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You might be surprised how little wine it takes to damage your brain

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At INDY Neurofeedback, we hate to be the bearer of bad news, especially this time of year, but – contrary to what you may have heard, even one glass of wine a night is not a good thing – at least as far as your brain is concerned.

Many adults drink a glass of red wine a night with the understanding that it is good for the heart. And yes, studies have been telling us that moderate wine consumption may be better for your health than heavy drinking or abstaining from alcohol completely. But what does your brain have to say about it?

It turns out that even moderate alcohol intake (defined by researchers as seven to fourteen glasses of alcohol per week) may damage the brain over time. To reach this conclusion, researchers in the UK followed 550 people over 30 years, tracking:

  • weekly alcohol intake
  • cognitive, or thinking abilities, periodically
  • MRI brain scans at the end of the study

The results? A bit frightening, frankly. The more people drank, the more atrophy, or shrinking, was found in their brain’s hippocampal region. Since the hippocampus is an area involved in memory, this was significant. Even moderate drinkers were three times more likely to have hippocampus atrophy than people who abstained.

What about light drinkers? Those who drank less than seven ounces per week (about three-and-a-half glasses of wine,) didn’t have significant brain changes. But, importantly — and contrary to what we thought we knew — they didn’t experience any health benefits.

The most severe damage, not surprisingly, was found among heavy drinkers, or those who had over 30 ounces (more than about 15 glasses of wine) per week.

How to put this in perspective? Previous studies linking health benefits to moderate drinking may not have provided a complete picture. It is difficult to sort out – was it the alcohol is providing those benefits or were the people who drank only moderately simply healthier?

But, with researchers having tracked so very many people, over the course of so many years, revealing at least some evidence of physical and cognitive changes, at INDY Neurofeedback, we’re recommending that these study results should be taken (ahem) – soberly.

What does this mean for you? If you drink one drink per day during the week, and two drinks a day on the weekend, you have a higher risk of hippocampal atrophy, according to this study.

These findings contradict popular knowledge, previous studies, and the national recommendations on safe alcohol consumption. The study’s authors conclude that it “calls into question the current US guidelines.”

The bottom line: If you’re going to drink, limit yourself to one serving daily or less. Your brain will benefit from this discipline.

How to help protect your brain from Alzheimer’s disease

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Did you know that Alzheimer’s disease is among the fastest-growing epidemics in the world?

Over five and a half million Americans are living with the neurodegenerative disease today. According to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org), medical researchers predict that by 2050, 14 million people in the U.S. will require full-time care for Alzheimer’s disease. That number is equal to the populations of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago combined.

While no one has figured out for certain what causes Alzheimer’s disease, we do know that both genetic and lifestyle factors play a role. There is good news in that knowledge, because while we can’t yet change our genes, we can take proactive steps to alter lifestyle choices and minimize our risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center have been researching how to optimize a healthy aging brain to protect it from the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.

Here is what they suggest you can do to protect your brain – the most active organ in your body — from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia:

  • Setting personal goals. Not only does setting personal goals and working steadily to achieve them strengthen neuron connections in the brain, it also decreases chronic worry that can pump the body full of cortisol and adrenaline. Purpose-driven stress can actually improve health by reducing inflammation.
  • Keep your brain active and learning. Solving puzzles and reading books are great ways to give your brain a workout, building and strengthening neuron connections.
  • Get more sleep. The brain consumes more than 25 percent of the body’s energy. A recent study found that the sleep-brain connection is so strong that people who suffer from sleep apnea have a 70 percent higher risk of contracting Alzheimer’s than those who breathe normally. Even one night of poor sleep can significantly increase disease-promoting inflammation in the body.
  • Exercise (especially the legs)! Muscle mass in the legs is associated with a larger hippocampus, the part of the brain that processes memories. The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program recommends strenuous leg exercise (such as power walking) for 20 to 30 minutes a day, four to five days a week.
  • Eat a balanced diet, especially one that reduces inflammation. Eat as few processed foods as possible. Instead choose natural, whole, fiber-rich foods such as greens, berries, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. These are the keys to building new nerve cells and neurons in your brain.
  • And of course, as discussed HERE, avoid anticholinergic drugs.

