by Human Performance Psychology16 Feb 202017 Feb 2020

Research studies demonstrated that brain health may ultimately be associated with obesity.

Scientists also reported that obesity affects the overall size and function of the brain, as well as specifically altering certain neuronal circuits.

By way of instance, a recent research study found a connection between smaller brain size and lower gray matter volume associated with obesity around the stomach region.

Another research study also found that the prefrontal cortex, an essential area in the brain that plays a fundamental role in thinking, planning, and self-control, is less active in people with obesity.

Several other research studies have also found further evidence showing the connection between brain health and obesity. Dr. Ilona A. Dekkers, from the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, utilized MRI scans in several recent research studies to understand how obesity can affect the size and function of the brain.

Dr. Dekkers reported lower gray matter volume in people with obesity. According to the research studies, people with obesity also had white matter volume changes in a variety of brain regions. In the following article, we will ultimately discuss how obesity can affect brain health.

Obesity Can Change How You Look and Feel

Recent research studies demonstrated that obesity can affect brain health. Ranjana Mehta, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health in College Station, Texas discussed how obesity doesn’t simply affect how you look and feel, it can affect your mental and physical health as well as cause a variety of brain health issues. Ranjana Mehta, who received funding from the National Institute on Aging to evaluate how obesity can affect brain health in older adults determined that obesity can affect brain structure and cause atrophy.

Obesity Can Alter the Way You Move

People with obesity have to carry extra weight that can add stress and pressure on the joints, ultimately altering movement. Scientists utilized imaging methods and techniques to demonstrate how people with obesity often have to utilize more mental resources when walking, although they were still able to walk as well as healthy people. Moreover, research studies found that stress and pressure from carrying extra weight affected brain activity in people with obesity compared to healthy people. The additional mental burden associated with obesity may also cause individuals to become tired more quickly.

Obesity Can Influence Your Memory

Obesity is associated with poor memory, often making it difficult to remember past events in young adults between 18 to 35 years of age, according to a research study published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. Further evidence also suggests that people with obesity experience memories in slightly less detail and/or less vividly compared to healthy people. Lucy Cheke, lead researcher and a lecturer in the department of psychology at the University of Cambridge in England discussed that memory can play a fundamental role in regulating what we eat and how we lose weight.

Obesity Can Lead to Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease

Other research studies demonstrated that obesity in people during their 40s, 50s, and even early 60s is associated with an increased risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. According to Heather Snyder, senior director of medical and scientific operations at the Alzheimer’s Association, mid-life obesity is connected with an increased risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease over time with age. Scientists still don’t understand how obesity can cause dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, however, obesity can ultimately affect heart health which can play a fundamental role in brain health.

Obesity Can Cause Depression

As previously mentioned, obesity can ultimately affect mental and physical health. Dr. Susan McElroy, chief research officer at the Lindner Center of HOPE, a private psychiatric facility in Mason, Ohio, who has also evaluated the connection between obesity and mental health issues described that obesity can cause depression.

Scientists believe that just like obesity can cause major depression, it may also cause bipolar disorder. Furthermore, scientists believe that depression itself may, in turn, also cause obesity. McElroy suggests that obesity and depression both need to be addressed to make progress.

Obesity Can Rewire the Pleasure-and-Reward Center

In a research study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, a region of the brain, known as the striatum, was demonstrated to be less active in people with obesity. The striatum plays a fundamental role in controlling the pleasure-and-reward center in the brain associated with the release of the neurotransmitter or chemical messenger known as dopamine.

The release of dopamine we get from eating certain foods, such as foods that are high in sugars and fats, can have a dulling effect in people with obesity which scientists believe can cause a person to overeat to regain that fleeting sense of pleasure.

Research studies demonstrated that obesity may ultimately affect the brain. By way of instance, a recent research study found a connection between smaller brain size and lower gray matter volume associated with obesity. According to the research studies, people with obesity also had white matter volume changes in various brain regions. Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insight

To further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact them at 915-850-0900.

