Top 10 Supplements to Improve Your Brain

hey guys dr. David Joker's here and  today we're talking about the top 10  supplements to improve your brain so  we're talking about improving your  memory your mindset your mood so you can  be happier so you can think sharper have  better cognitive acceleration be able to  adapt and react quicker and more  effectively on a daily basis we're also  talking about overall just really  feeling great and living your life at  your highest level and so here are some  supplements there's a lot of supplements  I could talk about try to narrow it down  to my top 10 so number one on my list is  vitamin D you probably heard of vitamin  D in the past right it's huge in fact we  know that vitamin D is actually  incorrectly named it shouldn't really be  a vitamin it should actually be called a  hormone or what we call a prohormone  because it actually helps stimulate the  production of hormones so vitamin D  plays rolling over a thousand genes in  our Potti that's a huge huge impact in  fact in the brain we find vitamin D  receptors all over a region of our brain  called our hippocampus which is where we  store memory that's where we create  short-term long-term memories in that  hippocampus so extremely powerful for  brain function and memory absolutely  huge on top of that research has shown  that vitamin D helps stimulate the  production of neurotransmitters help  stimulate neural growth so nerve cells  right or brain cell growth and helps  with improving what we call synaptic  density or the little gaps little gaps  between neurons where the neuro  chemicals in a sense interact the  communication takes place that's huge  for overall high level brain function  cognitive acceleration being creative  really important for all of those things  so basically they took they did a study  this is one this one right here was 2009  it was done in England and what they did  was they took they took adults 3,100  different adult men between the ages of  40 and 79 from 8 different countries in  Europe so huge study they were they took  people from all different geographical  areas in Europe and what they found was  that the  these men who had the lowest levels of  vitamin D they actually had slower  cognitive acceleration right so meaning  that their cognitive their brain  function was much slower and they're at  much greater risk for developing things  like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and  different things like that so  significant so there was another study  that they did this is published in 2010  in the archives of internal medicine and  I took a group of men and what they  found was that the individuals that had  a vitamin D deficiency between twenty  and thirty nanograms per milliliter so  if you were to get your vitamin D tested  you could actually see where your level  is and if you're in that range I see it  all the time looking at at different  patients blood work those individuals  had a 42% greater likelihood of  developing cognitive impairment meaning  that in a sense their brain was impaired  like brain damage in a sense to where  they couldn't think sharp they couldn't  really react and do things effectively  then they looked at the adults that had  nineteen Nanna graphs for me later or  less like severely deficient and what  they found is they had a 394 percent  increase in cognitive impairment that is  HUGE right so we look at that we  realized vitamin D just play such a  critical role in our brain function our  ability to think sharply quickly to  react quickly to store memories you know  what if we want to age effectively if we  want to perform effectively today we  need to make sure our vitamin D levels  are optimizing it your vitamin D levels  tested you can get out in the Sun on a  regular basis I recommend doing  sunbathing once or twice a week right  making sure you're getting in a sense  trying to build a little tan or getting  a little bit pink yeah obviously don't  want to get sunburned but getting out  there you can also supplement you know  I'm a big fan of doing vitamin D  supplementation I recommend 1,000  international units per 25 pounds of  body weight is a great idea a great way  to do it vitamin D is fat soluble so  always take it with food you always  wanted to get with food  okay ideally early in the day because  it's slightly stimulating to us a great  idea there with the vitamin D my second  supplement is fish oil so we know that  omega-3s  particularly a long-chain omega-3s EPA &  DHA are extremely powerful for neuron  function for developing  neurotransmitters for storing memories  these are omega-3s we can't get from  things like flax seeds flax seeds are a  small chain omega-3 and we only convert  anywhere from six to ten percent of this  small chain omega-3 over to EPA and DHA  so you get a very small percentage of  conversion much better to go ahead eat  wild-caught salmon use a quality  filtered molecularly distilled omega-3  supplement that's rich in epa and DHA  and that will dramatically improve your  brain your mood your memory your  cognitive acceleration I recommend  starting out with about a grant one to  two grams a day always stick it with  food it's fat soluble we want to take  that with food and you know you can  start with 1 or 2 grams a day you can  move up to about 3 to 5 grams a day in  fact when I'm working with individuals  with depression ADHD neurodegenerative  conditions like dementia and Alzheimer's  I'm usually doing three to five grams  sometimes even up to 7 to 10 grams a day  and seeing really good