I hear this every day. People generally believe that brain fog and memory loss are a normal product of aging. But that is just not the case. Most of the decrease of brain function is self-caused, like obesity or heart disease. Of course we see examples of brain degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease, the “worse case scenario,” but this is not the main cause of brain degeneration in the U.S. More on that later.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR BRAIN IS DEGENERATING?
1) Brain fog or fatigue. This kind of fatigue occurs from seemingly mild activities like computer work, driving, or even reading. It doesn’t take much work to overtax a degenerating brain.
2) Short-term memory loss. You know, this happens when you go into the kitchen to get something and you can’t remember what it was.
3) Sleeping difficulties. The brain controls sleep and so a brain that is not up to par will have difficulty with the complex neurological reflexes involved in restful sleep.
4) Depression / Anxiety. These seem like opposites, and they are but to the brain under stress, it amounts to the same thing: unstable brain activity and neurotransmitters.
5) Gut (gastrointestinal) problems. This one may be surprising but the gut is called “The Second Brain” by many researchers because of the complex network of nerves that add up to some 100 million neurons. This system controls digestion but also sends a great deal of information back to the brain. So we see that gut problems will dramatically affect the brain, and visa-versa.
Everybody knows how important the brain is but few people have taken it to the next step, realizing that it takes effort to keep our brains healthy in spite of long working hours, increased stress, the standard American diet (SAD) and increasing age. Most understand that you must spend some time with your weights or at a gym to maintain or grow muscle mass, but brains are strangely absent from the “use it or lose it” formula. Understandably, people tend to concentrate on things they can see, like biceps, abs and fat.
Brain tissue is very susceptible to damage from inflammatory responses, abnormal immune activation, weak liver detoxification, blood sugar surges, hormonal flux, lack of critical nutrients, sedentary life styles and passive entertainment (TV and video games). So it follows that one of the most effective ways to return to a “normal brain” is to control those things. This seems like a lot to concentrate on but with proper testing involving blood, gut and adrenal function, it usually quite clear where the concentration needs to be.
There has been a recent increase in self-help brain shows on TV suggesting that the best way to help the brain is by doing brain games like Chess or Cross Words. Yes, this can increase the activity in a small part of the brain but unfortunately we tend to stimulate the part of the brain that is at its best. But you’ve got to rally your efforts on your particular brain weakness in order to increase function and decrease symptoms. So at our clinic we evaluate what part of the brain has decreased activity and then create brain exercises and other stimulation techniques to address that problem.
All our brains will eventually degenerate but the speed at which that happens is often controllable (much more than you think). Ignoring it, or even worse, contributing to it with inactivity and poor diet will accelerate the rate of degeneration leading to irreversible damage. It may seem cute to loose track of your thoughts or quirky to forget appointments but this can lead to outright loss of your higher functions like, planning and decision-making, and this won’t be funny to you or your family.
Dr. Don Davis, D.C., DACNB is a BOARD CERTIFIED CHIROPRACTIC NEUROLOGIST in Walnut Creek. He has been serving individuals with chronic pain for 30 years. For information about how you can get a free consultation with Dr. Davis, call (925) 279-4324 (HEAL). Visit us at WalnutCreekHealth.com.