Brain Food -- vitamins, supplements -- what works for you?

[already40]

Hi Everyone,

 

This is my very first post here.  I've been working towards grad school application for the past couple of years and am now waiting to hear...

 

I fall into the older category.  If all goes well, I'll be starting grad school this fall a few weeks after turning 40.    I'm trying to do as much preemptive planning as possible and one of the issues I've got to pay attention to is obviously my mental strength and function.   

 

I'm pretty sure I lost a few IQ points with every pregnancy and I can't kid myself into thinking grad school will be as easy at 40 as undergrad was at 20.  Sometimes the brainfog gets pretty thick.  I should've already been on this while I was studying for the GRE, but oh well....

 

I know the right vitamins/supplements/super foods can be amazing helps and I'm wondering what is actually working for people that are constantly studying like I will be.

 

I'm pretty sure I need to be working Omega 3s in more, but I get overwhelmed when I start to look into which ones are actually worthwhile vs "junk vitamins" etc.  Or are green smoothies all you need?  I know every body has a different chemistry and needs, but like I said, just want to hear what is actually helping people in similar situations.  

 

I don't mind spending a reasonable amount of money for stuff that will help, but I sure don't have money to throw away.  

 

TIA!

 

 

[busybeinganxious]

I am actually in the exact same boat age wise.  I differ in that I'm finishing up my undergrad now.  I have to say that actually this time around has been easier than my first abortive college attempt in my late teens.  The abilities to multi-task, shut out distractions, and prioritize things (skills every parent has honed to a fine edge) have served me far better than the few IQ points I may have lost in the intervening years. 

[braindump]

Hm. I'm not sure how much specific foods/vitamins help me, I think it's just important to eat well overall. Right before starting undergrad I started eating much healthier and I noticed a difference in how I felt, both physically and mentally. I almost completely cut out fast food and greasy, unhealthy food (once in a while I'll have pizza or something, and I don't count Chipotle.. but I eat that rarely too). I eat a lot of salad (one almost every day, usually with something like spinach) and fruit throughout the day. I think most of the Omega-3 I get comes from eggs (I eat 1-2 most mornings), fish (sometimes I eat fish more frequently than I do any other meat), and olive oil (which I use for almost everything, I rarely use butter or any other type of oil, even for frying). Sometimes I take a B complex vitamin, but I prefer to get my vitamins from food. I don't know how much these specific foods are helping, but I know that I feel much better now than I did when I ate garbage. Oh, and I drink a ton of water daily, rarely anything else except coffee and OJ in the a.m.

 

Though, I also eat a lot of ice cream and drink a lot of wine/nice beer, so maybe those are the secrets to my success. 

Sorry, I don't know if I actually answered your question but I hope I helped a little!

[smg]

coffee 

[MathCat]

Regular exercise and a good diet. I don't know if they make me 'smarter' in any way, but it helps me feel better and reduces stress. I'm more productive and happier since I started exercising regularly again.

[1Q84]

coffee 

 

It's my main (and sometimes only) food group!

[isilya]

coffee 

For real. I had been successfully limiting my consumption to one cup a day, but for the last couple months I've often been having a second in the afternoon and now I find myself tired and unproductive if I don't have one...

[MidwesternAloha]

Get yourself a good b-complex vitamin. Meal prep on Sundays/whenever your day off is each week so you can just grab and go all week long. It's a lifesaver.

[RunnerGrad]

You can, and should, get most of your vitamins and minerals from real food. There are so many photochemical so and interactions in real food that it is really the best way to meet your nutrient needs.

The only exception is vitamin D. If you live in more northern areas, or always wear sunscreen or long sleeves/pants when out in the sun, you likely won't get enough vitamin D, and should take a supplement.

Otherwise, get your nutrients from food, unless a doctor or dietitian advises differently.

Edited January 25, 2015 by RunnerGrad

[ERR_Alpha]

I'm a younger student, but I had some health issues so I had to face this situation. My advice: ALWAYS eat breakfast, pack a nutritious lunch with plenty of healthy snacks. For me, if I want to eat crappy, I do it at night or on weekends when I'm not in lab. Taking iron pills also helped me immensely. (I'm not a big green veggie fan)

[gliaful]

Healthy fats -- like the omega 3's you mentioned -- but also think about avocados, nuts (walnuts have an insane amount of omega 3's), ground flax (cheap to buy in bulk -- I put it in smoothies, baked goods, etc), hummus. Cook with extra virgin olive oil when you can.