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez

References:

Sandoiu, Ana. “How Might Obesity Affect the Brain?” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 27 Apr. 2019, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325054.php#1.
Wlassoff, Viatcheslav. “How Obesity Affects the Human Brain.” World of Psychology, World of Psychology Media, 8 July 2018, psychcentral.com/blog/how-obesity-affects-the-human-brain/.
Schroeder, Michael O. “6 Ways Obesity Can Weigh on the Brain.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 12 May 2016, health.usnews.com/wellness/slideshows/6-ways-obesity-can-weigh-on-the-brain.

via Functional Neurology: How Obesity Can Affect Brain Health — EP Wellness & Functional Medicine Clinic

The new year 2020 is fast approaching which means one thing: Tons of new books on health and fitness will be hitting the shelves just in time for your resolutions.

If you’re looking for some inspiration to help you reach your goals this year, whether they’re to eat healthier, cook more or optimize your brain health, these books have you covered.

First one is for our children, because they are the future.

Mental Speed Test – Version 1

by Human Performance Psychology7 Feb 202014 Feb 2020 Leave a comment

Mental Speed Test

🧭 5 MINUTES

The following test is meant to assess your mental speed – how quickly you can process information and make decisions based upon that information.

The exercise consists of word/image pairs and simple mathematical equations or number sequences. If a pair matches, click the “Correct” button (the left arrow key on your keyboard). If the pair does not match, click the “Incorrect” button (the right arrow key on your keyboard). However, if the word “Opposite” appears at the top of the screen, you need to reverse your answer.

In the first example (pear and star), the answer would be incorrect (“Incorrect”). For the second example, although it is an exact match, the word Opposite appears at the top of the screen, so rather than choosing “Correct” you would have to choose “Incorrect”

For the mathematical equations simply indicate whether the answer is correct or incorrect. For the number sequences indicate whether the number in red correctly completes the sequence.

As you can see, the first equation is wrong – the answer should be 5, so in this case, you would choose “incorrect”. However, although the number sequence is also wrong (the answer should be 22), the word Opposite requires you to reverse your answer, so in this case you would choose “Correct” rather than “Incorrect”.

Remember, you are being timed, so try to answer as quickly as possible – and remember to reverse your answer when the word “Opposite” appears.

After finishing the test, you will find out how accurate and fast you were. Have fun!

Take the Test

Left-Brained Or Right-Brained?

by Human Performance Psychology26 Jan 202029 Jan 2020 Leave a comment

The theory is that people are either left–brained or right–brained, meaning that one side of our brain is dominant.

Are you creative, prone to sudden bursts of insight? Or perhaps your thinking is more deliberate and logical? A popular idea suggests that the right hemisphere dominates in the brains of intuitive thinkers, whereas analytical thinkers are “left-brained.”

The right and left hemispheres do specialize in different mental functions. But the notion that individuals rely more heavily on one or the other glosses over the complexity of the left-right relationship.

“The best-documented differences tend to be subtle,” notes neuroscientist Stephen Kosslyn. a professor emeritus at Harvard University.

In the mythical left-brained/right-brained scheme, the left hemisphere facilitates language, while the right handles perception, “But in fact,” he explains, “language is distributed across the hemispheres”.

At least in right-handed people, the left hemisphere is typically better at using grammar, producing and understanding language.

Wheres the right hemisphere is better at parsing tone of voice to understand intent,” such as when a speker is joking. Likewise, perception involves both sides of the brain.

Neuroimaging research, according to Kosslyn, shows that these processes recruit both hemispheres. Brain structure and function vary between individuals, and a left-right division is too blunt to capture that variation.

The myth, which has its roots in experiments with split-brain patients, persists in part because dichotomies are easy to grasp. “It makes sense that we have left and right parts of our brains and, analogous to our hands, that they have different capabilities,” states Kosslyn. However, while left-handed you may be, left-brained you are not.