Aging does not necessarily mean succumbing to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Challenge your old ideas about aging and the brain by taking charge of your brain health — right now!

These common over-the-counter drugs can damage your brain

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Across America, there’s a pill for just about every health issue you can think of. Americans don’t think twice about using them, either. If it’s available in a drug store, then it must be safe, right?

The problem is those pills almost always come with a lengthy list of potential side effects. And that is something you should pay close attention to, cautions Leanne O’Neil of INDY Neurofeedback, because quite a few of these side effects can adversely affect your brain.

In a new scientific study, scientists found that a class of medications called anticholinergic drugs have been definitively linked with cognitive impairment and increased risk of dementia.

What are anticholinergic drugs? They include a broad class of medications that are used to treat various medical conditions involving contraction and relaxation of muscles, such as overactive bladder, muscle spasms, breathing problems, diarrhea, gastrointestinal cramps, movement disorders, and the like. They work by blocking neurotransmitters in the brain, nerves, and nearby muscles and glands.

Though you have probably never heard of this scientific classification of drugs, you have most definitely heard of the medications themselves. They include:

  • Benadryl
  • Demerol
  • Dimetapp
  • Dramamine
  • Paxil
  • Unisom
  • VESIcare

Some are also prescribed for chronic diseases including hypertension, difficulty sleeping, cardiovascular disease, bladder control, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

What the studies found:  Using brain imaging techniques, researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine found “lower metabolism and reduced brain sizes among study participants taking anticholinergic drugs.”

The IU School of Medicine study looked at 451 people with an average age of 73, sixty of whom were taking at least one anticholinergic medication. Researchers assessed the results of memory and cognitive tests, including PET scans and MRIs to determine brain structure.

The tests concluded that those taking anticholinergic drugs performed worse on short-term memory tests, executive function, verbal reasoning, planning, and problem-solving. The participants using anticholinergic drugs were also found to have reduced brain volume.

A related Indiana University study at the Center for Aging Research found that drugs with a strong anticholinergic effect could cause cognitive or brain impairment problems when taken continuously for as few as 60 days.

“Given all the research evidence, you may wish to reconsider taking any of these anticholinergic medications,” suggests Leanne O’Neil. “Ask your doctor to consider another medication whenever possible. The health of your brain needs to be factored into your medical treatment.”

Here are some helpful links to more information about anticholinergic medications including common brand names. At INDY Neurofeedback, we want to help you keep your brain as healthy as possible.

https://www.medicinenet.com/anticholinergics-antispasmodics-oral/article.htm

https://www.theseniorlist.com/list-of-anticholinergic-drugs/

https://www.healthline.com/health/anticholinergics

Traumatic Brain Injuries – by the numbers

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Because of the way the brain is housed in the cranium, explains Leanne O’Neil of INDY Neurofeedback, an impact from almost any direction can cause damage. Although the brain is incredibly resilient, is it also quite susceptible to injury.

Even relatively minor brain trauma can cause lasting damage, often manifesting in headaches, slurred speech, depression and/or anxiety, fatigue, dizziness, mood changes, or irritability. Sometimes after a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) symptoms may be harder to pinpoint and diagnose, and may include reduced concentration, difficulty with memory retrieval, and poor organization and planning.

Here are some fairly startling TBI statistics in the U.S., gathered and published by WebMD:

  • 47% of brain injuries are attributed to falls, the leading cause of TBI.
  • 8 million Traumatic Brain Injuries were recorded in 2013, according to the most recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) data.
  • 153 deaths per day occur from injuries that include a brain injury.
  • 53,000 deaths are attributed to TBIs annually (CDC).
  • $400,000 is the average lifetime cost (per case) for a severe brain injury.
  • An estimated 3.2 to 5.3 million Americans are living with a TBI-related disability.
  • 47% increase in ER visits from TBIs from 2007 to 2013.
  • 70% of all sports and recreation-related brain injuries are reported in people ages 19 and younger.
  • 5% of high school athletes have had a concussion.
  • 5% of all high school athletes have reported more than one concussion.
  • 26,212 non-fatal bicycling-related brain injuries are reported annually.
  • 99% of NFL players in an autopsy brain donation program were diagnosed with brain damage after death.

