Just one minute on protecting your brain.
The brain is the master regulator of the other systems in the body,
So it's really important,
And yet it's very vulnerable.
I want to offer three key suggestions.
First,
Avoid toxins whenever you reasonably can,
Especially the kind of neurotoxins that are routinely present in pesticides.
Second,
Watch out for inflammation,
Especially chronic inflammation,
Such as due to eating food.
That your immune system revs up in response to.
There's new research beginning to suggest that chronic patterns of inflammation,
Certainly for some people,
Can be a growing risk factor for Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.
The third suggestion is watch out for stress.
As we experience stress,
Including the stress of everyday frustration and irritation or anxiety,
That sends cortisol up into the brain,
Where it sensitizes the amygdala,
The alarm bell of the brain,
And weakens the hippocampus,
Which calms down the alarm bell and puts things in perspective.
This creates a vicious cycle in which cortisol today makes us a little sensitive to and vulnerable to stress,
Experiences tomorrow,
Which produce even a bit more cortisol,
Making us even more vulnerable the day after that.
So,
In these little ways,
Every day,
May you protect your brain.
