Brain Fact Friday on "Building a Faster, Stronger, Resilient Brain, by Understanding Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)"

<p>Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for our third Brain Fact Friday and episode #114.</p> <p>This week's Brain Fact Friday, you will learn: ✔︎ What is BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) and what are it's benefits to the brain. ✔︎ What we should all understand about BDNF with Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and how our brains learn. ✔︎ Exercise, Nutrition and BDNF: What's the Connection? ✔︎ Why Putting the Body Under Stress is a Good Thing. ✔︎ Sleep, Stress and the BDNF Factor. See past episodes here <a href='https://lnkd.in/grfaE7y'>https://lnkd.in/grfaE7y</a></p> <p> </p> <p>This week, we recorded 2 ground-breaking interviews with 3 decades of leadership expertise with Denise J Cooper on her book, Remarkable Leadership Lessons<a href='#_edn1'>[i]</a>, and Dr. John Ratey,<a href='#_edn2'>[ii]</a> an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized expert in Neuropsychiatry. Stay tuned for these interviews coming next week, but for today, here’s Brain Fact Friday.</p> <p>Did you know that trace brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF<a href='#_edn3'>[iii]</a>  that Dr. Ratey says is like “Miracle-Gro (or fertilizer) for the Brain” is “the important link that explains why simple exercise can have such a profound effect on cognition and well-being<a href='#_edn4'>[iv]</a> and that “eating foods with folate, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fats increases BDNF in the brain, just as exercise does?”</p> <p>Dr. Ratey and I dive deep into his 2 books Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain<a href='#_edn5'>[v]</a>, and Go Wild: Eat Fat, Run Free, Be Social and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being on our interview coming next week where he explains the importance of BDNF as it relates to diet and exercise (which are 2 of the top 5 health staples we have been focused on the podcast since last year). His book does dive deep into sleep as a health stap