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direct relationship between the immune health of the brain and the immune health of the gut, and why you need to address both when one or the other is ailing.
(dopamine is a brain chemical important for motivation)
Iron is critical for dopamine production, which helps explain why anemia can cause depression and lack of motivation.
Lab tests indicated his iron deficiency was related to an infection in his stomach of H. pylori, a bacteriu...
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There are two great windows of time to change brain function. The first window is before age nine as the brain’s grey matter completely develops by then. The next window is before age 19, when the white matter completely develops.
If there is developmental delay in brain function in childhood, such as ADHD, autism, Tourette’s Syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, tics, dyslexia, learning or processing disorders, or even more subtle symptoms, it is best to aggressively rehabilitate function before adulthood.
The frontal lobe, or cortex, is the largest lobe in the brain. It is located directly behind your forehead and stretches between the temples. The human’s large frontal lobe is what distinguishes us from other animals, and much of our personality and who we are stems from this part of the brain.
A healthy frontal lobe allows us to function appropriately within society, as it is involved in the ability to reason and suppress impulses.
It is now understood that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have delays in frontal cortex development and cannot suppress their immediate desires and impulses.
However, the part of the brain responsible for reasoning is not developed and behavior modification is difficult to impossible.
Adults with impaired frontal cortex function also may struggle with impulse control. They are more likely to say things they shouldn’t, cheat in relationships because they cannot dampen their sexual impulses, or use bad judgment in business and personal matters.
The frontal lobe also governs emotional drive, motivation, and planning, and frontal lobe impairment can lead to an inability to set goals or follow through on projects or plans. You no can longer commit to anything, or even want to, and as a result you may become lazy, unmotivated, and even depressed.
depression is considered a frontal cort...
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Lastly, your frontal cortex is responsible for activating muscles. Impairment of the frontal cortex results in reduced amplitude (the intensity and force exerted by the muscle) and speed of the muscles. It may be as subtle as just moving slower or not swinging your arms when you walk, or as severe as moving in slow motion.
The frontal cortex is also responsible for fine-motor coordination, which is needed for such activities as handwriting or embroidery.
Symptoms and signs of frontal cortex impairment • Decreased amplitude or slower movements of muscle • Depression • Mental sluggishness and laziness • Poor impulse control • Poor social behavior and judgment • Poor handwriting • Poor cognitive function, such as poor math or planning skills • Poor cognitive learning, such as math, new languages, or philosophy • Poor muscle-coordinated learning such as dancing and playing sports
Temporal lobe The temporal lobes are located on either side of the brain above the ears and are responsible for hearing, speech, memory, emotional responses, and distinguishing smells. Different areas of the temporal lobe perform different tasks.
The temporal lobes are critical for interpreting sound.
Within the temporal lobes you have a very important area called the hippocampus (Latin for sea horse because of its anatomical shape). This area of the brain is involved with learning and memory, and degeneration of the hippocampus leads to poor memory and eventually Alzheimer’s disease. The hippocampus must be healthy in order for you to convert short-term memory into long-term memory.
This area of the brain is also involved with spatial orientation and sense of direction.
The hippocampus is also involved with your circadian rhythm, or sleep-wake cycle, that is responsible for healthy energy in the morning and a relaxed state at night. Dysfunction in this area can lead to insomnia, an inability to get of bed in the morning, and afternoon crashes in energy.
Symptoms and signs of temporal lobe impairment • Poor memory • Difficulty hearing with background noise • Episodes of tinnitus • Abnormal shifts of fatigue throughout the day • Ongoing episodes of insomnia
Parietal lobe The parietal lobes are located directly behind your ears. Their primary function is to perceive sensations, such as touch or pressure, and to interpret sensation, such as texture, weight, size, or shape. Another important parietal lobe function is to integrate input from the skin, muscles, joints, and vision to become aware of the body in its environment. When the parietal lobe starts to degenerate, you have difficulty maintaining your balance in the dark and may even have difficulty perceiving where your arm or leg is.
Symptoms and signs of parietal lobe impairment • Feeling unstable in darkness or with thick or high-heel shoes • Misjudging where your body is in relation to your environment • Unable to recognize objects through touch • Difficulty perceiving where your limbs are and becoming prone to falls and sprains
Cerebellum Your cerebellum, or “little brain,” is comprised of two distinct lobes and sits at the back of your head directly above your neck. The cerebellum calibrates muscle coordination of movement when you perform basic actions, such as putting a spoon to your mouth. One symptom of early cerebellar degeneration is termination tremors—a couple of beats of shakiness at the end of a movement, such as pointing or reaching for a pen.
The cerebellum also helps calibrate and interpret information responsible for balance coming from the inner ear.
the cerebellum begins to degenerate, a person may walk and stand with their feet wider apart for more stability. They also have difficulty walking down stairs without holding on to the handrail, walking in a straight line with their eyes closed, or standing on one foot. They would basically fail a DUI test. In fact, DUI tests are cerebellum tests because alcohol suppresses the cerebellum.
Being a “cheap date” can be a sign of poor cerebellar health.
People who have poorly developed or impaired cerebellums will typically get carsick and seasick very easily.
Symptoms and signs of cerebellum impairment • Episodes of dizziness or vertigo • Nausea from visual inputs (car sickness) • Poor balance • Subtle shakes at the end stage of movement
Occipital lobe The occipital lobe is located in the back of the brain. It processes visual information, such as recognizing shapes, colors, and motion, and distinguishing between colors. People with depressed occipital lobe function have difficulty distinguishing borders of lines with similar colors, or fail to appreciate vivid colors in art. They may also see occasional flashes of light, have visual hallucinations, or persistence of a visual image after it has been removed. Symptoms of occipital lobe impairment • Difficulty processing visual information and recognizing shapes, colors, and
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brain. In children these symptoms indicate brain developmental delay in those areas.
