Boost Your Brain: The New Art and Science Behind Enhanced Brain Performance

by Majid Fotuhi, Christina Breda Antoniades (Contributor)

Based on cutting-edge science, Boost Your Brain is internationally recognized neurologist Majid Fotuhi's complete program for increasing brain size and enhancing brain function, including memory, creativity, comprehension, and concentration.

Our brains don't have to decline as we get older, argues Dr. Fotuhi. Depending on the things we do or neglect to do, we can actually get smarter and measurably improve our brain speed. In Boost Your Brain, the founder of the Brain Center and host of the PBS series Fight Alzheimer’s Early offers a three-month brain-optimization program—with noticeable results in just a few weeks.

Boost Your Brain explores the very latest neuroscience research and offers actionable, authoritative advice on how readers of every age can experience the benefits of a bigger, better brain. Boost Your Brain: The New Art and Science Behind Enhanced Brain Performance includes a foreword by Michael Roizen, M.D., coauthor of the bestselling YOU series and author of the Real Age books.

Genres: Health, Science, Nonfiction, Self Help, Brain, Neuroscience, Education

Audiobook

First published September 1, 2013

Reviews

[Melissa Crytzer Fry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I often don’t review the nonfiction books I read, but I felt this one was important to share. This is an older book (published 2013) I downloaded on my iPad years ago when it was on sale. It’s one of many parked on my e-reader about brain health that has been awaiting my attention, for – as many of you know – my father was diagnosed with vascular dementia a few years back. For obvious reasons, these kinds of books are speaking to me: out of concern for my dad and a wish to understand what’s happening to him, and fear for my own future.

After reviewing the various books I’d downloaded over the years, this spoke to me the loudest. And while many readers have criticized it as “nothing new to see here,” I had a completely different reaction. This book cites all the many ways adults – even later in life – can continue to grow their brains. It gives specific suggestions. Is diet a big part of it? Sure. Exercise? Sure. Social interaction, trying new hobbies, practicing memorization? Yes, yes, yes.

But, for me, it was much more than a re-hash of the same old information. Facts were backed by scientific studies, anecdotes from patients, and actual brain scan results that SHOW growth and shrinkage in the brain. It is one thing to know, intellectually, that you should avoid sugar, exercise, and challenge your brain, but it is another thing entirely to see the medical evidence of how not doing so can impact brain performance and shrink/damage your brain. Indeed, there is the fear factor within these pages, the examples of the ways in which we unwittingly harm our brains … which – for me – is a big motivator. I’m afraid of becoming my dad. And when I read how just being a little overweight can decrease gray and white matter, and shrink the size of the hippocampus, then yeah … I’m going to pay attention.

But mostly, I just wanted some tools in my arsenal to stay mentally alert and focused so that I can continue to live a creative life as I age. This book offers customized plans of attack to increase brain health in three months. I’ll report back once I’ve implemented them!

As a final note: the book is well-written and accessible. My only complaint is that the worksheets/fill-in charts are scattered throughout the book (rather than all in one place), and if you read electronically, there is no way to print them, other than to hunt them down and do screen captures. It would have been nice to receive a web link to the worksheets, or to simply include all of them in an appendix for quick reference. I spent a lot of time getting my ducks in a row to begin my plan of attack. In the end, it likely will have been worth the slight inconvenience, though. I would actually recommend buying this in print so you can flip back and forth. (I ended up buying both).

More in three months!

