Almost all brain dysfunction can be summarized into one of three
categories that I call the three Ts , "TRAUMA ,TOXICITY and THOUGHTS". You may
have seen some of my previous videos
when I told the story about how my wife Jeanine and I were in a horrific
helicopter crash. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and it is the main reason
I created the Better Brain Academy.
The synthesis of what I
learned in 30 years of practice along with the worldwide search to find the
best doctors, the best research, best treatments and remedies to create a
healthy brain and nervous system was the main reason for my wife's recovery
Any time there is a trauma to the brain and body it can
short-circuit the nervous system. It is very important to always make sure that
you do something to start to reset the nervous system and restore proper
function. Any stress can
trigger the fight or fight response that needs to stop within a short period of
time. There's a feedback loop that takes place from the brain to our body and
then back the brain. Healthy responses have to send messages to the cells from
the brain 100 % of the time for proper communication
It is critical to look at what energy and information is being
received to support the health and
healing for the best amount of communication from the brain. The brain can
actually affect the messages down the spinal tracks so your posture is very important in the
recovery after a trauma. Many of us have toxins that have been accumulating in
the body .A critical step in healing is to make sure that you are taking steps
to start to reduce that and eliminate toxins as much as possible .I will go
into the steps more in depth in future videos on how to reduce toxicity
It is also important to
really be aware of what we're thinking because it could be firing off this
feedback loop with negative feedback reducing your overall health. I want you
to have 100% of your brains message to
bring 100% of expression of life energy flowing to the body 100% of the time.
So start to THINK a little bit better and reduce TOXINS now to achieve a much
healthier life.
We all have the ability to transform our lives by understanding
how to use our "Three Powers."
In the Better Brain Academy we take
you through a three week process to tap into each of your powers. It takes 21
days to create a new habit pattern so we address all the three powers starting
first with your Elective power, then your connective power and finishing
the last week addressing your Reflective power.
Your Elective Power is the "power of you". Your ability
to find what truly drives you and link this with your values for more
fulfillment in life. Your Connective Power is how you create stronger lifelong
connections using your emotional brain. Your Reflective Power is tapping into
your Innate purpose and defining your highest mission in life.
For more information watch the introductory video below or visit
our website at www.betterbrainblueprint.com
This week the
focus is about getting in touch with our own innate senses. The word innate means inborn or natural. We all have innate skills, innate dreams
and desires that makes us each unique.
Our five senses are how we interact with the external world and actually create
the quality of our life. These senses also direct our internal drives and
motivation. We can all create an internal feeling that is enough to compel us
to travel great distances for our favorite food, to see something that is
majestic as a ocean sunset, or listen our favorite musician.
I would like to take a closer look at how to reduce the stresses
of daily life by using the sense of smell. Different smells can actually alter brainwave patterns because it is
the only sense that bypasses the gatekeeper of the brain( thalamus). The
universal smell for calming the brain is lavender .It has a direct effect on the brain and nervous system
reducing anxiety. If you have kids that are more hyperactive and they have a
hard time sleeping, use lavender on their pillow. When my grandkids come over
my wife will put it a little bit of lavender oil on their pillow and it's amazing
how they sleep much better.
We begin the digestive process with smelling our food first. With
our fast food society it is so easy to overeat because the sense of smell is
not stimulated. The brain triggers the digestive process with smell and begins
stimulating the release of digestive enzymes. Many times a meal has already
been devoured before the body can catch up so indigestion occurs. I challenge
to consciously tap into your senses this week at a greater level of mindful
awareness.
Better Brain Tip
Close your eyes for an entire meal and truly listen to sounds
around you and taste your food at a higher level. We all need to use our five
senses on a daily basis however many times we can be on auto pilot and don't
allow the body to digest the energy and information our food and environment is
providing. Slow down today and it will be easier get the brain in better balance and reduce stresses on your nervous
system.
