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Alethea Mills Nutrition

BHSc Nutritional and Dietetic Medicine

Benefits of morning exercise – What is BDNF?

July 23, 2019 by aletheam Leave a Comment

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Morning Exercise…do we really need another reason? BDNF, that’s the reason.

I often recommend morning exercise over afternoon exercise, particularly with clients who have sleep difficulties and here is another reason, BDNF.

What is it? 

Brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF). And what the hell is that I hear you say. It is a protein that is made inside the nerve cells and it functions like a superfood for our brain, it’s a brain fertiliser. BDNF allows the messages that are travelling through the brain to get where they need to go and improves the signal strength, for those of you who have ever tried to tune a radio…that feeling when you get the tuning just right – pure gold. BDNF improves synaptic plasticity, meaning it can change, back to the radio example, it’s not stuck on one volume, it can go up and down. Synaptic plasticity is involved in learning and memory and BDNF has shown to improve social behaviour in schools. 

So how do we increase BDNF? Exercise has shown to increase BDNF and with so many other health benefits, why the hell not! With the cognitive benefits, it illustrates that morning exercise is a great way to increase learning ability and behaviour for those heading to work and school. 

Low levels of BDNF have been seen in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis in addition to depression, bipolar disorder, stress and type 2 diabetes with healthy hormone metabolism being essential for BDNF production. Progesterone, oestrogen and DHEA are necessary to produce BDNF.

INCREASING BDNF

  • Resistant starch due to its ability to produce butyrate
    • Cooked cold potato, rice or pasta
    • Green bananas
    • White beans
    • Lentils
    • Uncooked rolled oats
  • Raw honey
  • Blueberries
  • Turmeric (curcumin)
  • Sunshine
  • Cocoa due to flavonoids and magnesium
  • Fatty Fish (wild caught salmon, anchovies, sardines – due to the DHA content)
  • Liver (must be organic 100% grass fed) due to the high vitamin B3 
  • Certain strains of probiotics
  • Matcha Green tea due to the theanine 
  • Limiting sugar consumption
  • Cold and heat exposure (infrared sauna is my pick!)
  • Regular sleep patterns

The key takeaway is get moving in the morning, not only will your cognitive ability improve so will your energy levels. Eat a healthful whole food diet low in sugar and high in resistant starch and prebiotics to maintain a healthy gut.  

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Filed Under: Exercise, Health, Sports Nutrition

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HELLO!

HELLO!

I'm Alethea, a Gold Coast based Clinical Nutritionist with a Bachelor's Degree of Health Science in Nutritional and Dietetic Medicine. I'm passionate about helping people rediscover the spark of vitality deep within.

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Did you know that timing and supplements can affec Did you know that timing and supplements can affect your test results? 🤔 

Some examples of this are below.

🩸 Biotin (vitamin B7) can lead to altered results in thyroid testing by falsely elevating T3 and T4 and by affecting troponin (a biomarker for heart attacks). Biotin is often found in B vitamins, prenatal supplements and often seen in hair/nails growth products.

🩸Strenuous exercise or alcohol consumption prior to testing can alter iron studies and other markers including creating kinase, thyroid hormones, albumin, bilirubin and CRP. Alcohol should be avoided 24-48hrs prior to testing.

🩸Timing - Testosterone is highest in the morning and decreases as the day progresses, same with cortisol making morning testing generally more preferable.

🩸Fasting - recommended prior to most blood tests. An overnight fast and having blood taken first thing in the morning is ideal for most testing. It is important however, to be hydrated when testing is done as dehydration can affect some markers. I’m talking water for hydration, avoid caffeine 😉

🌱General advice is avoid supplementation approximately three days prior, avoid strenuous exercise and alcohol, maintain a similar diet with a fasting period the night before whilst remaining hydrated. This is very general and will change with the individual and current treatment so always speak to your practitioner before ceasing any supplementation/medication.
Add some potato and this is my food heaven 😍 Add some potato and this is my food heaven 😍
Athletes are often at higher risk of injury, which Athletes are often at higher risk of injury, which makes sense right, if you are involved in physical activity you are more likely to obtain an injury than sitting on the couch. Of course the benefits of physical activity over sitting on the couch are numerous, so don’t at me 😉

Investigating why the athlete is injured is always an essential step. Worthy considerations to minimise future risk are to assess if the athlete is energy deficient, review mechanics, insufficient sleep and/or rest days, lack of strength training to name a few.

Then it’s all about recovery which involves physical rehab with a chosen practitioner such as physio, myotherapy, acupuncture, massage with reputable practitioners. And then there is nutrition! 🍏🥩✨

Consuming adequate energy is necessary for healing, however some key nutrients to consider are:

✨Fractures: focus on bone building nutrients - calcium, vitamin D, magnesium
✨Inflammatory conditions (ones that end in “itis”- anti-inflammatory nutrients and antioxidants such as omega3, curcumin, berries, vitamin A, C, E. Not nutrition related however I found great relief in rolling the foot on a frozen water bottle for plantar fasciitis!!
✨Joint pain - grass fed hydrolysed collagen - taken in the hour prior to strength training is 👌🏼
✨Muscle injuries - adequate protein and BCAAs can be helpful here too.

If you are finding you have recurrent injuries, stress fractures, joint pain, get in touch and we'll get you on the road to feeling great 👍
Tuna Salad 🥗 Old favourite 😍 Tuna Salad 🥗 Old favourite 😍
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