 

Some antioxidants are known to be helpful: I make blueberries and dark chocolate (greater than 60%) a part of my day, every day.

 

I take a green tea extract supplement daily for my acne, but I know its benefits are widespread -- and the l-theanine found in both supplements and tea is relaxing.

[already40]

Thanks everybody.

 

 

I pretty much follow most of what's being said here.  Stick with mostly unprocessed foods, eat a protein breakfast (with coffee of course  ) , have a B complex vitamin and D for the winter, and try to exercise at least 3x a week.

 

I'm relatively healthy -- don't get sick a lot, no major health issues.  But I've never been a high energy person either.  For instance, I've always had to have at least 8 hours minimum of sleep.   My life has had its share of difficult times, but I think that being a good mom and a good grad school student at the same time will be the hardest thing I've attempted yet.    

 

Thanks for reinforcing what I already know.  If there's no magic "smart pill" out there, here's to coffee, avocados, and I suppose some more exercise. 

[FoggyAnhinga]

Never skip your breakfast! I've had a few days when I had breakfast but ended up having very light lunch (if you could call eating an apple and a small orange lunch lol) or dinner (sometimes it was no more than just a simple bowl of rice). Even if your later meals were light if you had breakfast it'll go a long way. Granola bars are great, and fruits, especially strawberries work well for me. As for leafy greens I've been eating a lot of kale salad recently, which is definitely an improvement from an occasional fatty/greasy food I used to purchase lol. 

 

I too drink a LOT of coffee, but I've been cutting down on caffeine recently since the acidity of coffee (I only drink black) has produced a cavity not too long ago (first one in my life!) which was unpleasant to deal with... 

[rising_star]

I've gotten into making my own granola bars and oatmeal bars lately. You can get an easy recipe for almond granola from America's Test Kitchen that uses basic ingredients in your house and is way cheaper than the gourmet stuff. I've also found that having a solid breakfast (protein + whole grains) has made me much more alert in the morning. A quick workout also really helps me with that too.

[Crucial BBQ]

There is evidence that our brains slow down as we age, but you need to look at this in a different perspective.  In general what cognition tests test is not breadth of knowledge but instead speed of recall.  Here is the thing, the older one gets the more information they know.  New research is suggesting that the more information we know, the slower it is to recall as we have more information to dig through.  The classic example is of two jugglers.  The younger juggler can keep three balls in the air 95% of time.  The older juggler can keep five balls in the air 90% of the time.  Which one is the better juggler?  Another way to think about it is with you computer.  Install a new hard drive and only place a few word documents onto it.  Later on, after months of use, when you have hundreds of thousands of files on your drive, searching for those word documents takes slightly longer.  Did your computer become stupider?

 

Older people tend to forget names more often.  How many names do you think an older person has to remember?  Why more than a 20 year old, that's for sure. 

 

Authors tend to not create their best works until they are in their 50s.  Scientists, while producing more output earlier in life, tend to not produce their best, break-through, research until around age 45 or so.  How many Nobel Laureates are under the age of 40?  

 

So, what can you do?  In my opinion the three best things you can do to improve cognition are:

 

1.  Exercise.  Nothing strenuous, a nice 30 minute walk a few times per week would work.

2.  Sleep.  Even if you are in bed for 8 hours are you truly sleeping for 8 hours?   Just because your lights are out for X hours does not mean you are getting X hours of deep sleep.

3.  Drink more water.  Dehydration is known to cause a decrease in cognitive ability.  The thing is, you may not feel thirsty or know you are dehydrated.  By the way, coffee/tea, although diuretics, have been proven to not be the cause of dehydration.  

 

Other considerations:

 

-This may be a little new-agey for you tastes, but if you can, practicing mindful meditation may help.  

-Stress reduction.  Exercise is great for this.

-Here is another one that may sound corny:  speak your mind.  There is evidence to support the idea that not expressing your emotions leads to decline in ability to form and recall memory.  

-Stop eating processed foods.  There is evidence to support the idea that ingesting certain food additives leads to cognitive decline. 

Edited January 27, 2015 by Crucial BBQ

[already40]

Good stuff!  This reminded me to go get another glass of water  

 

I know I'm a better person when I exercise.  I do wonder how in the world I'll fit it in on a full-time grad school / being a mom schedule though...