Proper sleep is one of the most important factors for long term
brain health and function. Small adjustments to your sleeping area and daily
routine can go a long way toward ensuring you uninterrupted, restful sleep and
thereby better brain health. If you're even slightly sleep deprived, I
encourage you to implement some of these Better Brain tips tonight.
1) Maintain optimal
light exposure
Your pineal gland produces a hormone called melatonin in response
to the brightness of sun exposure in the day and complete darkness at night. If
you're in darkness all day long, your body can't appreciate the difference and
will not optimize melatonin production. I recommend getting at least 30 to 60
minutes of outdoor light exposure during the daytime in order to set your
master clock rhythm, in the morning if possible. More sunlight exposure is
required as you age.
2) Preparing for Rest
Once the sun sets, avoid bright light as much as possible to
assist your body in secreting melatonin, which helps you feel sleepy. Avoid
bright lights from computers, televisions, video games or e-books at least 1
hour before bed time. It can be helpful to sleep in complete darkness, or as
close to it as possible. If you need a bit of light to navigate down the hall
in the wee hours of the night, install a low-wattage yellow, orange, or red
light bulb. Light in these bandwidths does not shut down melatonin production
in the way that white and blue light does.
3) Prepare your Mind
for Sleep
A disturbance in sleep is always caused by something, be it
physical, mental or emotional, or all of the above. Anxiety and anger are two
mental states that are incompatible with sleep. Feeling overwhelmed with
responsibilities is another common sleep blocker. To identify the cause of your
wakefulness, analyze the thoughts that circle in your mind during the time you
lie awake, and look for themes. Regular meditation is one of the best ways to
regulate proper brain wave patterns that promote deep sleep.
4) Temperature affects
Brain Activity
Keep the temperature in your bedroom below 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Many people keep their homes too warm (particularly their bedrooms). Studies
show that the optimal room temperature for sleep is between 60 and 68 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Take a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime. This raises
your core body temperature, and when you get out of the bath it abruptly drops,
signaling your body that you're ready for sleep.
5) Follow Natural Rhythms
There are natural rhythms in nature just as there are rhythms in
the body. Normally, your brain starts secreting melatonin between 9 pm and 10
pm. Staying up later than 10 pm can affect your ability to not only fall asleep
but stay in the important deep delta wave sleep pattern.
Going to bed and getting up at the same time each day helps keep
your sleep on track, but having a consistent pre-sleep routine or "sleep
ritual" is also important. For instance, if you read before heading to
bed, your body knows that reading at night signals it's time for sleep. I often
suggest listening to calming music, stretching, or doing relaxation exercises.
6 ) Be mindful of
electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in your bedroom
EMFs can disrupt your pineal gland and its melatonin production,
and may have other detrimental biological effects . Ideally, you should turn
off any wireless router while you are sleeping—after
all, you don't need the Internet when you sleep.
7) Avoid Alcohol, Caffeine, and other drugs,
including Nicotine
Two of the biggest sleep saboteurs are caffeine and alcohol, both
of which also increase anxiety. Caffeine's effects can last four to seven
hours. Tea and chocolate also contain caffeine. Alcohol can help you fall
asleep faster, but it makes sleep more fragmented and less restorative.
Nicotine in all its forms (cigarettes, e-cigs, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco,
and smoking cessation patches) is also a stimulant, so lighting up too close to
bedtime can worsen insomnia. Many other drugs can also interfere with sleep.
8 ) Monitor your Sleep
Habits
I Use a Fitbit fitness tracker to help to get to bed on time, and
track which activities boost or hinder deep sleep. Many fitness trackers can
now track both daytime body movement and sleep, allowing you to get a better
picture of how much sleep you're actually getting. Newer fitness trackers can
even tell you which activities led to your best sleep and what factors resulted
in poor sleep.
Take action NOW to set up your
daily rituals and sleep will be a more natural process with very healthy
results.
