What foods are good for brain/exams or reading for long hours?

[abady]

hiiii !

um so i have exams and i always get tired when reading and I just ate 1000 calories worth of dates(dry fruit) Idk my body craves so much sugar after reading for a while I feel my head is so hot and tired, i googled what good foods for brain and studying and all the answers is so generalized (basically everything is healthy) these google top 10 foods for studying/brain are just useless they recommend anything randomly idk..

so please help me if anyone knows a good diet/foods to fuel my brain and make it stronger :P tell me, i have low amount of time between exams and its very hard subjects and i need to study hard but my brain isn't strong enough pls help me with your experience guys I would so much appreciate it <3, thanks for reading.

 

[dlind70]

Quite a lot of the brain foods. One that look like the brain are good for you, in terms of geometry, walnuts pecans almonds the Walnut actually looks like a brain almond looks like the amygdala in your brain and cashews look like part of the brain stem or other parts. I would save yourself the trouble and avoid foods to avoid would be steak or any meat or completely high salt meats because people may have a consensus that a steak may be good for you on a certain diet but it may actually put you to sleep because of the high potassium in animal foods and high potassium in your blood may actually make you sleepy so I would not be eating like a big old hamburger or steak.

I heard a quotes once that said an almond and a pickle are good for the brain around midnight so if you're studying in late hours the almonds and pickles.

Foods higher in fat .My advice may be counterintuitive but I have really looked into this and the best brain foods are the ones highest and fat like avocado olives and nuts in limited small portions don't go crazy or anything and a lot of people on this form may not like that answer because of the poofa but I say that is pretty much nonsense. The small amount of poofa is counteracted by the vitamin e and other minerals in the nuts and the selenium which helps your thyroid function

 

[abady]

Quite a lot of the brain foods. One that look like the brain are good for you, in terms of geometry, walnuts pecans almonds the Walnut actually looks like a brain almond looks like the amygdala in your brain and cashews look like part of the brain stem or other parts. I would save yourself the trouble and avoid foods to avoid would be steak or any meat or completely high salt meats because people may have a consensus that a steak may be good for you on a certain diet but it may actually put you to sleep because of the high potassium in animal foods and high potassium in your blood may actually make you sleepy so I would not be eating like a big old hamburger or steak.

I heard a quotes once that said an almond and a pickle are good for the brain around midnight so if you're studying in late hours the almonds and pickles.

Foods higher in fat .My advice may be counterintuitive but I have really looked into this and the best brain foods are the ones highest and fat like avocado olives and nuts in limited small portions don't go crazy or anything and a lot of people on this form may not like that answer because of the poofa but I say that is pretty much nonsense. The small amount of poofa is counteracted by the vitamin e and other minerals in the nuts and the selenium which helps your thyroid function

ty for the reply ! ggood info I am thinking of high dha foods and omega 3 I've read that brain is like 70% of it fat an most of that fat is DHA so I am looking into high DHA foods and the easiest ones I can get my hands on are tuna and sardines maybe salmon.

 

[healthiswellth]

I made primal coffee for a long exam once:

Coffee+Grass fed butter+ Coconut oil+ eggs+ baking chocolate + honey + collagen blended and chilled —the coffee was Mixed with green tea — you don’t taste the tea but the combo of caffeine, l-theanine, and theobromine (in chocolate/cocoa powder) work synergistically.

Also, I took empty size 000 capsules (roughly 1 gram) and filled with Organic instant coffee and matcha green tea powder. During exam, we were allowed to drink water but no food inside exam room. Stepping out to eat meant you forfeited minutes that could’ve been spent on exam. So I just kept the capsules in my pocket and when I needed an energy boost, I would take the capsules with water. I also make capsules with eggshell calcium— I read that eggshell calcium can mitigate the acidity in coffee. I don’t see why you can’t fill capsules with a bit of whatever gives you energy in a situations where you just have to sit and focus for hours.


There was a thread by another user who had success with ample doses of b1 and b3 I believe and she had higher carb meals.

 

[liam183]

Carbs fuel your brain. MCT oil is good too. Basically anything that would fuel your body

 

[Old Irenaeus]

This is the question to which I am always searching for the answer. I have found vit b1 and niacin to be helpful. I also like eating dates and feel that the keep blood sugar stable. Additionally, I took @Sefton10 's rec and got a stability ball to sit on while I read. Covered with a bed sheet so I'm not sitting on plastic. Also, red light heat lamp over my head and lots of additional light. Finally, music for concentration w/ a combination of 2/4 or 4/4 with 3/4 kind of beat—seems to keep the mind alert. I find these on YouTube and rip to mp3. The Pomodoro method is also helpful so that you work in concentrated blocks and take short breaks for movement.

 

[souperhuman]

Hot chocolate, coffee, cheese (animal rennet). Eggnog (hot) is my favorite, egg yolks with honey and some vanilla and nutmeg. Also like shrimp or oysters. b vitamins such as thiamine and niacinamide.

 

[BearWithMe]

Reading / studying something you are really passionate about. That's the best food for exams or reading for long hours

 

[DMF]

Red Korean Ginseng - Increase in alertness > increased focusing/concentration

 

[David PS]

Red Korean Ginseng - Increase in alertness > increased focusing/concentration

Ginseng increases my blood pressure. Have you checked yours?

