Weight loss is hard. We all have a friend who can lose weight quickly or one who doesn’t have a hard time sticking to diets and exercise routines. But, for most of us, always living a healthy life is wearing! That’s why our team talks about small switches. Making little changes adds up over time, and you can make swaps gradually. But, even then, it sometimes takes extra prompts to help us stay on track.
We’re always looking for extra motivation to reach our health goals. For people with cholesterol concerns, you might know your end goal, but the steps can be difficult. One goal might be losing weight. If you are looking for more reasons to lose weight and to motivate yourself to stick to your plan, you’ll be interested to know that it helps your brain!
People who are overweight have four percent less brain tissue. This degeneration puts them at a higher risk for both dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and other illnesses that attack the brain. The good news is that weight loss can reverse the problem. Losing weight can improve your cognition, attention span, memory and your coordination. Your brain gets a tune-up when you lose pounds!
Additionally, people who are overweight have lower blood flow and activity in their brains. Low blood flow has been connected to both Alzheimer’s and mental illnesses, including depression. But, just like the loss of brain tissue, the lack of blood flow and activity is reversible with weight loss. Weight loss also improves insulin sensitivity that, in turn, improves your brain’s function.
Losing weight also reduces cytokine protein, which can cause inflammation in and fog the brain. Getting rid of the inflammation can actually increase brain volume. So you can think more clearly. It doesn’t make you smarter; it makes it so that you think faster and solve problems more easily.
If you’re anything like us, you’re always looking for extra help and extra motivation to stay on track when it comes to health goals. If weight loss is something you are aiming for, this knowledge might help. Knowing that losing the extra weight can help us think more quickly and help us stay mentally healthy as well as help our tickers and overall health is a boon!