results with that  so fish oil amazing third something  we're talking about is probiotics we  know that the gut your digestive system  your gut it's called the second brain we  actually produce 90 to 95% of our  neurotransmitters even though they're  called neuro meaning that we think of it  as far as a nerve system in the brain we  actually produce 99 90 to 95 percent in  the gut and there's direct connections  between the gut and the brain we know  that kids with ADHD kids with autism  adults with neurodegenerative conditions  basically they all have a bad microbiome  of bad bacterial balance and it's  causing hyperexcitability in the brain  anxiety very much linked with that so  we've got to take care of our gut  getting good gut bacteria things like  lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium  getting the right strains the right  quantities in there so supplement the  good probiotic can make all the world a  difference can help produce B vitamins  it was actually the best way to get be  vital means is actually with a healthy  gut produces B vitamins that help  regulate brain function  it also helps reduce the amount of toxic  chemicals in a sense neuro toxic  chemicals that are released from our  digestive system bad bacteria yeast  parasites oftentimes will secrete toxins  that damage our brain good bacteria help  crowd them out get rid of those bad guys  and helps secrete good stuff you know I  always tell my patients that parasites  bad bacteria they eat our nutrients they  see our nutrients and they produce  toxins that damage our body whereas good  bacteria the good guys the probiotics  they go ahead  they eat toxins they get rid of toxins  and then they produce B vitamins and all  kinds of great nutrients that support  our bodies so probiotics super key  another one is magnesium magnesium is  extremely important for overall function  in fact a lot of researchers say  magnesium to the brain and to the body  is kind of like oil to the car you know  we need a great 1 or 2 grams of  magnesium a day from either our diet  from supplementation in order to do all  of our vital functions and most people  in society are actually magnesium  deficiency you know if you're out there  and you're suffering with ADHD anxiety  trouble sleeping like insomnia  definitely magnesium can be absolutely  huge for that and so magnesium helps  actually with the the blood-brain  barrier it helps protect the blood-brain  barrier it's kind of the blockade the  more that we can in a sense keep that  blood brain barrier tight and  impermeable to toxins like mercury and  aluminum and pesticides and all kinds of  stuff like that that may be in our  system the better our brain is going to  function the less inflammatory damage  we're going to have in our brain  magnesium is Keeper that you can also  get types of magnesium that cross the  blood-brain barrier and and reduce the  effects of stress hormone production in  our brain which will help us sleep  better which help us with better focus  better thinking processes the type of  magnesium that does best at crossing the  blood-brain barrier it's called  magnesium 3 innate magnesium 3 innate  you know I use a product it's called  brain calm magnesium it's one of my  favorite products to put my clients on I  see tremendous results people sleeping  better less anxiety thinking sharper  less ADHD overall just better cognitive  function better memory and it's one of  my go-to is I use on a daily basis for  optimal performance so it's loaded it's  got a gram of magnesium l3 and eight in  each serving each small serving and it  tastes good it's a little kind of like a  little little punch drink that you can  drink throughout the day to help your  body adapt to stress help protect your  blood-brain barrier and a help in a  sense help you focus and think sharply  or at night to help you fall asleep more  effectively so magnesium  superkey we definitely want to be doing  that next one is b12 you know b12  actually helps with the production of  myelin which actually surrounds nerve  cells right so it actually surrounds  nerves in fact we hear about things like  multiple sclerosis where we've got  damage and destruction to the myelin  sheath  well b12 is critical with that b12 is is  super key for helping our body conduct  nerve signals throughout the body in  fact some of the some of the signs of  b12 deficiency number one sign is  fatigue right because we're just getting  poor neurological function we're not  producing enough energy another sign is  neuropathy right so we might feel  numbness and tingling in our hands I  hear that for patients all the time and  I'm thinking okay this could be diabetes  it could be nerve stress or subluxation  pinching the nerve in the spine could  also be a b12 deficiency those are like  top three things I think of and very  commonly I see issues with b12 one of  the reasons why we see so much  deficiency in b12 is because we need  good stomach acid to absorb b12 from our  diet and what we know is that as we age  we get lower lower levels of stomach  acid but you know what I see poor  stomach acid and a lot of younger people  as well because we're constantly eating  on the go we're stressed out all the  time high stress and poor eating habits  you're going to deplete your body's  ability to produce healthy stomach acid  going to cause you to have improper  absorption improper absorption of the  b12 and therefore at run at risk for b12  deficiency so b12 super key you know and  for most people when I supplement with  b12 will do a dissolvable b12 that