The brain creates a tremendous amount of toxic waste through
normal daily thought processes. A key finding on MRI scans of Alzheimer’s
patients is the presence of altered proteins in the memory areas of the brain responsible
for short them storage. There’s no cure for Alzheimer's disease,
which makes prevention all the more important, and sleeping well appears to be
an important part of prevention.
Studies published in 2012 and 2013
revealed that your brain actually has a unique method of removing toxic waste
during deep delta sleep patterns This waste-removal system has been dubbed the
glymphatic system and operates in a way that is similar to your body's
lymphatic system, which is responsible for eliminating cellular waste products.
However, the lymphatic system does not include your brain. The
reason for this is that your brain is a closed system that is protected by the
blood-brain barrier to control what can go through and what cannot. The
glymphatic system gets into your brain by "piggybacking" on the blood
vessels in your brain. (The "g" in glymphatic is a nod to "glial
cells"—the
brain cells that manage this system.)
By pumping cerebral spinal fluid through your brain's tissues,
the glymphatic system flushes the waste from your brain back into your body's
circulatory system. From there, the waste eventually reaches your liver, where
it's ultimately eliminated.
The most important fact is that this system ramps up its activity
during sleep, thereby allowing your brain to clear out toxins, including
harmful proteins called amyloid-beta that create the buildup that has been
linked to Alzheimer's.
During sleep, the glymphatic system becomes 10 times more active
than during wakefulness. Simultaneously, your brain cells shrink by about 60
percent, allowing for greater efficiency of waste removal.
During the day, the constant brain activity causes your brain
cells to swell in size until they take up just over 85 percent of your brain's
volume, thereby disallowing effective waste removal during wakefulness.
More recently, researchers discovered that the blood-brain
barrier naturally tends to become more permeable with age, allowing more toxins
to enter. This combined with the reduced efficiency of the glymphatic system
shows that damage in both your brain and blood-brain barrier can start to
accumulate at an increased pace. This deterioration is thought to play a
significant role in the development of Alzheimer's.
Better Brain Tip
·Prepare your brain for better sleep with the
Walk-Breath-Twist (WBT) routine at the end of your workday
Poor sleep
habits can lead to serious health conditions .This is becoming a growing
problem in our country with nearly 40 percent of adults reporting that they
fall asleep unintentionally during the day ,and five percent report nodding off
while driving. Forty-five percent of teens also don't get enough sleep on
school nights and 25 percent report falling asleep in class at least once a
week.
Lack of sleep has serious health consequences that go far beyond
not feeling fully awake and refreshed during the day. There's a price to pay
both in the short term and long term as now a number of studies have linked
poor sleep or lack of sleep to an increased risk of Alzheimer's. One of the
reasons for this challenge has to do with the fact that your brain's waste
removal system only operates during deep sleep.
So how can you be sure you're getting the right amount of sleep
for you? The following Five signs indicate you probably need to address your sleep
habits because you're not getting enough time for the brain to recharge.
1.You're moody- Chronic insomnia is
associated with a greater risk for irritability, depression and anxiety. The
problem is even one night of insufficient sleep can have a dramatic impact on
your mood. According to Lauren Hale,17 editor-in-chief of the journal Sleep
Health:"If you're sleep deprived, you're more vulnerable to crankiness,
irritability, and challenges coping with stress."
2.Your work performance and productivity is inadequate
- Basic brain functions such as focus, logical reasoning, and even memory can
suffer when you're tired. Sleep has also been shown to boost creative
functioning and promote problem solving, both of which are valuable needs in
just about any profession.
3.You're gaining weight - The risk of developing insulin resistance or
type 2 diabetes increases due to
poor sleep habits or lack of sleep . Sleep exerts a specific effect on glucose metabolism, and lack of
sleep also decreases levels of the fat regulating hormone leptin while
increasing the hunger hormone ghrelin. The resulting increase in hunger and
appetite can easily lead to overeating and weight gain.