Unfortunately, Traumatic Brain Injuries are on the rise across the U.S. And frequently, these injuries can be difficult to detect.

That is why INDY Neurofeedback was established; to provide a non-medical way to help those suffering with brain injuries re-gain lost brain function. If you suspect your (or a family member’s) symptoms may be the result of a Traumatic Brain Injury, we are here to help.

 

From Facts and Stats on Trending Health Topics, Matt McMillen, WebMD.com, September 2018.  https://www.webmd.com/brain/ss/slideshow-concussions-brain-injuries

How becoming a mother re-wires the brain

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New studies are shedding light on what goes on in the brains of women immediately after they become mothers of new babies. Giving birth is a major event for the brain with changes that are immediate, pronounced and foundational.

Both structural and functional brain changes were detected with the help of magnetic resonance imaging, relates INDY Neurofeedback owner Leanne O’Neil.

This brain research, begun over two decades ago, set out to document the makeover of the maternal brain. Jodi Pawluski, a researcher at University of Rennes France, calls these changes “Among the most significant biological events one can have in one’s life.”

Researchers scanned the brains of women who were not pregnant. They then followed up with more images shortly after these women had babies, and again two years later. They found that the volume of gray matter in the mothers’ brains changed dramatically, particularly in regions involved in social processes such as the ability to recognize emotions and mental states, key to raising a child.

The degree of change was significant enough that researchers could easily determine which women were mothers and which were not, purely by looking at their brain scans. The more brain change the mothers experienced, the higher they scored on measures of emotional attachment to their babies, a finding that echoed past studies. These changes in most brain regions were evident even two years later.

Why this physical change? Women experience a flood of hormones during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. These hormones prepare the brain for dramatic change in regions thought to make up the ‘maternal circuit.’ The maternal circuit of the brain includes areas that enable a mother to meet her baby’s basic needs, becoming hyper-vigilant to infant pain and emotions, and helping to regulate responses to positive stimuli as well as perceived threats.

Some effects of those brain changes may moderate over time. A new mom’s hyper-vigilance, for instance, generally peaks in the first month postpartum and then diminishes. But other effects of brain change linger, shaping mothers even well past their child-rearing years and influencing their relationships with future grandchildren.

This information helps explain why new moms can be fiercely protective, motivated caregivers, and completely focused on their baby’s wellbeing, says Leanne O’Neil. Our powerful, dynamic maternal brains are doing exactly what they have been designed to do.

ADHD just might be the most misdiagnosed issue of our time 

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According to the National Institute of Health, childhood diagnoses of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) have climbed sharply in the last two decades. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says that ADHD diagnoses jumped over 40% between 2003 and 2011. In 2016 alone more than 9% of children between the ages of 2 and 17, a total of more than 6 million children, were diagnosed with ADHD.

What is going on here?

According to Leanne O’Neil, owner of INDY Neurofeedback. “Because an anecdotal ADHD diagnosis can include numerous behaviors, many of which just about every child exhibits at one time or another, it becomes very easy to over-diagnose or misdiagnose this in children without the assistance of a qEEG brain map.”

Some of the many symptoms attributed to ADHD include:

  • Anger management problems
  • Anxiety
  • Difficulty staying focused
  • Inability to sit still
  • Insomnia
  • Lack of organizational skills
  • Mood swings
  • Trouble listening

Doesn’t this sound like many young elementary and middle school-aged children? Absolutely!

How do you know if your child actually has ADHD?

A non-invasive brainwave test. In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first brainwave test to help diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children by measuring brainwaves.  Christy Foreman, a director at the FDA, said in a statement that the test will help healthcare providers more accurately determine whether ADHD is the cause of particular behavioral and learning problems.

Brainwave testing has been used by many healthcare providers all over the world for the past 30 years.  In addition to identifying ADHD, brainwave testing also provides the basis for neurofeedback training which is used to help alleviate many of the symptoms associated with ADHD.