 

[BearWithMe]

Red Korean Ginseng - Increase in alertness > increased focusing/concentration

Ginseng increases my blood pressure. Have you checked yours?

Sounds like increased cortisol / adrenaline

 

[David PS]

Sounds like increased cortisol / adrenaline

It could be. I just avoid ginseng and the problem is solved.

 

[Rafe]

The foods that RP recommends.

Adequate protein, at least 80g/day.

A 1:3 ratio of protein to carb grams in a day. Everyone varies on this ratio.

Tuna is a good protein source if better fish isn’t available. I wouldn’t take the PUFA at all.

Regular rest breaks walking outside.

I study 6 - 10 hrs a day about 3-4 days a week. The best foods for me for keeping my brain focused turned out to be milk, oj, coffee, lean fish, eggs, cheese, chocolate. Sometimes oatmeal, potatoes, rice. Coca cola.

Also, don’t read your material from beginning to end (a chapter or exam material or what), you’ll fall asleep & won’t focus.

Skim the whole amount of material first to get an idea of the whole scope of what you need to take in.

Then break it down into smaller sections. Then go to each section. Then put the sections back into the context of the whole material.

I did sometimes take tiny (tiny) amounts of nicotine as lozenges if I was fatigued. But I can’t recommend experimenting at the same time you need to be at your best. And coffee, tea, & coke are smoother.

Bag breathing for nerves or relaxation so you can sleep.

 

[milkboi]

The foods that RP recommends.

Adequate protein, at least 80g/day.

A 1:3 ratio of protein to carb grams in a day. Everyone varies on this ratio.

Tuna is a good protein source if better fish isn’t available. I wouldn’t take the PUFA at all.

Regular rest breaks walking outside.

I study 6 - 10 hrs a day about 3-4 days a week. The best foods for me for keeping my brain focused turned out to be milk, oj, coffee, lean fish, eggs, cheese, chocolate. Sometimes oatmeal, potatoes, rice. Coca cola.

Also, don’t read your material from beginning to end (a chapter or exam material or what), you’ll fall asleep & won’t focus.

Skim the whole amount of material first to get an idea of the whole scope of what you need to take in.

Then break it down into smaller sections. Then go to each section. Then put the sections back into the context of the whole material.

I did sometimes take tiny (tiny) amounts of nicotine as lozenges if I was fatigued. But I can’t recommend experimenting at the same time you need to be at your best. And coffee, tea, & coke are smoother.

Bag breathing for nerves or relaxation so you can sleep.

Good advice! What are you studying?

 

[Rafe]

Plato, the early libertarian thinkers, some philosophy of science, the American founding. I had to catch up on a lot of history. Then I came to think almost all of the political theory I’d studied was wrong. Then got into the rationalism v empiricism views, which broke all the political theory for me. Then I ran into Peat’s papers & got interested in organicism.

 

[owlwithbrain]

I always take an adrenal cocktail to exams which boosts my brain.

Recipe:

Juice
collagen
MCT-Oil
L-theanine
ribose
cream of tartar or potassium carbonate
salt
vanilla

 

[VitoScaletta]

When my grandfather was in the academy back in the Soviet Union sometimes he just lived on a litter of milk and bread.
It seems very common at least for me for milk to be considered brain food.

I don't think it's worth it if you don't have excellent milk digestion, though. My grandfather had very very good milk digestion

 

[catharsis]

A lot of the information in this thread is good, sometimes a bit scattered (same with me!). I would definitely agree on focusing on sugar and carb-sources, well-digesting fresh fruits or juice is great in this regard. Glycine acts as a NMDA agonist which can help with learning, taking pregnenolone (also NMDA agonist) with your well-sugared well-collagen-ed coffee helps me quite a bit. Aspirin works well as a nootropic but I haven't seen any studies showing benefits in learning, just helping you to focus (anti-serotonin) and anti-depressant effects (COX inhibition/dopaminergic).

@Rafe has a good write-up above.

I really enjoy chocolate milk while studying, but it makes me sleepy. I make chocolate syrup from boiling water, then adding organic cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. The water, cocoa powder, and sugar should be in equal volumes to start but you might want it with more chocolate or sugar. The cocoa is dopaminergic and the reduction in GI inflammation helps me in general. If you want, you can add some egg yolks to milk, this chocolate syrup, and some collagen to make almost a superfood brain shake. It doesn't really seem like a superfood shake when it tastes like a chocolate milkshake hahahaha

 

[Matestube]

hiiii !

um so i have exams and i always get tired when reading and I just ate 1000 calories worth of dates(dry fruit) Idk my body craves so much sugar after reading for a while I feel my head is so hot and tired, i googled what good foods for brain and studying and all the answers is so generalized (basically everything is healthy) these google top 10 foods for studying/brain are just useless they recommend anything randomly idk..

so please help me if anyone knows a good diet/foods to fuel my brain and make it stronger :P tell me, i have low amount of time between exams and its very hard subjects and i need to study hard but my brain isn't strong enough pls help me with your experience guys I would so much appreciate it <3, thanks for reading.

Cold-brewed Colombian coffee.