How To Have A Healthy Brain
Gail Sanders Durgin, Ph.D., BCIA-EEG

Do you ever worry about the health of your brain? Do you fear getting old and developing dementia? Both of my parents developed this condition and watching them deteriorate was emotionally trying. While many people can relate to the problems of old age and dementia, they fail to realize that problems affecting the brain can be caused by a variety of sources, and can affect people of all ages.

Protect the head from injury.  While concussions are obvious sources of injury, less serious hits and whiplashes can also produce long-lasting, but less recognizable, physical and behavioral effects. The electrical connections inside the brain can be damaged without the brain having enough injury to cause a concussion. The resulting cognitive deficits are most difficult for family and friends to understand. The person affected often seems normal, but may not be able to remember events or understand instructions. Cognitive changes can also involve disorders of attention, concentration, and memory, as well as difficulties with planning daily activities, poor reasoning, and impaired judgment. Some behavioral effects include becoming easily agitated and irritable, verbal and physical aggressiveness, and impulsivity. Often the effects of head injury may be diagnosed as oppositional behavior, attention deficit disorder, depression, or learning disabilities.

Protect the brain and the body from toxic exposure.  Numerous materials in our environment can have a negative effect on how our brain functions. Among the most obvious are toxins in tobacco smoke, excessive alcohol, and illegal drug exposure. However, we are exposed to many other toxic substances on a daily basis. Many of the products in our homes and offices (including furniture, carpeting, flooring, fabrics, cookware, office equipment, cleaning supplies, and food packaging) can contain toxins that can be stored in our bodies and affect how our brain functions over time. Take the time to learn about toxic exposure from the materials in our environment and how to protect yourself from unnecessary exposure.

Eat a healthy diet.  The food that you eat affects your brain and how it functions. In general, the foods that are good for your heart are good for your brain. Eat foods that are rich in antioxidants such as tea, green tea, most berries (especially blueberries), broccoli, spinach, oranges, red wine, and our own North Carolina-grown muscadine grapes. Mucadine grapes have been shown to have an antioxidant level over 40 times that of an ordinary grape. Foods rich in Omega 3 oils, such as wild salmon and walnuts, are essential for brain health. Low levels of Omega 3 oils have been linked to depression, (especially post partum depression), bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, memory loss, and trouble learning new tasks. Since most people today are not able to eat a healthy, balanced diet, consider taking vitamin and mineral supplements as well as Omega 3 supplements.

Exercise.  Regular exercise is important for brain health. It provides enhanced blood flow to the brain and appears to reduce nerve cell death in the gray matter of the brain. Exercise promotes the production of new cells and increases the performance of synaptic connections between cells, which is believed to assist in forming long-term memories.

Laugh.  Laughter helps to oxygenate the brain cells and move the lymph fluid around the body, boosting the immune system. During laughter, the body produces a number of healthy body chemicals that produce positive healing effects. Hardy laughter can also produce the effects of physical exercise and well as just making a person feel good.

Maintain Social Ties.  People who maintain strong social networks with friends and family have better memory and cognitive abilities, as well as a reduced risk of developing dementia.

Sleep.  During sleep, the brain consulates memory, boosts the immune system, and repairs itself. Sleep deprivation can lead to accidents, poor concentration, and mood disorders.

Control Stress.  Stress levels have been shown to have effects on the brain. Chronic stress can affect the quality of our lives and impair our health. Chronic stress triggers hormone release that over time can impair a structure in the brain called the hippocampus, causing it to shrink and impair memory. Many types of activities can assist a person in learning to manage stress more effectively. However, the learning curve can be long because the person does not know how effectively he/she is learning the skill. Biofeedback has been proven to reduce the learning curve. When a person learns to manage stress using biofeedback, they actually see the results on a computer screen in real time and receive constant feedback about how their behavior is affecting their stress level and their body. Many clients can start to feel the difference in their stress levels, as well as physical and cognitive symptoms, in one to two sessions of heart rate variability training, general stress training, or capnometry (measuring CO2 levels) training. 

Train Your Brain.  Keeping mentally active, especially learning new skills, has been linked to healthier brain performance,. When someone learns a new skill or new knowledge, he/she forms new links in the brain. By continuously forming new links or connections, the brain has more reserve and continues to function better. Many new computer software programs for improving cognitive fitness have been developed in the past few years. While long-term studies of the benefit of these programs have not been published, most people who participate in the programs report improvement in memory and function.

Another way to train the brain is through Neurofeedback. In this training, sensors are temporarily pasted onto the scalp and the electrical activity of the brain is monitored. The brain’s frequencies can be trained to improve performance. One training procedure called Brain Brightening helped a number of senior citizens to improve their cognitive skills and coincidentally improved their ability to play in bridge tournaments. In the past few years, people with early stage Alzheimer’s disease have received Neurofeedback training and were able to resume their regular activities with no impairment. Follow up a year later showed that the improvement had been maintained over that period of time.

Neurofeedback has also successfully been used to reduce the symptoms caused by stroke and head injury. People who have received training have reported gains in both cognitive symptoms and physical impairment. Some clients have started training up to five years post injury and still see improvement.

For more information contact Dr. Gail Sanders Durgin, Neurofeedback Associates, 2311 West Cone Blvd. Suite 227, Greensboro, NC, or call 336-540-1972.