Sports and brain injuries

Bryan is a healthy, active eleven year old that loves sports of every kind. His mother, worried about all the recent news about football-related concussions, was relieved when Bryan chose to attend basketball camp rather than football camp this summer. Despite the seemingly safer choice, Bryan showed the classic signs of a closed head injury (brain trauma) after colliding head-to-head with another basketball player.

Would you know what to look for if your child sustained a closed head injury? It’s a fair question, according to INDY Neurofeedback owner Leanne O’Neil, “Especially since mild to moderate closed head injuries (in children and adults) often get misdiagnosed as something else.”

Contrary to popular opinion, you do not have to lose consciousness to have a serious brain injury. And even mild brain injuries (life’s head bumps) can have a lasting impact on brain function — and people’s lives. In fact, current research suggests that many cases of ADHD, epilepsy, hyperactivity, and/or aggressive behaviors are the result of undiagnosed head trauma.

Here are signs of a closed head injury:

  • Headaches
  • Dizziness
  • Fatigue
  • Poor concentration
  • Poor memory
  • Poor organization and/or planning
  • Mood swings
  • Insomnia
  • Irritability
  • Aggression
  • Poor hearing
  • Slurred speech
  • Depression and/or anxiety

A quick look at the list makes it obvious why these types of injuries get misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. After all, what typical eleven year old doesn’t have occasional poor organization skills, irritability, mood swings or anxiety?

“Head injuries look different depending on the person and the type of trauma sustained,” says O’Neil. “Although the brain is incredibly resilient, it is also quite delicate, so almost any kind of blow can cause the brain to dysregulate. Through a qEEG brain map, INDY Neurofeedback can confirm the existence of dysregulated brainwave patterns and begin to provide training on how to correct the patterns.”

Restoring the brain’s normal rhythms can restore normal functioning health and behaviors. It is a completely non-invasive and drug-free approach to optimal brain functioning.

– the INDY Neurofeedback team

What your brain does while you sleep

Scientists and our INDY Neurofeedback team know that our brains do an amazing amount of important work while we sleep. We also know that sleeping is an integral part of our life.

However, a thorough understanding of sleep as it pertains to our overall health is still not entirely known, largely because its functions are incredibly complex.

Here’s what we do know about the function of sleep, according to Scientific American magazine:

  • Sleep reenergizes the body’s cells
  • Clears waste from the brain
  • Supports learning and memory
  • Regulates mood, appetite and even the libido

As we fall asleep, our brains don’t shut down. Instead, they prepare to generate sleep in two distinct stages. The first phase, SWS, is slow-wave sleep.

“Most of our sleep is SWS,” says Leanne O’Neil of INDY Neurofeedback. “SWS shows up on our brain scans as large, slow brain waves. This makes sense, as a sleeping body is relaxed. Breathing is slow and rhythmic. This probably helps our brain and body to recover after all we process during our busy days.”

After the SWS stage, the brain activates REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. The purpose of REM sleep remains a puzzle, despite our growing understanding of its biochemistry and neurobiology.

“Through brain scans,” continues O’Neil, “we know that a dreamer’s brain is highly active, while in contrast, our body’s muscles are paralyzed. (This is why we feel we cannot move away from perceived danger when we have a nightmare.) Our body’s breathing and heart rate are often erratic, too.”

Scientists and neurofeedback specialists now know that a small group of cells in the brain stem controls REM sleep. Interestingly, when these cells become injured or diseased, dreamers often don’t experience REM muscle paralysis, which can lead to a serious REM sleep behavior disorder where individuals sleepwalk or act out their dreams, often violently.

Understanding the complex relationship between sleep and the brain is fascinating, especially to us at INDY Neurofeedback. That’s precisely why we do the work we do – helping our clients optimize their brain function to improve their overall health.

 

– the INDY Neurofeedback team

Why a blog about INDY Neurofeedback?

INDY Neurofeedback has created this new blog as a way to share information and news that’s pertinent to you and your family’s mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Look for news, tips, information, ideas, and support on a host of topics including how neurofeedback works for children, teens and adults — addressing everything from improving memory and concentration to reducing performance anxiety and increasing self-confidence.

We’ll address new research and new concerns. We’ll talk about sports brain injuries in children and how to help brains of all ages overcome physical and emotional trauma.

We’ll explore ways to reduce dependency on prescription drugs for cognitive dysfunction, and retrain or “rewire” the brain to work in a way that is more resilient and fully functional.

We’ll delve into the link between nutrition and brain health, and find out how to work alongside your child’s school system when a diagnosis of ADHD, OCD, or being on the ‘autism spectrum’ is suspected.

Lots of ideas. A trove of science-backed information. All in four blogs each month.

We welcome you and hope you will return often to learn about making your brain health and wellbeing a little simpler — and less drug-dependent to attain.  Stay tuned!

– the INDY Neurofeedback team