[Feng Ouyang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boost Your Brain: The New Art and Science Behind Enhanced Brain Performance
by Majid Fotuhi
This book is about how people can improve the capacity of their brains and prevent (delay) old age brain decline. The author Fotuhi is a neurologist at the Johns Hopkins University.
The central premise of the books is a brain is a continually changing object. It grows or shrinks in response to the many factors in life, aging being just one of them. Therefore, by adopting a brain-healthy lifestyle and avoid brain-shrinking risk factors, we can improve brain health in general and prevent and compensate for the brain decline due to aging. Brain health includes four aspects: the number of neuron cells, the number of neuron connections (synapses), the state of oxygen supply to the neurons (blood vessels), and the state of information super-highway (long range, high capacity neuro-connections).
On the practical side, the book outlines a “12-week program” to boost brain power. Such program includes exercise (mainly aerobatic and interval training), diet (avoid “brain-shrinking foods such as salt and trans-fat, add Omega 3, flavonoids and vitamins B12, D, E), relaxation exercises to keep the brain in an alpha-wave mode more, and mental exercises for more stimulation to the brain. For each class of activities, the author provides three tracks to allow for a gradual increase of practice intensity depending on the current status.
The book also discussed health conditions that are harmful to the brain, especially to memory functions. These risk factors include medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, stress, overweight, stroke (including micro strokes that usually do not show any symptoms), brain injury such as concussion and brain infection, and alcohol abuse. The book points out that even conditions with minor or no acute symptoms may cause brain shrinkage in the long run. Furthermore, in many cases, brain damages caused by these conditions can be reversed if treated properly. Therefore, we should pay attention and seek diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.
Almost all of the advice are consistent with common health practices, especially those for cardiac health. The notable addition is mental exercises. In this sense, the book is not exactly life-changing. However, this book points out the exact benefits to brain health and cognitive abilities, backed up by research findings. It provides additional motivation for the readers to follow these practices.
Unlike other books in this class, this book includes a large number of citing to research results, exceeding the need for claiming credibility. I consider the discussion of brain researches as an independent contribution of the book, aside from its practical advice. Especially valuable are the author’s comments, which point out what the investigations prove and not prove. For example, in many places, the author points out that just because two phenomena occur at the same time, it does not mean one causes the other. The author also described in detail many studies involving controlled groups. These description provides a sense of the level of certainty of the results.
At the end of the book, the author recounted the discovery of the Alzheimer disease and subsequent explorations. He pointed out that Alzheimer disease and dementia are not the same, and the Alzheimer disease as we see today is not single-cause and probably does not have a single cure. This part is a fascinating scientific story on its own right.
Overall, this book is both practical and intellectually engaging. The “12-week plan” is probably more valuable for its principles rather than detailed implementations. The book is repetitive in some parts and over-simplifying in others (brain health is much more than “growing” and “shrinking”). However, it is still a great book to read if you are interested in how the brain works and how to take care of it.
Detailed notes follow.

