Practitioner paper
Brain Health Practitioner Paper
Supporting focus, memory, and mental performance.
Quick read
Maintaining optimal brain health and cognitive function is essential for overall health and wellbeing. Several nutrients have been identified as essential for supporting brain function.
Brain function and cognitive function
Neuroanatomy and functional areas of the brain
Cerebral cortex: Responsible for higher cognitive functions, sensory processing, and voluntary motor activity. The cerebral cortex consists of four lobes:
1. Frontal lobe
Executive functions, decision-making, voluntary movement (primary motor cortex), and language production (Broca’s area).
2. Parietal lobe
Sensory processing, spatial awareness, proprioception.
3. Temporal lobe
Auditory processing, language comprehension (Wernicke’s area), and memory (hippocampus).
4. Occipital lobe
Primary visual processing.
5. Cerebellum
Coordinates fine motor control, balance, and implicit learning.
6. Brainstem
Controls vital autonomic functions (e.g. respiration, heart rate).
Limbic system
Limbic system
Regulates emotions, memory and motivation.
Hippocampus
Hippocampus
Critical for memory consolidation.
Amygdala
Amygdala
Processes emotions, especially fear and reward.
Basal ganglia
Basal ganglia
Involved in movement regulation, habit formation and procedural learning.
Neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that facilitate communication between neurones. Key neurotransmitters include:
The primary excitatory neurotransmitter; essential for synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory.
The main inhibitory neurotransmitter; regulates neuronal excitability and prevents excessive stimulation (target of benzodiazepines and barbiturates).
Involved in reward processing, motivation, motor control (Parkinson’s disease) and psychiatric conditions (schizophrenia).
Regulates mood, appetite, sleep and cognition. Implicated in depression and anxiety disorders.
Modulates attention, arousal, and stress responses (targeted in ADHD and PTSD treatments).
Important for cognition, memory and neuromuscular transmission (affected in Alzheimer’s disease and myasthenia gravis).
Act as natural painkillers and modulate stress responses.
Cognitive processes
Cognitive processes refer to mental functions involved in acquiring knowledge and understanding. These include:
Perception
Interpretation of sensory input (visual, auditory, tactile and olfactory)
Attention
Selective focus on specific stimuli while ignoring distractions.
Memory
Includes short-term (working memory), long-term (explicit and implicit memory), and procedural memory.
Learning
Involves synaptic plasticity and long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus.
Language processing
Broca’s area (speech production) and Wernicke’s area (language comprehension).
Executive functions
Higher-order cognitive processes like planning, decision-making and impulse control (mediated by the prefrontal cortex).
Neural plasticity and learning
Synaptic plasticity
Synaptic plasticity
Changes in synaptic strength underpin learning and memory.
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
Long-term potentiation (LTP)
Strengthening of synaptic connections, crucial for memory storage.
Neurogenesis
Neurogenesis
Limited adult neurogenesis occurs in the hippocampus and olfactory bulb.
Hebbian learning
Hebbian learning
Involves synaptic plasticity and long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus.
Brain disorders affecting cognition
Alzheimers, Parkinsons and Huntingdons.
Schizophrenia, major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.
Stroke, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
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Free resources
Practitioner papers, supplement considerations and client handouts to read online or download as PDF.
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Client diet & lifestyle handouts
Foods & Lifestyle Habits for Brain Health and Cognitive Function
Diet and lifestyle recommendations.