The autonomic nervous system runs our organs, blood vessels, glands, and other bodily functions of which we have no conscious awareness.
The autonomic system can be roughly divided into two categories: the sympathetic system, more simply known as our “fight or flight” system, and the parasympathetic system, known as the “rest and digest” system. The sympathetic system originates from the upper third of the brain stem, in what is called the mesencephalic reticular formation (MRF), while the parasympathetic system rests primarily in the lower two-thirds of the brain stem, in the pontomedullary reticular formation (PMRF).
sympathetic response, such as startling in reaction to a loud bang. If the PMRF fires, you get a parasympathetic response, such as digesting a nice meal while leaning back in your chair to relax and talk with friends. These two systems cannot simultaneously dominate, so when one fires, it inhibits the other. For most stressed-out Americans, unfortunately, this means digestion and other important parasympathetic actions all too frequently take a back seat to the action-oriented, get-up-and-go sympathetic system.
When the brain is operating optimally, normal brain output generates a parasympathetic response while at the same time dampening the sympathetic system. This ensures, among other things, that digestion is strong, blood pressure is normal, and that there are enough tears, mucus, and saliva in your body. When one or more of the brain regions explained above starts degenerating, there is less input into the PMRF, leading to a decline in parasympathetic activity and a simultaneous increase in sympathetic activity.
When a baby is born, its parasympathetic system hasn’t yet developed. Babies can’t digest well, they have high heart rates, and their pupils are huge—all aspects of sympathetic dominance. As their brain develops and they learn to move and walk, the brain increasingly fires into the PMRF, generating more parasympathetic activity. Their heart rate goes down, pupil size shrinks, and their digestive system can take on foods more complex than breast milk.
On the other hand, as people get older, their brain degenerates and they start reverting to the sympathetic dominance of a newborn. They develop constipation, an inability to digest foods, an inability to produce digestive enzymes, and an elevated heart rate due to poor brain function. The sympathetic response also restricts blood flow to the extremities and they have cold hands and feet, and chronic fungal growths on their nails. They also fatigue quickly and struggle with other breakdowns in autonomic function. They may lose their sense of smell and taste because there is not enough mucus in
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even in children with developmental delays in brain function as indicated by writing, speaking, and social development.
to address the fundamentals of brain health. Are the neurons receiving enough oxygen, glucose, and stimulation? Are blood sugar issues, poor liver function, inflammation, hormonal imbalances, or lack of neurotransmitter activity promoting brain degeneration? Is plasticity (the ability of your brain to learn and adapt to change) being promoted in a positive or negative direction?
Other lab testing revealed he had celiac disease, while an at-home GABA challenge (explained later in the book) showed the lining of his brain had become overly porous. This can allow pathogens into the brain, triggering inflammation and accelerating brain degeneration.
The frontal lobe, or cortex, stretches between the temples. Much of our personality stems from this part of the brain. The frontal lobe governs impulse control, emotional drive, motivation, planning, and fine motor coordination. It is involved in ADHD, depression, and loss of fine-motor control, such as deterioration of handwriting.
The temporal lobes are located on either side of the brain above the ears and are responsible for hearing, speech, memory, emotional responses, and distinguishing smells. It contains the hippocampus, which is involved in learning and memory and the sleep-wake cycle. Symptoms of temporal lobe issues include poor memory, difficulty hearing with background noise, tinnitus, disturbed sleep or daytime energy levels, and insomnia.
The parietal lobes are located directly behind your ears. Their primary function is to perceive sensations, such as touch or pressure, and to interpret sensation, such as texture, weight, size, or shape. Another important parietal lobe function is to integrate input from the skin, muscles, joints, and vision to become aware of the body in its environment. Symptoms of parietal lobe impairment include feeling unstable in darkness or with thick or high heel shoes, misjudging where your body is in relation to your environment, being unable to recognize objects through touch, and having difficulty
...more
Your cerebellum, or “little brain,” is comprised of two distinct lobes and sits at the back of your head directly above your neck. The cerebellum calibrates muscle coordination of movement when you perform basic actions, such as putting a spoon to your mouth. Symptoms of cerebellar impairment include episodes of dizziness or vertigo, nausea from visual inputs (car sickness), poor balance, and subtle shakes at the end stage of movement.
The occipital lobe is located in the back of the brain and processes visual information, such as recognizing shapes, colors, and motion, and distinguishing between colors. People with impaired occipital lobe function have difficulty processing visual information and recognizing, shapes, colors, and motion, visual hallucinations, visual floaters, and visual persistence or reoccurrence of the visual image after it has been removed.
healthy brain stimulates “rest and digest” activity while dampening “fight or flight” activity.
It’s always important to address the fundamentals of brain health. Are the neurons receiving enough oxygen, glucose, and stimulation? Are blood sugar issues, poor liver function, inflammation, hormonal imbalances, or lack of neurotransmitter activity promoting brain degeneration? Is plasticity (the ability of your brain to learn and adapt to change) being promoted in a positive or negative direction?
During the examination I found that having him perform eye movements called “optikinetics” in a specific direction stimulated the injured areas of his brain to relax his muscle tightness and regain his ability to better perceive sensation on the right side of his body. However, if I continued the therapy for too many repetitions he would get worse, which was a sign his brain chemistry was not ready to handle aggressive brain therapy. I needed to use brain rehabilitation therapy to rebuild, or develop positive plasticity, in the injured areas of his brain. But the brain inflammation from his
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My first and immediate goal with Ryan was to dampen his microglia brain inflammation. I placed him on a protocol of high-dose flavonoids that have been shown in peer-reviewed studies to dampen microglia brain inflammation. I also placed him on several natural compounds to improve blood flow to his brain.