• Four factors of boosting brain health
o Increase synapses
o Build more highways (fiber bundles)
o Improve oxygen supply (more blood vessels)
o Build more neurons
• Brain-body connection: brain health is closely tied to body health. Many body conditions are harmful to the brain. The important ones are obesity, lack of V-B12, and lack of exercise.
• Brain-boosting activities
o Exercise:
 Studies show aerobic exercises lead in growth in hippocampus size and improved cognitive testing performances (short term memory).
 Aerobic exercises bring other benefits:
• Increased level of BDNF
• Increased frontal cortex size
• Improved oxygen delivery and increased blood vessel network
• Better tuned brain states (alpha states)
 Intensive exercises (e.g., brisk walking vs. stretching) are more effective. Interval training (30 seconds on and off) may be especially effective.
 Goal: 30 minutes of aerobic every day, 15 minutes strength building 2 days a week. Intensive impulse training: 1 minute intensive, 2 minutes relaxing, 5 times (total of 15 minutes)
o Food:
 Start with a healthy balanced diet
• Mediterranean food helps brain functions and brain health.
• Cut salt intake. Below 1 g per day.
• Avoid trans-fat, which is present in donuts and mass-produced cookies.
• Avoid high saturated fats and high sugar foods. They not only cause cardiovascular problems and obese but also bring damage to the brain. Choose food with a lower Glycemic index.
•
 Add Omega 3 to diet. It is proven to improve brain function in both the short term and long term.
 Flavonoids: add the following foods to diet regularly to provide beneficial brain flavonoids:
• Apple
• Spinach
• Blueberry
• Coffee (in moderation)
• Dark chocolate (for coco)
• Red Grape
• Tea
• Pecan
• Peanuts and other nuts
• Tomato
 Vitamins
• B12. Target blood level: 500.
• D
• E
o Relaxation: stop brain hyperactivity. Promote alpha wave (slower wave), which is a calm and alert mode. Reduce beta wave (faster wave), which should be used only for short bursts of short, concentrated mental activities. The following activities all have long term effects in calming the brain and improving cognitive function levels.
 Meditation in 30 minutes sessions
 Yoga and Taiji
 Drumming: just follow the rhythm. Clapping would be fine, too.
 Biofeedback.
o Mental Exercises
 Engaging in tasks that require mental and cognitive efforts help to grow the corresponding parts of the brain.
 Use all opportunities to conduct mental exercises in daily life. Try not to rely on calculators and GPS guidance.
 Diverse your mental activities. Learning new things is more beneficial than doing the same activities over and over.
 Social interactions also require a lot of cognitive skills and benefit the brain.
 Memory training: memory training would help grow the hippocampus
• Memory champaign: showing the potential
• Tips for better memory:
o Make things memorable by making them dramatic and emotional
o Make things novel for ease of remembering. For example, associate a person’s character with his name to form a novel image (e.g., short-legged Bob bobbing up and down in trying to reach something).
o Chunking
o Practice memory is important because in the digital age we use our memories less and less.
• Other mental exercised (in the handout)
o Omitted because the book was expired.
• Spend some time for self-reflection: what do you want most? What do you enjoy most? How to change your life, so you spend more time on things you like to do?
• Put it in action: a rehash of the three tracks, etc. Basically, it has the following components
o Gradual start: depending on your current state, start with easy activities and gradually bring yourself to the desired state.
o Baselining: perform a self assessment (more on behavioral observations than actual cognitive tests).
o Get frequent feedback: you should expect noticeable improvements in weeks.
• Brain shrinker factors
o Medical conditions: diabetes, obesity, hypertension, etc. Most of these problems are curable or controllable. But awareness and initiatives are required to avoid damages to the brain.
o Sleep: insomnia and OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) bring significant short term and long term brain damage. Fortunately, most of the damages are reversible. So it is important to recognize and address these problems. Studies have shown that sleeping aids can improve the brain functions of insomnia patients. However, a better course might be removing the causes (stress, lifestyle, hormonal abnormality, etc.) of insomnia.
o Stress: stress and related syndromes such as high cortisol levels impacts brain function and shrinks the brain.
 In some cases, stress relief comes from adjusting the life perspectives/ The ABC method that aligns values, situations and responses can be effective.
 Related problems: depression (often caused by stress) and PTS (an extreme version of stress).
 Low levels of stress may not be discernible, yet still damaging to the brain. For example, low-level noise in office causes elevated levels of cortisol and reduced cognitive capacity.
o Overweight: overweight (BMI 25-30) and obesity (BMI >30) both reduce brain sizes.
 Related problems, especially diabetes, causes significant brain damage.
 Inadequate cholesterol levels not only increases risk of stroke but also causes brain damage even without stroke. Target levels: HDL>60, LDL and Tri < 100.
o Stroke
 It is well known that strokes are dangerous. However, some micro strokes do not have apparent symptoms. Yet they cause long term damage to the brain.
 To avoid damages caused by stroke, avoid risk factors such as hypertension and high cholesterol level.
o Brain Injury
 Brain injury due to impact or disease may cause brain shrinking, even after decades.
 Some brain injuries do not have obvious symptoms and can be unknown. So it is important to check out after impact or other potentially dangerous events.
o Substance abuse
 Alcohol and cigarette cause brain damages in many ways. Avoid these substances.
• Alzheimer Disease
o Alzheimer disease is one type of dementia, although people often use the two terms interchangeably.
o There are many types of dementia, some inheritable and some due to other factors.
o There are two types of Alzheimer disease: the early onset one is mainly inheritable. The later onset type is far more common and is due to many risk factors.
o It seems Alzheimer disease represents a particular type of brain damage. However, such damage can be caused by different risk factors.
o One way to fight Alzheimer disease is building up more brain reserve. Typically, symptoms only happen when the brain is damaged beyond some tipping point.
• The Future of Neuroscience
o From the history of Alzheimer disease research, we can see how fast neuroscience has progressed.
 Alzheimer first linked dementia with brain plaque.
 Yet, later researches show dementia is multi-factored. Plaque may be a correlation, not cause.
 Today, it seems like there is no single cure for dementia. However, various ways of boosting brain health reduce the risk of dementia.
o In the future, brain imaging will significantly improve our understanding and produce a new cure for brain diseases.
o On the other hand, modern technologies may rob us the opportunities to exercise our brain.
o Brain-boosting techniques described in this book are proven methods to improve our cognitive abilities and delay brain aging.

[Charmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Shrinkage in the front of the brain makes us less focused and slower in solving complicated puzzles, making decisions, or planning for the future.

2. Three mechanisms that are crucial to brain growth: oxygen, BDNF, and healthy brain wave activity.
- Maintaining a calm and focused mindset actually makes new blood vessels grow and the network of connections between brain regions becomes stronger. Once you reach the limit of growth in size, you’ll still see increased efficiency.
- High blood cholesterol and hypertension, or high blood pressure, are two warning signs that your brain isn’t getting optimal oxygen flow.

3. Intelligence is the ability to function well in response to obstacles in life.
- Walking is better than not walking.
- Adding intensity—and resistance—may offer a robust advantage.

4. For optimal brain growth, I recommend thirty minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, plus fifteen minutes of resistance training, five days a week.
- By lowering cortisol levels on a daily basis with regular meditation, you’re protecting your brain from the toxic effects of excess cortisol, for better brain function in the short term and increased brain growth in the long term.

5. Your best bet is to find a class so you can learn a technique that you then practice at home.
- The more your mind operates in a relaxed and focused state, the more your brain will grow.
- Cognitive stimulation increases blood flow to the brain. The parts of the brain responsible for the movements needed to juggle grew with use and shrunk with disuse.
- Research supports the notion that staying mentally engaged—playing board games, reading, playing a musical instrument, or dancing—is associated with a reduced risk of developing dementia and improves cognitive function late in life.

6. Memory is a skill that can be vastly improved with practice.

7. The more you practice memorization skills, take on challenging new hobbies, and learn new information, the more you will build a bigger brain.
- For optimal brain growth, 15-25 min of memorization practice five days a week,
- Plus one hour a week of a brain super challenge (such as memorizing a deck of cards).

8. As we skim more and memorize less, we’ll likely find our hippocampi shrinking.
- As we age, atrophy in the frontal lobes makes learning certain new tasks harder.
- With time and persistence, a cognitively healthy older person should be able to master any new task.

9. STRESS:
- Stress changes the brain—subtly with small doses; more dramatically with prolonged or extreme stress; perhaps most dramatically of all with chronic, major depression.
- In cases where there’s no real emergency, noise can simply create stress.

10. HEART HEALTH:
- Much of the prevention effort comes down to reducing vascular risk factors, such as hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle.

[Sal Coraccio · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the land of brain books, the differing take-away from “Boost Your Brain…” is the correlation between brain health and brain size. And a defined program to increase both.

Brain size can be reduced through unhealthy living habits such as lack of exercise, or sleep and a poor diet – unhealthfully stressful living (there is such a thing as “healthy stress”). The good news is that the damage is mostly reversible.

Where this book is also different from many is that it outlines a 12 week program, tailored to where one is in the spectrum of healthy habits. This plan ultimately increases focus, memory and creativity, and more importantly, could delay or eliminate dementia later in life.