4.Signs of sleep deprivation are showing on your
face- You can usually tell when someone hasn't slept well by how they look. A
recent Swedish study looked at facial cues showing sleep deprivation, finding
that people readily identified as having hanging eyelids, red swollen eyes,
dark under-eye circles, pale skin, more wrinkles, and more droopy corners of
the mouth as tell-tale signs of a poor night's sleep.
5.You're drowsy during the day and catch yourself
nodding off- Daytime sleepiness is a clear sign that you didn't get enough
sleep the night before. So, if you're constantly yawning, and consuming excess
coffee to keep yourself going, you need to get to bed earlier.
Sleep Is NOT a
Luxury, It's an Essential for Good Health
**As noted in a recent issue of Time Magazine
"Sleep, the experts are recognizing, is the only time the
brain has to catch its breath. If it doesn't, it may drown in its own
biological debris... [Sleep researcher Dr. Sigrid] Veasey is learning that
brain cells that don't get their needed break every night are like overworked
employees on consecutive double shifts–eventually,
they collapse.
Better Brain Tip
1)Get your body in a natural rhythm by going to
sleep and waking up at the same time for one week. See how you feel and adjust
the time appropriately for better sleep patterns.
2)Make sure you have a good mattress and pillow
while avoiding sleeping on your stomach.
Our brain is a memory organ and understanding "how it
remembers" can increase your overall health. There are key insights
according to the latest brain research that are extremely valuable to
understand. The most significant findings contributing to memory loss is the
lack of daily health rituals and not making learning new things a priority.
Here are two key research findings to keep in mind next time you
learn something new.
1. The process of learning creates new connections in the brain
Your brain works like an electrical circuit and when you learn
something new, stronger connections form between neurons in your brain. Just as
when electrical current travels through a circuit in your home, the same thing
happens from one group of nerve cells to another. The stronger the electrical
signal is initially the stronger the connection is between the neurons.
If you have a daily habit patterns you’ve
felt the effects of a strong memory connections. Getting in your car, turning the key in the ignition,
backing out of your driveway and driving to work can all happen without you
even thinking about it. This unconscious behavior happens automatically as a
result of brain circuitry that’s been strengthened through daily repetition.
Studies show that the best way to create a healthier brain is to learn
something new daily. Remember that habit patterns and daily rituals are only
good if they support your overall health and vitality.
2. Overlapping connections
are the best way for effective long term learning.
Just as awareness and conscious attention plays a role in
learning, so does the quantity of the connections made between neurons. A single isolated fact may be
very be tough to remember, but you can increase your memory by linking it to
familiar information in your brain.
When I teach memory technique classes it is often astounding to
the group how learning a simple strategy can magnify their learning curve.
Whether it be remembering names ,lists, numbers etc,it is always better to link
new knowledge to a previous memory. A sequencing of thoughts is similar to
overlapping shingles on a roof which creates better recall.
For example: If you want to remember a grocery list ,predetermine
specific places in different rooms of your home and then visualize items on
your list.
Pick 5 places in each room starting on the left and move from
place to place clockwise:
Room 1 could be your kitchen and item # 1 visualize eggs cooking
on the stove
#2 you smell bread baking in the oven
#3 milk in the refrigerator
#4 cleaning apples in the
sink
#5 dishwashing soap in dishwasher.
Having five specific places that are predetermined makes it
easier to visualize your items at each designated spot. You will be more likely
to remember new information when you’ve formed connections across multiple neural
systems. You’ll also have a much stronger network of
connections for recalling this information later.
Understanding how brain research proves that learning creates new
connections and these connections are stronger if you link it to previous
memories gives a clearer strategy to create a Better Brain. Try applying this
awareness the next time you want to learn a new fact, remember a list or even
someone's name.
Better Brain Tip
1)Use as many senses as possible to create new
memory patterns.(seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting and feeling)
2)Instead of making a grocery list use this
technique to strengthen your brain. For more memory techniques go to previous
Better Brain Blueprint memory video blog click here
