Be the Sharpest Crayon in the Box

Whether your brain needs to recover, maintain or hit it out of the park, today’s post will cover it. And if it doesn’t, stay tuned. We will be covering the following topics in upcoming posts.

-Brain bruisers: Know what to avoid for healthy brain function (posted, click below)

-Brain brilliance: Learn how to create a sharper mind (You are here)

-Brain boosters: Supplements that help nurture and heal your brain (coming soon)

-Brain, bok choy: Food that feeds your brain (coming soon)

Brain Recovery

When I was 12 years old I tripped running down some steps with a friend at camp. Unfortunately there was a brick wall in front of me and my face was torpedoing towards it. I don’t remember what happened next but I wound up in the camp clinic trying to remember my phone number to call my mom. That was a rough few days and I still have a mark on my cheek to show for it.

Thank goodness we have a helmet protecting our most precious resource. Our skull is great protection but it only gets us so far. When your head gets hammered you want to help repair the bruised and battered brain as soon as possible.

Immediately after a head injury it is important to seek medical advice. Once first aid and a medical release has been obtained you can proceed to the following recommendations.

Get Adjusted

As a chiropractic kinesiologist, I use muscle testing to determine imbalances.

If the base of the skull or any of the 7 cervical vertebrae are out of alignment, the nerves won’t be able to get to where they need to go and dysfunction in muscles, joints, organs and tissues can occur.

So step 1 is Get Adjusted!

Restore the Blood Brain Barrier

The blood brain barrier is a network of blood vessels and capillaries that surrounds the brain. It is an amazing system, just like the intestinal lining, that allows nutrients in, lets waste products return to the blood stream and keeps toxins and other bad guys out.

Head injury, toxin exposure, heavy metals, mold and a host of other nastiness can damage the blood brain barrier.

When damaged, our bodies soldiers called antibodies, can mistakenly target and attack the membranes of the BBB that can lead to breakdown. Just like leaky gut, we call this leaky brain.

In leaky brain, neurotoxins can get into the brain tissue leading to more brain tissue damage.

To heal leaky brain it is vitally important to get 8 to 9 hours of good restful sleep a night. Using melatonin, magnesium L-threonate and 3 r-alpha lipoic acid can help.

Remove heavy metals with a detoxification protocol that may include chelating agents such as EDTA.

It is also important to heal the GI system.

When there is a physical, chemical or mental trauma to the brain a fight or flight response is created. Being in a fight or flight state robs you of rest and digest. Your GI system shuts down and gut dysfunction can result.

You can find out more about healing the gut here

Watch What You Eat

A ketogenic diet has been shown to heal the brain after trauma.

I approve of this in certain cases, but more commonly I recommend a more moderate low carbohydrate diet. This would be foods that encourage detoxification and healing and avoiding common food sensitivities and toxins.

Avoid: gluten, dairy, GMOs, MSG, Aspartame, heavy metal foods (chocolate, large fish and shellfish), grill marks (contributes to brain harming advanced glycation end products AGEs), coffee, peanuts or other high mold food.

“After a brain injury an individual can mount immune responses to brain tissue related to molecular mimicry in regard to amino acids in gluten and dairy even if the patient did not have a prior problem with gluten or dairy. This may also be true with corn, soy, spinach, and tomato.” Dr. David Musnick

Eat: high quality proteins, low glycemic vegetables and healthy non-inflammatory oils especially olive oil.

In the 2022 study Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Enhances the Blood–Brain Barrier Function in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial, 25 participants suffering from mild cognitive impairment which is a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease consumed 30 mL of either refined olive oil or extra-virgin olive oil for 6 months.

Both groups showed significant improvements and a decrease in the dangerous brain-harming protein, beta-amyloid.

It was the extra-virgin olive oil though, that was shown to improve the blood-brain barrier.

Other Brain Healing Modalities

• Neurofeedback
• Cranial Sacral Therapy
• EMDR
• Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS)
• Hypnotherapy

Contact our clinic for a referral in the Metro Detroit Area

Maintain Your Brain

If you have a healthy brain and you want to keep it healthy, here are some recommendations. The most important part is to be consistent.

Get Adjusted

Sitting in front of the computer, looking at your phone, carrying a briefcase, a purse or a backpack can all cause muscular dysfunction that can lead to a less than healthy brain.

