Okay, now for Healthpop edit detail. Turn your brains on here. This stuff is a big deal.
On REM sleep. REM sleep runs in 90 minute cycles. Each cycle increases the proportion of REM sleep up to 8 hours. This is why adequate sleep is important because you’ll miss out on REM sleep. REM is the period that your brain reinforces pathways exercised during the day as opposed to the pruning impact of non-REM sleep that occurs the majority of the time during the early phases of sleep.
Sleep time is also important to increase autophagy which helps clean up cellular debris in your brain. Fasting plays a particular role increasing autophagy to break down damaged components in a cell and recycle them. It also helps repair the gut. You can literally reverse aging through this process. One cool thing is that you can mimic some of the benefits of fasting just taking Resveratrol, which I mentioned in the main letter.
I put up a 40 minute video on the office Facebook page that would serve everyone to view with regards to fasting. That is, If you want to live longer, healthier.
As I’ve brought up a bit in the past, generally if something impacts your gut it impacts your brain. It use to be thought that the brain is protected from other immune challenges because of a barrier that exists. Now, it’s understood that isn’t entirely true because the signals your brain uses to trigger the immune system do pass through this barrier. Hence, it’s important to keep your gut from irritation because that triggers inflammation and your immune system. This is where gluten becomes an issue because it fatigues your gut barrier like a spouse trying your patience looking for a *^% parking spot. When the barrier is weak, the immune system fires up which inflames your brain.
An important blood marker for Alzheimer’s risk is called apoe. It’s the main genetic determinant of Alzheimer disease. About 20% of the population carries the Apoe 4 risk factor. The risk is amplified when other cardiovascular risk factors are higher. This is where intense exercise and fasting are important for its impact on increasing BDNF (both fasting and exercise help) which is a protein that plays an important role in neuronal survival and growth, serves as a neurotransmitter modulator and neural plasticity essential for learning and memory.