The Brain-Body Connection Explained

Honeybrains Blog

The Brain Body Connection Explained

How the body's major systems work together to fuel, protect, and support the brain.

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Organs interact with one another to form systems. These body systems include the nervous, digestive, circulatory, and metabolic systems. Together, they work in harmony to create one living, breathing whole.

Why the nervous system needs support

The nervous system is the body's most energy-hungry organ system. It includes the brain and all the nerves that extend from the brain into the body. The nervous system needs a steady supply of nutrients because it depends on constant energy, such as glucose, oxygen, and ketone bodies.

This energy helps maintain the electrical gradients that allow the brain and nerves to send messages. It also fuels the creation of new neural connections that happen every day as we live, learn, and respond to our environment. Even at rest, the brain burns calories. In fact, the brain uses about 20 percent of the energy we get from food each day.

The systems that fuel the brain

Because the nervous system constantly uses energy, it relies heavily on the digestive, circulatory, and metabolic systems for fuel. These systems are responsible for absorbing, transporting, and metabolizing nutrients.

The digestive system includes not only the mouth, stomach, and other digestive organs, but also the beneficial bacteria that live in the intestines. The circulatory system includes the heart, veins, arteries, and tiny blood vessels that reach the deepest parts of the brain. The metabolic system is the sum of all the processes that break food down into building blocks and energy. Metabolism happens in every cell of the body, including every brain cell.

How nutrients move through the body and brain

The digestive system absorbs nutrients into the circulatory system with the help of friendly bacteria in the gut. From there, the heart pumps those nutrients throughout the body and through a network of tiny capillaries that make up the blood brain barrier.

Once nutrients pass the blood brain barrier, they have direct access to brain cells, where they can be metabolized and used as fuel. This constant handoff between systems is one reason body health and brain health are so deeply connected.

Ways to support the body systems that protect the brain

We can help our brains by improving digestive, circulatory, and metabolic health.

Digestive health

Digestive health means maintaining healthy gut bacteria, also known as healthy flora. Scientists are still learning the best ways to measure gut health, but what is clear is that the digestive system plays a major role in helping the body absorb the nutrients the brain needs.

Circulatory health

Circulatory health means having smooth, inflammation-free arteries. One way to better understand whether your arteries are relatively free of inflammation is by checking homocysteine. For brain health over the long run, a homocysteine level of 10 or below is a useful target.

Metabolic health

Metabolic health means using insulin efficiently, since insulin is one of the body's main hormones for breaking nutrients down into usable energy. One simple way to gauge metabolic efficiency is to check fasting blood sugar. For long-term brain health, a fasting blood sugar level below 90 is a helpful target.

What to eat to get closer to these targets

To move closer to these goals, Honeybrains recommends eating from the HB Five Food Groups:

• Legumes
• Whole grains
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Omega 3 rich foods

These foods work best alongside Good Garnishings like herbs, spices, fermented foods, and colorful sweeteners from nature, such as raw honey.

Together, these foods provide essential nutrients like fats, fiber, color pigments, vitamins, and minerals. These nutrients help nourish and protect both the body and the brain by supporting the systems that keep them running well.