If the muscles around the skull or neck pull too tight it can cause imbalances that I can identify using muscle testing. Once corrected the nerve supply can get to where it needs to go, the muscles can relax and healthy movement and comfort can be restored.

Pain is one indicator that a chiropractic adjustment is needed but the imbalance starts before the pain does.

Coming in for a monthly kinesiologic evaluation (muscle testing) can correct a problem and restore healthy brain function before the suffering starts.

Once again… Get Adjusted!

Prioritize Sleep

Start with good sleep hygiene. Put your self to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time for a healthy sleep rhythm.

Learn Something New

Do puzzles, learn a language or take a class. Make it fun for your brain.

Hydrate

Your brain cannot function without proper water intake. Dehydration will make you lose focus, clarity and you will find your head hitting the desk in the afternoon.

Drink 1/2 your body’s weight in ounces a day.

Exercise

Aerobic exercise like biking, running, rowing or HIIT for 30 minutes twice a week and strength training for 30 minutes three times a week is important to maintain a healthy brain.

BDNF is brain derived nerve growth factor. It helps nerves in the brain grow, thrive and learn. Aerobic activity can increase BDNF.

Balance Your Blood Sugar

Sugar is so damaging to the brain that Alzheimer’s Disease has been newly dubbed Type 3 diabetes.

That is why it is so important to balance your blood sugar.

I could write a whole book on this topic… in fact I did.

If you haven’t picked up the #1 bestselling book The Supercharged Method: Your Transformation from Fatigued to Energized, do it now. You can find it on Amazon or pop into the clinic for one.

While you are waiting for your fabulous book to arrive, balance your blood sugar by eating one serving of protein and two servings of above-the-ground vegetables every 3-4 hours in a 12 hour time frame.

Supercharge Your Brain

If you don’t want to settle for being average and you want your brain function to be off the charts you have to ask yourself, “what am I willing to do?”

Are you Willing to Avoid Caffeine?

I wrote about caffeine in the Brain Bruisers post. Now that you know how caffeine can reduce blood flow to the brain by 30% let’s dive deeper into it’s effects.

Caffeine has been touted as a superstar for the brain, but is it? Caffeine puts the brain into a sympathetic state. We talked about that earlier, it’s fight or flight.

That means your brain detects danger and to survive it has to prime itself to either fight or flee. All your blood rushes to your heart, lungs and muscles. Your eyes dilate so you can see more of your environment. You are on high alert and you GI system shuts down because who needs to spend precious energy digesting a meal when you are running for your life?

But being in fight or flight is taxing to your brain and body and leads to inflammation, migraines, fatigue and a burden on your energy system over time.

Step away from the caffeine!

In the upcoming article, Brain Bok Choy: Food that Feeds Your Brain, I will share with you a delicious Coffee Alternative.

Chill Dude

Literally. A cold plunge is all the rage with good reason. A neurotransmitter called norepinephrine is produced with cold exposure. This can result in increased focus, attention and mood, making you feel calm and happy.

Figuratively. Chill out by incorporating meditation into your daily routine. Meditation is known to bring you out of fight or flight and back into the restorative state of rest and digest. It helps strengthen the areas of the brain responsible for memory and learning and can help increase memory and attention with enough practice.

Are you Willing to Unplug

I double dog dare you to try! Stepping away from our electrical devices is near impossible in this day and age. But there are some things you can do to take your brain health to the next level.

You can unplug at night. Turn off all WIFI in the house to reduce EMF exposure.

You can put your phone in your trunk while you are driving.

You can have a limited amount of time you allow yourself to be on electronics.

And remember in the Brain Bruisers post, I promised you a secret function that would shave 50 minutes off your screen time a day? Well here it is…

Greyscale your phone.

It turns all your icons, pictures and social media feed into shades of grey. You would be surprised how much the different colors increase dopamine in your brain, prompting  you to want to look at your phone even more.

Here is how you do it on a iphone:

-Settings

-Accessibility

-Display and Text Size

-Color Filters On

-Greyscale Checked

I have done it for the last 4 days and, although completely annoying, it really does work.

If you can go a week, let me know and you will get a special gift from me.

All these suggestions are really just a drop in the bucket but you have to start somewhere. I hope you start implementing some of these suggestions for a brilliant brain.