Leanne O’Neil, owner of INDY Neurofeedback states that, “The brainwave test identifies unbalanced brainwave patterns that may be related to focus and attention issues and neurofeedback retrains the brain’s ability to self-regulate. Talk to us if your child’s teacher is discussing ADHD diagnosis,” says Leanne O’Neil. “We can help you better understand what is actually going on and work with your individual needs.

The conventional solution to ADHD is usually medication, and likely prescribed long-term. But all medications have side effects, which can be particularly problematic with your child’s developing brain.

“This doesn’t mean that medication is always a poor choice,” continues O’Neil. “It just means that it’s important to explore all of your options before jumping into a long-term regimen.”

Many parents have had success addressing their child’s hyperactivity by discovering and addressing food intolerances and nutrient deficiencies.

Food for thought:  Your child eats a breakfast that has no fat, little protein and a high glycemic index – let’s say a bagel with fat-free cream cheese.  Blood sugar goes up, but then soon crashes, which triggers the release of stress hormones like adrenaline. At around 10am, this child is jittery and fidgety and cannot pay attention. This can look like ADHD to a teacher.

If diet modifications fail, call us!  We can identify underlying problems that factor into your child’s behavior and help come up with a plan of care, often one that works without the aid of prescription drugs.

Neurofeedback, biofeedback and chronic pain management

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Because September is National Pain Awareness month, INDY Neurofeedback is devoting this space to the important topic of pain management.

We wish we didn’t have to experience pain. Ever. Truth is, though, we would not survive without it.

Pain provides us with a valuable warning, letting us know that something is wrong, and where. The intensity of that pain also provides a sense of urgency, letting us know we need to stop and take care of the injury.

Sometimes, however, pain has no obvious connection to any injury and doesn’t serve a useful purpose. This is called chronic pain and presents an incredible challenge for those who live with it. Offering both biofeedback and neurofeedback, our trained staff at INDY Neurofeedback wants to help.

But first, a little background. Researchers have discovered that:

  • Pain can not be measured in any absolute
  • The perception of pain is registered in the brain, no matter where in the body the injury lies.
  • Perceptions of pain vary dramatically from individual to individual and from circumstance to circumstance.
  • Depending on the way the brain interprets it, pain may not be scaled to the actual injury and may continue long after the injury is healed.
  • The brain registers pain emotionally, so feelings of fear, trauma, or helplessness can often increase pain perception.
  • Pain can operate in cycles, so when emotions are triggered, that in turn increases pain perception, which re-triggers trauma – in an endless cycle.
  • When the sensitivity escalates to the highest levels, injury messages are no longer necessary to sustain the experience of pain.
  • Medications used for pain can also require ever increasing doses.

It begins with the brain.

Since the brain is ultimately in charge of how severely individual pain is perceived and where it is localized in the body, biofeedback and neurofeedback begin right at the source — the brain itself.

There have been numerous clinical studies showing that the techniques of both biofeedback and neurofeedback can be used to break the cycle of pain and lead to a major decrease — or even the total elimination of — chronic pain.

INDY Neurofeedback works with clients of all ages and all kinds of pain, from post-surgical to fibromyalgia, brain injuries to PSTD-related pain. Our goal is to help each client redefine the way his/her brain interprets nerve impulses (the experience of pain) and gradually return brain-pain sensitivities to normal levels.

We are happy to talk with you about what you are experiencing. The therapies we offer may well provide the relief you are seeking. We sincerely hope so.

Brain scans suggest soccer is riskier for female brains

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We’ve long heard about head trauma due to playing rough sports like rugby and football. But what about soccer? Of particular concern is “heading”, or repeatedly using the head to forward the ball. Studies have found that frequent heading is a common and under-recognized cause of concussion symptoms and may actually cause more damage than the impact from unintentional head-to-head collisions.

Even more revealing, a new study from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York suggests that not only does heading put soccer players’ brains at risk, but that female players may be disproportionately at risk.

