve, focus and maintain attention for long periods of time. Sleep is the opportunity for the brain to store new information into long-term memory, which is critical to learning.

We’ve all experienced a terrible night’s sleep. We wake up the next day feeling groggy and moody, moving slowly and looking forward to the moment we can once again shut our eyes and get some rest.

Well, it turns out that sleeping too hot or too cold can affect a good night’s rest. As many of you know, in February this year I started sleep on a thermal controlled mattress and I have not looked back.

There are several factors that can contribute to sleeping troubles, one being temperature.

But why is this the case? One study shares that too much heat or cold exposure is directly linked to increased wakefulness and decreased rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (the stage in which one dreams).

Yes, I sleep on the Eight Sleep temperature controlled mattress and it is the best investment I have ever made.

Eight Sleep is a sleep fitness technology company that makes the absolute best mattress covers and mattress’s to increase the quality of your sleep. I sleep on an Eight Sleep pod pro cover. So instead of purchasing the mattress I have bought a cover with the technology which is the most advanced solution on the market for thermoregulation. It pairs dynamic cooling and heating with biometric tracking. It comes in the form of both a mattress, or a cover you can put on your existing mattress.

My results?

I fall asleep up to 32% faster, reduce sleep interruptions by 40%, and get overall more restful sleep.

Pro’s of sleeping on this type of tech:

• You can be sleeping as cool as 55°F or as hot as 110°F.

• The temperature of the Pod Pro will adjust each side of the bed based on your sleep stages, biometrics, and bedroom temperature, reacting intelligently to create the optimal sleeping environment.

If you want to learn more abut it, just a heads up, they are having their biggest Black Friday Holiday Sale.

CODE: NEURO

1. MUSE headband 

My mind races all the time. i think this is partly because i have a demanding business and I feel on some level that it is because i am far away from home. My parents and family lie in Australia and as such, my mind races 24/7.

This racing mind is sometimes my best friend and worst enemy and as a result I started supplementing with GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid) whic is our chief inhibitory neurotransmitter that blocks impulses between nerve cells in the brain.

However this wasn’t working…

So I turned to what I know and that is a portable EEG. That’s when I found the MUSE headband which uses real-time biofeedback on your brain and picks up on your breathing, heart rate and body movements so you can learn how to quiet your mind and drift into deeply restorative sleep.

The way I use MUSE is by putting my headband on at night and selecting one of the sleep journeys on the app and the tech within the headband responds to your brain activity and it adjusts the audio content to cue your brain to fall asleep, and if you wake in the night, that same technology is used to automatically guide you back to sleep again. It’s so incredibly smart.

So if you are like me and want to settle your busy mind you might want to look into the device.

CODE: NEURO

Wearables

You cannot optimise what you don’t measure. Wearing various types of wearables over the course of 12 years I have learnt the powerful effects of technology.

At the age of 18 I was introduced to my very first wearable 'the ‘Polar’ watch and heart strap. I was so excited and thrilled that I could start training while staying in the zone, this was predominately the birth of my love for science and sport.

Now, we have the ability to track our sleep, our HRV, our RHR and many other variables that all help guide us to better programming decisions and greater athletic output.

When it comes to sleep, it can be hard to determine how much sleep you’re getting each night, which is why it may be helpful to invest in a sleep tracker. Sleep trackers monitor your sleep patterns for a clearer picture of how much quality sleep you’re getting. Once that data is collected, you’ll be able to make adjustments to improve the quality of sleep you’re getting.

I currently wear the Oura ring, WHOOP strap and the Garmin forerunner 935.

Oura Ring because I believe it provides the closest data to an in lab PSG (sleep study)

WHOOP because I believe it has the most accurate measurement of HR while I workout

Garmin because I was a triathlete and I fell in love with tracking my runs, swims and bike rides.

I hope this has helped you understand a few of the awesome things I believe in when it comes to having a peak performing brain. I know many of you are here because you are high performing whether it be as an athlete or in the business world.

Until next time.

- Louisa