Lesson Seven: Boosting mental performance through exercise.
A simple way to instantly boost your mental wellbeing and cognitive function are through — surprise, surprise — exercise.
The reason that exercise works so well for mental health is likely to be related to three interrelated benefits:
1. increasing neurotrophic factors in our brain,
2. stimulating the release of endorphins, and
3. increasing cerebral blood flow that helps get more nutrients and oxygen carried to the brain.
Support your body and mind with supplements
Science-based workout supplements can supercharge your energy levels and work alongside a good diet. They can support muscle recovery and allow you to get the most from your workout, as well as bounce back for future ones.
Supplements can also help immediately before training, or after, to help your body perform optimally and recover quicker. We recommend taking magnesium for cellular energy since it helps the muscles repair and regenerates. It also plays an important role in the health of our mitochondria.
Try taking Smidge® - Morning Magnesium which combines magnesium malate with magnesium taurinate, along with boron, an important cofactor. Also take Smidge® - Evening Magnesium in the evening, which is a good source of magnesium glycinate and magnesium oxide to provide restful sleep. Conversely, BiOptimizers - Magnesium Breakthrough supplies you with all 7 forms of magnesium, designed to support stress management and athletic performance.
The role of Coffee and Collagen
Coffee is great before a workout to help boost your metabolism and improve energy levels to help you power through. This is partly because coffee and caffeine have thermogenic properties which boost your metabolism, as well increasing fat oxidation.
Try antioxidant-rich Bulletproof coffee, or our own lab-tested Functional Self Coffee, both of which are free from toxins.
Collagen is also great for helping to support joints and aid recovery since it contains amino acids that protect your bones and help repair tissue throughout your body.
Though we make collagen from the proteins in our food, as we age, our ability to produce collagen is depleted which protect your bones and help repair tissue throughout your body.
This means that workout recovery or tissue injury repair can be slower due to your body not producing enough collagen. We love Great Lakes Wellness - Collagen Hydrolysate, which provides 20 different amino acids to aid the healing and repair of connective tissue. It is made from the hide of grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle, and is glyphosate free and keto-friendly.
For best results, take a tablespoon of collagen twice a day, in the morning and post-workout to optimise your recovery. Or you can mix it into your coffee, smoothies or breakfast bowl. For a marine-based alternative, try Health Optimisation Supplements – Ultimate Collagen Protein or KIKI Health - Marine Collagen Beauty Blend Powder