How to Detox Your Brain: 3 Ways to Support Your Brain's Detox Process Family Health Men's Health Women's Health

These days it’s easy to feel frazzled and distracted. You may be multitasking and not getting enough sleep. Maybe you’re anxious. And you’re probably not doing enough to help your brain work efficiently. If you want to remain sharp and clear-headed as you age, taking care of your brain should be top of mind.

Accumulation of toxins is associated with cognitive decline, which makes detoxifying essential.

While the brain is designed to detoxify itself, over time this process may become less efficient. Your brain may also be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of toxins it’s exposed to from the environment and your diet. Thankfully, there are ways you can support your brain’s detoxification process. And doing so may increase your "Brainspan."

What’s Your Brainspan?

Your lifespan is the number of years you’ll spend on this planet. Healthspan is the number of years you will live in good health. Brainspan is the number of years you will live in good health with the healthiest brain possible.

You probably know how much you weigh, and possibly your cholesterol levels and blood pressure. But most people don’t know what their brain is doing. We don’t give our brain the attention it deserves. Yet it controls the heart, gut and every organ in the body. We aren’t taught a lot about how to make it healthier.

Some of the more efficient ways to support your brain’s detox process include:

1. Make sure you’re getting enough vitamin B9 (folate). While many people only think of folate as a necessary nutrient during pregnancy, it is very active in the brain and central nervous system. It also aids in cellular detoxification. Vitamin B9 is found in many fortified foods, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables including nuts and leafy green vegetables.
2. Supplement with Glyteine to support your glutathione levels. Glutathione is the most important detoxification molecule, essential for getting rid of harmful chemicals and metabolic byproducts that are dangerous to the human brain. The body makes glutathione but depending on our genetics, some of us are more efficient than others at making it. Also, our ability to manufacture glutathione declines with age. Others can’t get into the cells. Research has shown that a new compound called Glyteine, now available over the counter as Continual-G, raises the cellular levels of glutathione rapidly, within an hour or two.
3. Make sleep a priority. Our brains do most of their detoxifying when we’re in deep, non-REM sleep. That’s when the spaces between the brain’s cells enlarge, and accumulated waste can be flushed away. This can’t happen during waking hours. It would be like a railway crew trying to repair tracks while the trains are running.

Toxins lurk everywhere. These include bleach in the laundry room, and chemicals in foods and cosmetics. You’ve got to pee, poop, sweat or breathe out these toxins. When your output is less than your input, your brain’s health may be compromised.

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