Shadowing Practice: How to Boost Brain BDNF Levels for Depression Treatment - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What?

There's accumulating evidence that brain -derived neurotrophic factor may be playing a role in human depression.

BDNF controls the growth of new nerve cells, and so low levels may explain the atrophy of specific brain errors you see among depressed patients.

That may be one of the reasons exercise is so good for our brains.

Start an hour -a -day exercise regimen, and within three months you can get a quadrupling of BDNF reliefs from your brain.

This makes sense.

Anytime we were desperate to catch prey, or desperate not to become prey ourselves, we needed to be cognitively sharp.

And so when we're fasting, or exercising, or in a negative calorie balance,

our brain starts churning out BDNF to make sure we're firing on all cylinders.

So of course, big pharma is eager to create drugs to mimic this effect, but is there any way to boost BDNF naturally?

Yes, I just said it, fasting and exercise.

Okay, okay.

But is there anything we can add to our diet to boost BDNF?

Well, higher intakes of dietary flavonoids appear to be protectively associated with symptoms of depression.

The Harvard Nurses study followed tens of thousands of women for years, and found that those who were eating the most appeared to reduce their risk of coming down with depression.

Flaminoids occur naturally in plants, so there's a substantial amount in a variety of healthy foods,

but But wait, how do we know the benefits are from the flavonoids and not just from eating healthier in general.

You don't know until you Put it to the test.

See, some fruits and vegetables have more than others.

Apples have more than apricots, plums more than peaches, red cabbage more than white, kale more than cucumbers.

So if you randomize people into one of three groups, more high -flavonoid fruits and vegetables, more low -flavonoid fruits and vegetables,

or no extra fruits and vegetables at all.

After 18 weeks, only the high -flavonoid group got a significant boost in BDNF levels, which corresponded to an improvement in cognitive performance.

The BDNF boost may help explain why each additional daily serving of fruits

and vegetables is associated with a 3 % decrease in the risk of depression.

A teaspoon a day of the spiced turmeric may boost BDNF levels more than 50 % within a month,

consistent with the other randomized controlled trials that have so far been done.

Nuts may help too.

In the PREDIMED study, where people were randomized to be sent weekly batches of nuts or extra virgin olive oil,

the nut group lowered their risk of having low BDNF levels by 78%.

And brain -derived neurotrophic factor is not just implicated in depression, but schizophrenia as well.

Have those with schizophrenia undergo a 12 -week exercise program, and they get a significant boost in BDNF levels, leading the researchers to suggest

that exercise -induced modulation of BDNF may play an important role in developing non -pharmacological treatment for chronic schizophrenia patients.

Okay, but what actually happened to their schizophrenia symptoms?

Find out.

30 individuals with schizophrenia randomized to ramp up to 40 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week or not,

and there did appear to be an improvement in psychiatric symptoms such as hallucinations, as well as increasing their quality of life.

In fact, you can actually visualize what happened in their brains.

Loss of brain volume in a certain region appears to be a feature of schizophrenia, but 30 minutes of exercise three times a week,

and you can get up to a 20 % increase within three months.

Calorie restriction may also increase BDNF levels in schizophrenics, but they didn't just have them eat less,

but eat healthier, less saturated fat and sugar and more fruits and veggies.

It's like the Soviet fasting trials for schizophrenia.

They reported these truly unbelievable results, supposedly restoring people to function,

fasting described as an unparalleled achievement in the treatment of schizophrenia.

But part of the problem is that the diagnostic system the Soviets used completely different, making any results hard to interpret,

but they do have a subgroup that does seem to correspond to the Western definition, and they still report between 40 and 60 percent improvement rates from fasting.

But that's not all they did.

After being fasted for up to a month, they were put on a meat - and egg -free diet.

So when they report these remarkable effects, even years later, that's for those who stuck with the diet.

Those who broke the diet, evidently relapsed, and the closer the diet was followed, the better the effect.

They note that not all patients were able to remain vegetarian, but they tried to keep meat to a minimum.

And look, we know from randomized controlled trials that just removing meat

and eggs can improve mental states within even just two weeks, and so it's hard to know what role the fasting itself played.

in the reported improvements.

A single high -fat meal can drop BDNF levels within hours,

and you can prove it's the fat itself by seeing the same thing injecting fat straight into their veins.

Perhaps that helps explain why increased consumption of saturated fats in a high -fat diet may contribute to brain dysfunction,

neurodegenerative diseases, long -term memory loss, cognitive impairment.

Maybe that helps explain why the standard American diet has been linked to higher risk of depression, dietary factors modulating the levels of brain -derived neurotrophic factors.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 96 sentences and 959 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:11. The speaker talks at a natural 155 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

schizophrenia /ˌskɪtsəˈfɹiniə/ (noun) — A psychiatric diagnosis denoting a persistent, often chronic, mental illness characterised by abnormal perception, thinking, behavior and emotion, often marked…
boost /buːst/ (verb) — To lift or push from behind (one who is endeavoring to climb); to push up.
vegetable /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ (noun) — A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice…
symptom /ˈsɪm(p)təm/ (noun) — A perceived change in some function, sensation or appearance of a person that indicates a disease or disorder, such as fever, headache or rash; strictly, a…
derive /dɪˈɹaɪv/ (verb) — To obtain or receive (something) from something else.
naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ (adverb) — In a natural manner.
associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/ (noun) — A person united with another or others in an act, enterprise, or business; a partner or employee.
desperate /ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹɪt/ (adjective) — In dire need (of something); having a dire need or desire.
cognitive /ˈkɑɡ.nɪ.tɪv/ (adjective) — Relating to the part of mental functions that deals with logic, as opposed to affective which deals with emotions.
prey /pɹeɪ/ (noun) — That which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured.
dietary /ˈdaɪəˌtɛɹi/ (adjective) — Pertaining to a prescribed diet; (generally), relating to what a person or animal eats.
saturated (adjective) — Full; unable to hold or contain any more.
calorie /ˈkæləɹi/ (noun) — A non-SI unit of energy, equivalent to 4.184 kilojoules, that can raise the temperature of a kilogram of water by one degree Celsius. This is the unit normally…
correspond /ˌkoɹəˈspɑnd/ (verb) — To be equivalent or similar in character, quantity, quality, origin, structure, function etc.
consistent /kənˈsɪs.tənt/ (adjective) — Of a regularly occurring, dependable nature.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

come down with (verb) — To develop symptoms or signs of (an illness).
find out (verb) — To discover, as by asking or investigating.
get up to (verb) — To do something, especially something that is forbidden or improper.
put on /ˌpʊt ˈɒn/ (verb) — To don (clothing, equipment, or the like).
stick with (verb) — To remain close to.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 4 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, didn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/, sharp /ʃɑɹp/, consumption /kənˈsʌmp.ʃən/, substantial /səbˈstænʃəl/, restriction /ɹɪˈstɹɪkʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: schizophrenia /ˌskɪtsəˈfɹiniə/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/, unbelievable /ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/, supposedly /səˈpoʊ̯.zɪd.li/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like schizophrenia, boost, vegetable.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is associated · been done · were randomized
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	those who were · those who stuck · Those who broke
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has been linked · has been

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: How to Boost Brain BDNF Levels for Depression Treatment - Learn English Speaking with Video

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