What Doctors Tell Their Friends About The Brain

Happier, wiser, stronger: all things you’ll be after taking the advice of these top doctors. File it away in that pretty (amazing) head of yours.

- Lisa Mulcahy

FOOD REALLY CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY

“Recently my wife and I tried a little experiment. For about two weeks, we wrote down everything we ate for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks—and we noted, during the hours that passed between meals, how we were feeling emotionally. Here’s why: The bacteria in the gut (what doctors call the microbiome) help produce chemicals that directly influence the brain. Serotonin, for example, helps ward off depression. Others determine how well you sleep, how good your appetite is, and even how well you’re able to withstand pain. I knew going in that processed food could inhibit the microbiome, so we ate as cleanly as possible. Beyond that, everyone’s body chemistry is different—to my surprise, fermented foods like pickles made me feel pretty great, and grains did the exact opposite. So, when friends want a magic bullet, I suggest they try keeping a food diary, as we did. The next time you’re in a bad mood, you can look back at what you’ve eaten and immediately see which foods aren’t working for you. Then you just have to replace them with ones that will.” —Sanjay Gupta, M.D., CNN’s chief medical correspondent

HEADACHES MIGHT GET WORSE AT MIDLIFE