Health and Fitness
Here’s How to Create a Defined Body and Sharp Brain in Three Steps.
We can improve our body and brain functions with healthy lifestyle choices.
Who doesn’t want an attractive body and a well-functioning brain?
We all need a healthy body and a well-functioning brain. However, some of us also desire a defined body with a sharp brain.
There is nothing wrong with these aspirations. We deserve to have an attractive body, even though it might not be essential for some of us. A well-functioning brain is essential for survival and well-being.
Nevertheless, a defined body can be an indicator of fitness sometimes. I don’t mean a ripped or shredded body with popping veins but a body with lean muscles and a relatively low-fat percentage, especially in waistlines.
A sharp brain does not mean a high IQ. It means a healthy brain that steers the body. By creating healthy and simple lifestyle habits, we can achieve a defined body and a sharp brain unless we have debilitating health conditions.
In this story, I introduce three vital lifestyle changes that can contribute to achieving these goals. They are all backed up by science.
But I will not go into scientific details to make this post practical, easily digestible, and valuable for readers.
I have written several articles about insulin sensitivity, metabolic syndrome, autophagy, emotional regulation, chronic stress management, mindfulness practices such as meditation, non-communicable diseases, and infectious diseases providing literature reviews.
Therefore, I will not repeat them. Instead, I link relevant articles under these broad categories.
1 — Insulin Sensitivity
Insulin sensitivity might sound like a simple or abstract concept, but it determines our physical and mental health.
The adverse effects of insulin resistance, which is the opposite of insulin sensitivity, are significant for our physical and mental health. It is a direct or indirect cause and symptom of many metabolic conditions, such as metabolic syndrome.
It is important to point out that our metabolism is a cellular process. This means that insulin affects every cell in our body and brain.
Research suggests that long-term insulin resistance causes major diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers.
As mentioned in an article, these non-communicable diseases kill millions of people.
The solution is to keep our bodies as sensitive as possible to insulin. Our bodies become insulin resistant when the pancreas creates more insulin to keep up with the excessive blood sugar.
In a nutshell, insulin resistance occurs when cells stop responding to insulin signals.
Staying insulin sensitive is not as difficult as it can be perceived. I shared my perspectives in an article titled Three Tips to Eliminate Insulin Resistance and Shrink Waistline.
I provide three simple lifestyle habits. I will not repeat the details in this post but will provide the headlines for reference. You can check the details in this article.
The fundamental lifestyle changes are time-restricted eating, quality sleep and rest, and customized workouts.
You may ask how insulin sensitivity affects body shape and brain performance. The body can utilize fat when it is insulin sensitive and reduce fat accumulation. As a result, our waistline shrinks.
In addition, restricting carbs and increasing exercise when we are insulin sensitive produces ketones from fat as alternative energy for the brain.
I shared the benefits of ketosis in this article titled Rewiring Your Brain by Activating BDNF & β-Hydroxybutyrate. BHP can be a contributor to preventing neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.
2 — Cellular Cleansing
Our cells hate toxic materials which cause undesirable health conditions.
However, in addition to external toxic materials from air, water, and food, our body’s metabolism and chemical reactions also create lethal materials such as damaged organelles and misfolded and mutant proteins.
The good news is that the body has a mechanism called autophagy which allows for recycling damaged cells, viruses, bacteria, pathogens, and harmful proteins.
This catabolic process cleanses the cells naturally. However, it can be tough to tap into this natural process if we are insulin resistant.
I introduced three lifestyle changes to initiate autophagy. Since I explained them in this story titled Three Tips to Initiate Autophagy: It is an essential contributor to longevity and healthy life, I will not repeat them.
From my experience and reviews, the key contributors to activating autophagy are water fasting, intense workouts, and excessive heat in the saunas.
3 — Mindfulness Practices
Mindfulness is not just for the mind but also for our physiology. It helps us improve our relationships and social connections as psychological tools.
In addition, mindfulness is an excellent tool for emotional regulation, dealing with chronic stress, and reducing chronic inflammation by putting our body and the brain in a recovery state.
Awareness of our thoughts and emotions can position us in a better emotional state. As mentioned in an article, emotional stress is the root cause of many health conditions.
Besides, accumulating unexpressed destructive emotions such as fear, anxiety, grief, worry, anger, frustration, dissatisfaction, and boredom can lead to chronic stress.
It is impossible to tap into visceral fat as an energy source when we live with chronic stress. Cortisol, a stress hormone, prevents fat burning, especially in the abdominal area. And when we are insulin resistant and have high cortisol, fat loss becomes a dream.
In addition, our brain suffers from the side effects of these two hormones running the show in our metabolism. Therefore, my posts intentionally highlight the importance of insulin resistance and chronic stress for our physical and mental health.
Mindfulness practices, especially regular meditation, can significantly reduce cortisol and even contribute to insulin resistance by improving our sleep. We can make mindfulness a lifestyle by observing our thoughts and emotions constantly.
Observing thoughts and feelings and naming them can prevent intense emotional states. Adding 20 minutes of meditation can be a bonus for improving our physical and mental health.
Conclusions and Takeaways
Having a healthy body and brain revolves around lifestyle choices mainly. We significantly contribute to our health if we meet fundamental requirements such as healthy nutrition, high-quality sleep, rest, moderate movement, and emotional regulation.
Suppose we become careful to stay insulin-sensitive by following metabolic best practices, allowing the body to clean the cells via autophagy, and living with a mindful attitude. In that case, we can exceed our health goals. These three items can be achieved via healthy lifestyle habits.
However, there are always exceptions in life. Some of us are adversely affected by environmental factors, genetic predispositions, hormonal imbalances, and unfortunate events.
While some people do their best, they still face undesirable health problems. Therefore, we should be assertive enough to ask for medical support when needed from qualified healthcare professionals who specialize in many ailments.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
Petechiae, ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
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