Practical approaches to promoting brain health

More than once in his Current Psychiatry essays, Henry A. Nasrallah, MD, has stressed the seismic paradigmatic shifts in our understanding of mental illness and brain disease. He has highlighted the critical significance of processes of neurogenesis and neuroinflam­mation, yet little has been offered to practitioners in terms of practical approaches to promoting the brain health that he encourages.

Two of the most potent modali­ties for maintaining brain wellness and facilitating ongoing neurogen­esis and synaptogenesis are exercise and nutrition—specifically, high-intensity interval training and a diet heavily, if not entirely, plant-based. The neuroprotective capabilities of mindfulness practice and its impact on prefrontal cortical regions also are relevant.

In society at large, it strikes me that physicians have not fared any better than the general population when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet and engaging in physical exercise. I encourage Dr. Nasrallah to continue addressing these themes, and to remind his audience of physi­cians to “heal thyself.”

More than once in his Current Psychiatry essays, Henry A. Nasrallah, MD, has stressed the seismic paradigmatic shifts in our understanding of mental illness and brain disease. He has highlighted the critical significance of processes of neurogenesis and neuroinflam­mation, yet little has been offered to practitioners in terms of practical approaches to promoting the brain health that he encourages.

Two of the most potent modali­ties for maintaining brain wellness and facilitating ongoing neurogen­esis and synaptogenesis are exercise and nutrition—specifically, high-intensity interval training and a diet heavily, if not entirely, plant-based. The neuroprotective capabilities of mindfulness practice and its impact on prefrontal cortical regions also are relevant.

In society at large, it strikes me that physicians have not fared any better than the general population when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet and engaging in physical exercise. I encourage Dr. Nasrallah to continue addressing these themes, and to remind his audience of physi­cians to “heal thyself.”

More than once in his Current Psychiatry essays, Henry A. Nasrallah, MD, has stressed the seismic paradigmatic shifts in our understanding of mental illness and brain disease. He has highlighted the critical significance of processes of neurogenesis and neuroinflam­mation, yet little has been offered to practitioners in terms of practical approaches to promoting the brain health that he encourages.

Two of the most potent modali­ties for maintaining brain wellness and facilitating ongoing neurogen­esis and synaptogenesis are exercise and nutrition—specifically, high-intensity interval training and a diet heavily, if not entirely, plant-based. The neuroprotective capabilities of mindfulness practice and its impact on prefrontal cortical regions also are relevant.

In society at large, it strikes me that physicians have not fared any better than the general population when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet and engaging in physical exercise. I encourage Dr. Nasrallah to continue addressing these themes, and to remind his audience of physi­cians to “heal thyself.”