Using advanced MRI scanning, Einstein researchers carefully examined the brain scans of 49 men and 49 women, aged 18 to 50 with a median age of 26, who regularly played amateur soccer. Even though both sets of players had headed the ball roughly the same number of times, scans showed that the women had five times more brain tissue damage than the men. Even more surprising, there were more brain matter areas adversely affected in women than the men (eight regions of the brain for women and just three regions for men).

Why the disparity?

Precisely why women might be more sensitive to head injury than men is not known for certain. Researchers have speculated that because women have smaller, less muscular necks than men, heading may impart more rotational force to their heads, jarring the brain within the skull more.

The brain changes detected by the scans were categorized as ‘subclinical’ by the researchers, meaning they were not enough to alter thinking ability. Study researchers were quick to add, however, that subclinical changes are still cause for concern.

So what does this mean?

“The term ‘subclinical pathology’ is often applied before we detect enough brain damage to negatively affect brain function,” says Leanne O’Neil of INDY Neurofeedback. “What is important about this study is that men and women may need to be looked at differently. It makes good sense to identify the risk factors for cumulative brain injury, so those involved in any sport or activity can change their behavior to prevent further damage — and work to help their brains recover.”

What now?

Soccer coaches and researchers agree that a full understanding of the risks of heading while playing soccer will require further research.  In the meantime, O’Neil recommends monitoring brain health by getting a qEEG brain map at the beginning of the season and a follow up at the end.  All brains are unique and the brain’s ability to fully heal from each impact is individual.

Complete article available at https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-07-soccer-worse-women-brains-men.html.

 

What is neuroplasticity and how does it work?

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Neuroplasticity is the term scientists use to talk about the brain’s innate ability to form new neural connections in response to learning or experience or following injury. Specifically, neuroplasticity allows the nerve cells in the brain (neurons) to compensate for injury and/or disease and to adjust their response to new situations or to changes in their environment.

So, just as the muscles and bones in your body can heal after trauma, your brain can too, no matter your age.

How?

Research has shown that there is an accepted normal pattern of brainwave activity for just about any circumstance we experience, from sleeping to driving, learning something new, to repeating a motion we have performed a hundred times.

When this normal brain wave pattern becomes dysregulated (through physical or emotional trauma), our brainwaves re-track how they connect. Frequently, this re-tracking or dysregulation takes the form of memory loss or sensory or behavioral change. We may develop symptoms that compromise our daily lives, sometimes requiring medical support.

All too often, that medical support comes in the form of medication. For instance, we may be given an anti-anxiety medication to calm sudden irrational fears or inappropriate abrupt behavioral change such as intense anger.

Neurofeedback is a way to utilize the brain’s plasticity – or ability to change and heal – by engaging with those brainwaves. In other words, neurofeedback helps you harness the power of your own brain to help transform brainwave imbalances without (or alongside) medication.

It’s a non-invasive way to help children and adults get back to normal, healthy, organized brain function, operating optimally and efficiently.

Any adult or child can benefit from the brain’s inherent ability to “re-wire” or heal itself, through retraining using the brain’s natural neuroplastic abilities. Neurofeedback can help those suffering with:

  • Anxiety
  • ADHD
  • Chronic pain
  • Autism or Asperger’s syndrome
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Insomnia
  • Memory loss
  • Migraines
  • Learning disorders
  • Panic attacks
  • Post-concussion syndrome
  • PTSD

 

What if you or your child has a smaller, albeit troublesome issue such as stuttering, or an irrational fear getting in the way of life? Neurofeedback can help with that as well, helping your amazingly resilient brain re-train itself, whether that involves improving concentration, memory, enhancing problem-solving, reducing performance anxiety, or simply increasing self-confidence.

At INDY Neurofeedback, we know that everyone is unique. The amount of training your brain may need depends upon the severity of your symptoms and your overall health. We’re here for the big challenges and for the smaller ones, too.

We’re also good listeners. If you’ve got a question about something bothering you or your child, give us a call and let’s schedule an appointment to talk about it.

– the INDY Neurofeedback team

 

 

What your brain does while you sleep

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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