Naturally, the fixes include exercise, specific habits and specific foods or supplements. None of it is onerous nor, frankly, too surprising.

The latter part of the book focuses on the link between ongoing brain-healthy habits and the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s in old age. And it is a direct link – very, very few who succumb to the affliction are genetically destined to it. The book I’m currently reading (“Grain Brain” to be reviewed later) calls Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline “Type 3 Diabetes” – as avoidable and fixable as Type 2 diabetes (formerly called “Adult Onset Diabetes” but renamed as larger percentages of those diagnosed are children).

The author (an alphabet-soup-suffixed doctor) gives scientific evidence, some of the studies made very recently, for each discussion point in an easy-to-digest style.

It’s a startling book, really, especially in light of several other books on the topic that point to the same, or even more disturbing - different studies, that lead to this conclusion – exercise is a tremendous predictor for cognitive health. It doesn’t even take much of it to make a difference.

Given the enormous stack of evidence, it is amazing to me that more aren’t aware of the risk factors involved. And, if aware, aren’t making changes in their lifestyles. I know it is difficult and the long term mindset is against the grain of how human behavioral modes operate… but… :headdesk:

For myself, I’m not going with the herd on this one. I may be a proud member of the rat race, but I’m planning on finishing it with my little rat brain as intact and as full as it can potentially be – right up to my last cheesy breath.

I really wish more of you were going to be around to keep me company.

[Kevin Koppelmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few interesting concepts but many of the studies quoted were not proper studies with suitable numbers.

[Parastoo Samiei · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book seems to be part of the marketing campaign for doctor Fotuhi’s clinic not an independent research based book about brain. Although he’s a credible practitioner with a good clinical practice, this book failed to satisfy me with enough detail on background research he’s drawing from. I couldn’t go past the third chapter.

[Sergey Dudko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only 24% of brain performance is defined by genes. The rest - lifestyle and environment

Have a goal in life and be excited about it

Brain health risk factors: hearing and vision loss, insomnia, snoring, heart issues, smoking, alcohol, obesity, sexual disfunction, urination issues, back pain

Do physical exercise 5 times per week: 30 minutes jogging and 15 minutes resistance exercise

Eat food with low glycemic index

Eat salmon twice per week and consume fish oil supplement, eat flaxseed oil, walnuts, canola oil, blueberry, spinach, apples, cholocal, 1 cup of coffee and 1 cup of tea, pecans, pistachios, tomato

Change routine from time to time, socialize

To memorize things: 1. Use weird images 2. Make them emotional 3. Chunk data 4. Associate 5. Repeat

Catching on sleep may not work

To check for stroke: 1. Ask a person to smile 2. Ask a person to raise hands 3. Ask a person to repeat a simple phrase 4. Call emergency if issues with 1, 2, 3

Type A personality has a higher risk of brain damage

Avoid social networks and other Internet distractions
Stay curious

Avoid electronics 1 hour before sleep

Get up at the same time each day

If you cannot sleep for more than 20 minutes, get up and do some quite activity like reading

A little bit of stress is good

Noise is bad

Smile and laugh regularly

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a thorough and encouraging book by a distinguished clinician. Many of the things I should do--healthy diet, regular exercise, reduce stress--I already knew, but his evidence and case histories help with motivation.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boost Your Brain by Majid Fotuhi is a great book on brain health and delaying dementia.

[BLACK CAT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent brain-growing/enhancing tips and the neuroscience behind them.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent read! It has definetly made me change my lifestyle. Highly recommend.

[E.R. Burgess · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pamphlet extended to book length. Also, nothing particularly useful that we haven’t heard before: exercise, eat well and get a good night’s sleep. Yawn.

