Blood flow is critical for life. It transports nutrients, including oxygen, to every cell in your body and flushes away toxins. Even though your brain, which weighs about 3 pounds, makes up only 2% of your body’s weight, it uses 20% of the oxygen and blood flow in your body. Anything that impairs blood flow or damages your blood vessels hurts your brain and your mental well-being.
On brain SPECT imaging scans, low blood flow is associated with depression, suicidal thoughts, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADD/ADHD, traumatic brain injury, hoarding, murder, substance abuse, seizure activity, and more. It’s also the #1 brain imaging predictor that a person will develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Over 90% of teenagers do not get the recommended level of exercise, which could be one of the major reasons why mental health issues among teens have skyrocketed in the last 30 years.
Drinking more than 2 cups of caffeinated beverages a day reduces blood flow to the brain.
Smoking constricts blood flow to the brain. On brain SPECT scans, the brains of smokers tend to look older than they are.
In particular, drinking alcohol lowers blood flow to the cerebellum, an amazing part of the brain that is associated with physical movement, which means it can make you less coordinated. Plus, people who drink every day have smaller brains.
Coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart failure, and heart arrhythmia are all indicators that cerebral blood flow is decreased.
High levels of LDL cholesterol, and in particular having a high content of small LDL particles, is a sign that blood flow isn’t optimal.
High blood pressure negatively impacts blood flow to the brain.
Experiencing a stroke indicates that blood vessels are already damaged or vulnerable to trouble.
If you have blood flow problems anywhere, it likely means they are everywhere, including in the brain.
High blood sugar levels, associated with diabetes and pre-diabetes, cause blood vessels to become brittle and more likely to break, delaying healing and causing disease complications.
Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder that lowers overall blood flow to the brain, especially in the areas that die first in Alzheimer’s disease.
If you want to keep your brain healthy, your mind sharp, and your mental health strong for as long as possible, you need to keep your blood flowing freely. If you have any of the lifestyle factors that lower blood flow, work to change your habits, and if you have medical conditions that impact blood flow, don’t hesitate to seek treatment. Here are 3 additional ways to boost blood flow.
Both prayer and meditation have been shown to improve blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, decrease anxiety, and improve mood.
HBOT is a simple, non-invasive, painless treatment with minimal side effects that use the power of oxygen to enhance the healing process and reduce inflammation. Before-and-after SPECT scans from a 2011 study showed remarkable overall improvement in blood flow following 40 sessions of HBOT.
Nutraceuticals with research-based evidence to help maintain healthy blood pressure and increase blood flow include ginkgo biloba, cocoa flavanols, omega-3 fatty acids, green tea catechins, and resveratrol.
At Amen Clinics, we use brain SPECT imaging and lab testing as part of a wrap-around evaluation and treatment plan to determine the root causes of your symptoms. We believe in using the least toxic, most effective therapies and strategies to optimize your brain function and feel better again.
If you want to join the tens of thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health and overcome their symptoms at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.
If you’re like most people, you probably think your brain shuts off at night while you’re sleeping. Wrong! While you’re snoozing, your brain is actually hard at work performing some very critical functions necessary to keep it operating at optimal levels.
Emerging research shows that during sleep, your brain cleans or washes itself by eliminating cellular debris and toxins that build up during the day (basically taking out the neural trash). This trash includes the beta-amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Your brain is so busy managing your life during the daylight hours that this cleaning system is pretty much turned off. One theory about why people with dementia sleep so much is that their brains are trying to clear out the accumulating plaques/gunk.
During sleep, the brain also consolidates learning and memory, and it prepares for the following day. The brain processes that occur during sleep are also important for the health of your immune system, appetite control, and neurotransmitter production. And sleep is also linked to mental health.
Getting adequate sleep is vital for your brain, but an estimated 50 to 70 million Americans have some form of sleep disorder. Nearly one-third of us suffer from short-term bouts of insomnia, the most common sleep problem. Chronic insomnia affects approximately 1 in 10 people, and the rates are even higher among people with psychiatric disorders. In fact, over 50% of the time, insomnia is tied to stress, anxiety, or depression.
Sleep and brain health/mental health issues are tightly linked. Research shows that about 75% of people with depression also have insomnia. A 2016 study shows that from 69% to 99% of people with bipolar disorder experience insomnia or feel a reduced need for sleep during manic episodes. Over half of the people with anxiety have trouble sleeping, and children with ADHD are more likely to experience sleep disorders than kids without the condition, according to research in Sleep.
