EP235: Biohack Your Brain: How to Boost Cognitive Health, Performance & Power

What are the factors that contribute to a healthy brain? And how do we boost our cognitive health, performance, and power? Today's guest, Kristen Willeumier, shares some surprising information about brain health and discusses her book Biohack Your Brain.   In this episode, we talk about: The reason Kristen wrote the book Biohack Your Brain How neuroimaging can aid in providing information on blood flow and activity in different areas of the brain The importance of brain health coaches to help patients maintain a healthy lifestyle Ways to become a brain health coach, including through certifications The effectiveness of the Mediterranean diet for improving brain health The importance of brain assessment and when we should start assessing our brains Insurance coverage for brain scans and EEGs The contributors to cognitive decline and accelerated brain aging Foods that we should be consuming to support our brain health Using Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT) as a supplement for your brain health The importance of hydration for brain health Beneficial supplements to support brain health The importance of sleep for optimal brain function   Memorable Quotes “No matter what age you are, whether you're 20, 30, 50, 60, 70, 80, or even in your 90s…there are very tangible steps that you can take, dietary and lifestyle modifications that make measurable changes in brain function.”   “The green leafy vegetables and the berries are really the most protective of our neurons, because they help reduce free radicals in the brain.”   “Our brain reaches full maturity around the age of 25 to 30 and it kind of plateaus. And then about age 40, we start to see very small numbers of neurons die per day.” BIO:   Kristen Willeumier, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist with research expertise in neurobiology and neuroimaging. Dr. Willeumier received a B.A. in Psychology from Boston College, an M.S. in Physiological Science from the UCLA College of Letters and Science and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. She was a postdoctoral scientist in the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she continued her work in the field of neurodegenerative disease. She was the recipient of a fellowship award from the National Institutes of Health and has presented her work internationally. She served as the Director of Neuroimaging and Clinical Research for the Amen Clinics, where she led the efforts to utilize imaging technologies to better understand the neurobiological signatures underlying psychiatric disorders. Dr. Willeumier is widely published and has co-authored manuscripts in leading peer-reviewed journals including The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Translational Psychiatry, The Journal of Neuroscience and The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. She is the author of the book Biohack Your Brain: How to Boost Cognitive Health, Performance & Power, which was published by the William Morrow imprint of HarperCollins in December of 2020.   Mentioned In This Episode: Amazon.com: Biohack Your Brain     Dr. Kristen's Website   Kristen Willeumier on LinkedIn   Links to resources: Health Coach Group Website https://www.thehealthcoachgroup.com/ Use the code HCC50 to save $50 on our website Leave a Review of the Podcast