[JORGE ROSARIO · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary work

I bought this book because October 2017, I was diagnosed with vascular cognitive impairment with memory loss. I never thought about all the brain shrinkers I entertained. This book thought me a lot in a clear, to the point, well organized, easy to understand language and format. I feel that I improved somewhat. I recommended the book to my therapist. I sincerely thank the author. Brilliant!

[Christine Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Discussed several ways to improve brain health. Biggest takeaway was the importance of using the brain in a variety of ways. Provided a 6-week plan (if I'm remembering correctly) on how to improve different facets of your own brain health and the plan could be adapted to where you are today. Biggest takeaway was taking time to focus on different activities rather than simply use your brain the way you are accustomed on a typical day.

[Traci Styner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book

This book is well-written, fascinating, and provides concrete steps you can take to increase your brain health.

I know far too many people with severe cognitive impairment. While there’s no guarantee that following the recommendations in the book will keep me safe from such cognitive impairment, the evidence is compelling.

[Max Kramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beginning is scary. When the author begins to scratch his ego. Then - a good overview of modern approaches in neurology

[LAUREN NICHOLS-KINAS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, diverse, actionable information about how to care for and improve our brains - whether young or old. Very readable, understandable presentation of the information.

[Josef Namin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone must read this book if they want to boos their brain.

[Sep · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Fotuhi give practical advice on how to grow your brain by mental training, eating the best food, and being active physically.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice info.

[Lucie HAND · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book written by a man who was first a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and then became an M.D. specializing in Neurology. He really likes studying the brain. Apparently it used to be thought that once we reached age 50, the brain would begin to shrink and nothing could be done about it. But he has conducted many studies and studied many that show that there are things we can do to make our brain stop shrinking, and even grow a bit after 50 by following a healthy life style. His suggestions are all very practical, do-able, and just absolutely make sense. I first bought this on my Kindle from Book Bub, but ended up buying a hardback so I could jump around on chapters, keep notes, underline, and just make a real study of it. Topics covered in this very readable book are weight, exercise, eating habits, sugar, salt, cholesterol, meditation, brain trauma, brain exercises, belly fat, depression, Alzheimer's, children, hippocampus, memory, DHA, flavonoids, B-12, Vitamin D, sleep, aging brain, stress, BMI, stroke and more. I have learned a lot from reading this book.

[Bob Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched, with a lot of analogies and explanations to make the science part accessible. Age-related mental decline is not inevitable, but we have to take care of ourselves. Exercise and good diet go a long way toward keeping our brains fit, as well as other "tools." The book explores the current state of research about those things that "boost" our brain and those things and habits that lead to cognitive decline. There are a lot of books on this subject that are not grounded on scientific research, but this one seems to take the science seriously. Fotuhi includes practical steps anyone can take to put the research into practice in their own lives.

Recommend.

[Aurelio Guerra · Rating 5 out of 5]

De los tres libros que he leído sobre el tema éste es sin duda el que me ha parecido mejor. Sin embargo, todos tratan básicamente de lo mismo y ofrecen como denominador común las tres mismas acciones. A diferencia de los otros, creo que el acercamiento que ofrece este libro para mejorar la función cerebral es mucho más completo, más factible y la ciencia (o sea la evidencia que ofrece) mucho más convincente.

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guys knows what he is talking about. He is on the right track with great information but it is just scratching the surface, great for a beginner on the subject of brain boosting but missing some more advanced measures such as nutritional supplements, diet changes and even nootropics. Great book on a fascinating subject.

[Maurice Rubino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Act Now, Prepare Your Body and Your Brain

I have rated Boost Your Brain 5 stars as I want as many people to consume the information as possible. It is well documented and provides proof of the connection between living a healthy lifestyle and a health brain particularly as we age.

[James Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot to learn but also a lot of rambling. Some sections of this book were not conducive to the audio format.

[Reuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The science is simple measures are strong. I will implement their protocol at some point.

[Pamela Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting.

[Catherine]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13614005

[Mazen Alloujami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good and scientific.
Read it and you'll find a lot of useful information.