gets  right in the bloodstream they see  immediate benefits really impacts their  brain their energy neurotransmitter  formation all different types of stuff  it is absolutely amazing  next supplement we're talking about it's  called coenzyme q10 coenzyme q10 is  within the mitochondria or the little in  a sense the little engine in all of our  cells right the mitochondria produces  the energy coenzyme q10 is antioxidant  and actually helps form energy within  the mitochondria so what we find is that  individuals especially as we age very  deficient in coenzyme q10 supplementing  with that has been shown to have  dramatic dramatic effects overall on the  brain another one that we're talking  about is called n-acetylcysteine  and acetylcysteine and this actually  helps boost something called glutathione  and glutathione is our body's master  antioxidant and so glutathione has been  shown to improve things like depression  schizophrenia bipolar disorder  Alzheimer's  you know if we're developing issues like  that that's actually a sign of  glutathione deficiency the body itself  is not able to protect the DNA there be  n DUP with genetic mutations and genetic  abnormalities that take place because  we're glutathione deficient so  n-acetylcysteine is a precursor to  glutathione it's been shown to have  dramatic results with all those types of  conditions  it also helps protect the brain from  inflammation inflammatory stress and  heavy metals like mercury and aluminum  you know we see mercury as a common  issue with a lot of different  neurological problems Alzheimer's we  find aluminum within the damaged brain  cells we find aluminum with Alzheimer's  so this is going to help protect against  that next up we're talking about is zinc  and zinc is super key we see a lot of  people deficient in zinc again we need  good stomach acid to produce a zinc so  it's similar to the b12 issues and zinc  is really good for reducing inflammation  in the body very key for producing  dopamine which helps give us focus and  energy and goal setting zinc also helps  produce serotonin which helps calm us  right relax us helps reduce pain in our  body and serotonin converts into  melatonin which helps us sleep so people  have zinc deficiencies oven times they  have a lot of trouble sleeping and  getting into a deep sleep which affects  their overall health zinc is super key  lots of research out there showing how  zinc improves ADHD depression mood  disorders as well as neurodegenerative  conditions like Alzheimer's and dementia  and a last something we're going to talk  about something called alpha lipoic acid  and alpha lipoic acid really powerful  overall for brain chemistry and alpha  lipoic acid actually is is it's unique  because it's both fat soluble and water  soluble so it crosses in and out of  different organs like our brain because  our brain is mostly fat so it crosses  right into the brains the the brain  cells can cross out and very powerful  effects at scavenging free radicals so  it reduces oxidative stress it's also  really good at chelating and pulling  things like  curry out of the body so we love alpha  lipoic acid it's really really good and  actually one more bonus supplement that  I forgot it's called phosphatidyl serine  and phosphatidyl serine is actually a  really powerful nutrient that in a sense  is it's super powerful so believe it or  not it's hard to believe but our  ancestors actually when they would kill  an animal that you steep the whole  animal including the brain and we look  at animal brain it's loaded  phosphatidylserine and so obviously  today we're not eating brain but we can  supplement with this and fossil Sirians  incredible in fact they did a study 2014  study what they actually showed they  they give a number of kids 200  milligrams of phosphatidylserine a day  for two months and what they found is  that these kids had significant  improvements in symptoms of ADHD  academic performance overall mood and  behavior lots of studies on  phosphatidylserine it's something i take  personally on a regular basis really  really profound you know if you're  looking for a supplement that combines a  lot of these things you know I have a  supplements called brain supercharged it  uses coenzyme q10 alpha lipoic acid and  acetylcysteine phosphatidylserine a  bunch of these things that we just  talked about kind of in clinical dosages  that really give a dramatic benefit  something I use personally to help me  perform at an extremely high level and I  recommend it for all my high performers  if you're out there you want to you want  to be a better student you want to be a  better leader better manager a better  parent and if you just want to perform  at a higher level that's definitely  something good to look into but I would  start with a core of things like  omega-3s vitamin D probiotics magnesium  zinc that would be more of our core then  we can move into you know a specialized  supplement like a brain supercharged if  you're ready to take things to the next  level once you got the basics under  control  so that's what we're talking about there  these are powerful supplements to help  improve your brain function so hopefully  you get a lot out of this you know if  you're using one of these supplements  and you've seen changes in your brain  please leave a comment let us know what  you have noticed so that way we can have  a discussion and really learn from each  other as we're experimenting and using  these kinds of supplements to improve  our brain  our body we'll see you next time on our  next video