Andrew Newberg - Brain Weaver: Creating the Fabric for a Healthy Mind through Integrative Medicine

Brain Weaver

ALSO BY ANDREW NEWBERG

The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience

(with Eugene G. dAquili)

Why God Wont Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief

(with Eugene G. dAquili and Vince Rause)

Why We Believe What We Believe:

Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and Truth

(with Mark Robert Waldman)

How God Changes Your Brain:

Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist

(with Mark Robert Waldman)

Principles of Neurotheology

Words Can Change Your Brain:

12 Conversation Strategies to Build Trust, Resolve Conflict, and Increase Intimacy

(with Mark Robert Waldman)

The Metaphysical Mind: Probing the Biology of Philosophical Thought

How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation

(with Mark Robert Waldman)

Neurotheology: How Science Can Enlighten Us About Spirituality

The Rabbis Brain: Mystics, Moderns and the Science of Jewish Thinking

(with David Halpern)

ALSO BY DANIEL A. MONTI

The Great Life Makeover: Weight, Mood, and Sex

(with Anthony J. Bazzan)

Integrative Psychiatry and Brain HealthWeil Integrative Medicine Library

(with Andrew B. Newberg)

Tapestry of Health:

Weaving Wellness into Your Life Through the New Science of Integrative Medicine

(with Anthony J. Bazzan)

Brain Weaver

CREATING THE FABRIC FOR A HEALTHY MIND THROUGH INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE

ANDREW NEWBERG, MD and DANIEL A. MONTI, MD

To the tremendous colleagues, partners, and patients who helped us create a cutting-edge platform for brain-body healing

The Brain is wider than the Sky

EMILY DICKINSON

CONTENTS

T he pivotal moments in my life have been guided by a profound sense of knowing when the current way of doing something could be rethought and retooled. This is what led to my conceptualization of the Home Depot, and it is why my nonprofit foundation, the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health, has invested considerable resources in the field of integrative medicine. In both cases, the system was not fully meeting the needs of its customers. The latter is the basis of this book, and the authors, Dr. Andrew Newberg and Dr. Daniel Monti, have become a personal part of my life and wellness journey. This is particularly the case for the author of the books Introduction, Dr. George Zabrecky, who has been the most influential person in terms of how I think about medicine and health care outside the box of the Western system. Dr. Zabrecky is a maverick thinker, as are the two lead authors, which is why the innovative programs at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University are like nothing else in the world.

Brain Weaver offers a fresh perspective on achieving optimal brain health by providing the science behind the Marcus Institutes comprehensive approaches in a reader-friendly format. It teaches that the parts can never be greater than the whole and that we must think about the entire human system when considering the health and functioning of the brain. The authors have accomplished this by elegantly weaving all of the components that science has revealed into one cohesive plan that can benefit us all. I believe this book will make a big difference in human lives, and I am recommending it to everyone in my close circle. As the US population ages, it is essential for all of us to have the best cutting-edge information to think our best, feel our best, and function at our best. The revolutionary research and clinical practices this book explores have been developed from the tremendous partnership between Thomas Jefferson University and the Marcus Foundation.

The book is written to engage you as the creator of your best brain and to think beyond the traditional medical standards to include all of the approaches that might give you the edge needed to outperform the you of fifteen years ago.

This book also has the potential to change the overall culture of medicine by showing doctors and patients alike the best way to optimize brain health. The authors explain the high-level research theyve conducted using the most technologically advanced equipment available to assess the brains reactivity to lifestyle interventions, targeted nutrient therapies, complementary approaches, and integrated care plans. Newberg, Monti, and Zabrecky are at the cutting edge of this work: they established the first ever Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences at a traditional medical school, a truly paradigm-shifting event. As leaders in the field and compassionate clinicians, they work to educate the next generation of doctors and to make sure that patients are empowered to pursue the best health care possible, working in tandem with their physicians.

These authors have a great ability to study the brain and translate their knowledge into a tangible prescription for brain health. They of course follow modern science, yet they are not afraid to explore options beyond traditional medicine in order to help as many people as possible. They also understand the importance of looking at evidence-based medicine and bringing that information to every patient. That is the basis of Brain Weaver. It is with books like this that we hope the future of medicine will advance to include the best of current practices, lifestyle medicine, and novel integrative therapies so that we all can maintain and even improve our body and brains health for as long as possible.

BERNIE MARCUS

COFOUNDER OF THE HOME DEPOT

P lato recognized two kinds of mental disease: madness and ignorance. He believed that much of the vice is due to the ill disposition of the body and is involuntary: For no man is voluntarily bad; but the bad became bad by reason of ill disposition of the body and bad education, things which are hateful to every man and happen to him against his will.

Brain Weaver educates readers in comprehending the many causes of ill disposition and how supportive integrative medicine is fundamental, even critical in many cases, to the best brain health achievable. Integrative medicine refers to an approach that incorporates conventional medicine with evidence-based complementary and alternative methods including diet and nutrition, mind-body practices, botanical products, and other related therapies.

Dr. Newberg and Dr. Monti have done a tremendous job encapsulating the best of integrative medicine in the context of brain health. I know that these physicians, close, personal colleagues of mine, are passionate about every individual they encounter, and they always strive to give their patients the best possible guidance to weave their best brains possible. One of the fundamental aspects of their approach is to recognize that each of us is a multidimensional person who needs every aspect of ourselves to be taken into consideration. For some people, their biology is fine, but they lack a strong social support network. Others have great friends and family but a terrible diet. It is important that each of us learns to work with our strengths and shortcomings, and how to do that is exactly what you will find in Brain Weaver.

This book works to establish a new paradigm of brain health that starts with the basicsyour genetics and your environment, along with your diet and nutrition. It then expands greatly to help you understand how these many factors affect the brain, how to manage them properly, and what to do when the brain is not working well. With a great deal of information and step-by-step recommendations, Newberg and Monti show you the best of what modern medicine, including integrative medicine, has to offer.