Increasing neurogenesis

[Hap E-Boi]

Due to recent events, which caused brain inflammation as well as loneliness from COVID-19 lockdowns plus, stress and the lack of sleep for extended periods of time, I now often feel depressed and brain-foggy. I also have trouble staying focused and tend to drift away into bad coping mechanisms. I'm now recovering but it is going slow, it's though and I'm barely keeping my head above water.

Meditation, working on tasks, walking outdoors, exercise, a clean diet with a lot of healthy fats already help a lot.

Are there any other things maybe worth trying to help increase neurogenesis and decrease brain-fog/depression?

Any recommendation of cardio good exercises to do at home as well as guided meditations are welcome too.

Thanks in advance!

[Michael569]

4 hours ago, Hap E-Boi said:

ack of sleep

If you can fix this, your neurogenesis will return back to what it was. Without proper sleep, BDNF shuts down and it will be hard to perform mentally very well

Also, more strength exercise either with weights or with your own body rather than just cardio will be more helpful 

Get your vitamin D checked and optimise it as long as you are below 60ng/mL (this is a European measure, the values in US are a bit different) 

And finally making your diet predominantly plant-based, with as little sugar spiking junk and as much whole food ingredients like legumes will benefit you greatly.l 

[Osaid]

Fasting

[Opo]

Long cardio. 

[Hap E-Boi]

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If you can fix this, your neurogenesis will return back to what it was. Without proper sleep, BDNF shuts down and it will be hard to perform mentally very well

Yeah, however I think for the last couple of days I fell into the trap of sleeping too long, causing me to feel drowsy. It's a fine balance.
 

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Also, more strength exercise either with weights or with your own body rather than just cardio will be more helpful 

Sounds like a plan.
 

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Get your vitamin D checked and optimise it as long as you are below 60ng/mL (this is a European measure, the values in US are a bit different) 

I have some D3 supplements still lying around, I started taking them again today. Good plan.
 

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And finally making your diet predominantly plant-based, with as little sugar spiking junk and as much whole food ingredients like legumes will benefit you greatly.l 

Other than a bit of fish, I eat fully plant based and 99% of what I eat are whole foods (Counting things like extra virgin olive oil, MCT oil as non-whole foods).
 

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Fasting

Well I have a tendency to being underweight, not sure if that's a good idea.
 

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Long cardio. 

Sounds like a good plan!

Edited May 3, 2021 by Hap E-Boi

[Michael569]

30 minutes ago, Hap E-Boi said:

I have some D3 supplements still lying around, I started taking them again today. Good plan.

This one is REALLY critical. I wrote a blog post on it after having dug deep into the research. You can check it out here if you are interested. But basically, it would be a great idea to get it tested. Either medically or privately and then set up the dose accordingly. You can order it D test online, you'll have to prick your finger and send the blood sample back to them. SHould not cost more than 30-50 $. If you are deficient you may need to go into the 10,000 IUs even so really hard to say what the dose should be. Otherwise, if your levels turn out just fine 2000 IU is a good maintenance dose during low-sun days. 

[Inva]

20 hours ago, Hap E-Boi said:

Due to recent events, which caused brain inflammation as well as loneliness from COVID-19 lockdowns plus, stress and the lack of sleep for extended periods of time, I now often feel depressed and brain-foggy. I also have trouble staying focused and tend to drift away into bad coping mechanisms. I'm now recovering but it is going slow, it's though and I'm barely keeping my head above water.

Meditation, working on tasks, walking outdoors, exercise, a clean diet with a lot of healthy fats already help a lot.

Are there any other things maybe worth trying to help increase neurogenesis and decrease brain-fog/depression?

Any recommendation of cardio good exercises to do at home as well as guided meditations are welcome too.

Thanks in advance!

Great thread. Make sure you're exercising your brain as well, just to add. Like rigorously, hour + a day on somethin that gets your wheels spinning and you feel the dopamine from that. Even better if you can make it social.

[Hap E-Boi]

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Great thread. Make sure you're exercising your brain as well, just to add. Like rigorously, hour + a day on somethin that gets your wheels spinning and you feel the dopamine from that. Even better if you can make it social.

Thanks, I'm doing this right now, as I'm working on a musical composition and trying to push my brain to the limit. It already cleared away most of the fog.
 

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This one is REALLY critical. I wrote a blog post on it after having dug deep into the research. You can check it out here if you are interested. But basically, it would be a great idea to get it tested. Either medically or privately and then set up the dose accordingly. You can order it D test online, you'll have to prick your finger and send the blood sample back to them. SHould not cost more than 30-50 $. If you are deficient you may need to go into the 10,000 IUs even so really hard to say what the dose should be. Otherwise, if your levels turn out just fine 2000 IU is a good maintenance dose during low-sun days. 

Thanks for recommending testing, but sadly I'm broke at the moment because I lost all my financial reserve due to very bad luck (luckily I'm not in dept). I'm about to sell 2 guitars next Saturday and I even considered sugar dating. Nonetheless, I still have the supplements lying around so I can take them, but I'm not going to spend anything into testing right now. It won't be the most strategic move for me right now.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Hap E-Boi