The relationship between sleep and brain health/mental health issues goes both ways. In general, a night of staring at the ceiling can make you wake up feeling angry, irritable, sad, or stressed the next day; lower your ability to concentrate, and impair your judgment. Over time, sleep problems can lead to a higher risk of depression, ADHD, panic attacks, brain fog, memory problems, and dementia.
How important is just one hour of sleep? A study in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence found that teenagers who on average get one hour less sleep at night are 38% more likely to feel sad and hopeless, 42% more likely to consider suicide, 58% more likely to attempt suicide, and 23% more likely to engage in substance abuse.
1. A bedroom that is too warm, bright, or noisy. The ideal temperature is personal, but it should be on the cool side. Consider blackout shades if you live in a city, where light pollution is sometimes hard to avoid. Try earplugs if you live in a noisy neighborhood or sleep with someone who snores.
2. Gadgets by the bed. Put your phone, tablet, digital watch, and more in another spot, or at least turn off the volume. Turn your digital clock toward the wall so you aren’t distracted by glowing numbers.
3. Medications. Many drugs, including asthma and cough meds, antihistamines, anticonvulsants, and stimulants (such as Adderall or Concerta, prescribed for ADHD), as well as others, disturb sleep.
4. Naps. Taking a nap because you feel sleepy during the day interferes with your nighttime sleep cycle.
5. Alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana. Although these compounds initially induce sleepiness for some people, they have the reverse effect as they wear off, which is why you may wake up several hours after you go to sleep.
6. Hormonal issues. Changes in hormones related to pregnancy, PMS, perimenopause, or menopause can disrupt your sleep.
7. Stressful situations. Death, marital conflict, work deadlines, moving, or an upcoming exam can keep you awake at night.
1. Set up your bedroom for sleep. Keep it cool, dark, and quiet.
2. Address emotional problems before going to sleep. Send a positive text or email or set an intention to deal with the issue tomorrow. If you forgive the other person first, you may just end the argument. If you’re a worrier, devote a before-bed time period (about 10-15 minutes) to journal or pray about your nagging concerns, then stop.
3. Try sound therapy. It can induce a very peaceful mood. Consider soothing nature sounds, wind chimes, a fan, or soft music. Slow classical music, or any music that has a slow rhythm of 60 to 80 beats per minute, can help with sleep.
4. Drink a cup of warm, unsweetened almond milk. Add a teaspoon of vanilla (the real stuff, not imitation) and a few drops of stevia. The combination may increase serotonin in your brain and help you sleep.
5. Refrain from checking the clock if you wake up in the night. If you know what time it is, it can make you anxious.
6. Try hypnosis. Medical hypnosis is a safe and effective tool to promote better sleep.
7. Get evaluated for a sleep disorder. A complete evaluation can help you pinpoint what’s causing your sleep problems and can give you a blueprint to getting more restful sleep.
At Amen Clinics, we take an integrated brain-body approach to evaluating sleep disorders, including brain SPECT imaging, lab tests, and lifestyle assessments. If you want to join the thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health and overcome sleep issues, at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.
The holidays are supposed to be the most joyous time of the year to spend with family. But not everybody has one of those perfect Hallmark families. For some people, the holidays are filled with drama, chaos, and arguments, and the mere idea of heading home triggers painful memories and emotional distress.
Jenna hated going home for Christmas, and she started stressing about it weeks before her annual trip. She was a successful attorney with a nice condo and lots of friends, and she thoroughly enjoyed her life. But it was never good enough for her parents. As soon as Jenna walked through the door of her childhood home, her mother would start up with the needling questions: Why aren’t you married yet? Am I ever going to have grandkids? Did you gain weight again?
Her dad was even worse. He always drank too much and then start yelling at everyone. For Jenna, this triggered traumatic memories of Dad punching his fist through a wall when she hadn’t graduated as class Valedictorian, of him shaking her mother violently when they had shouting matches, and of him throwing a plate of mashed potatoes at the wall one Christmas day when she was just a kid.
Back in this toxic family environment, Jenna’s self-confidence and joie de vivre would immediately start to plummet, and she would revert back to the anxious, depressed, scared child she used to be.
She isn’t alone.
The holidays can be less than merry for many people. For those who suffered trauma or abuse as a child, family festivities can cause old emotional wounds to surface. People who are struggling with alcohol abuse may have trouble staying sober when there is so much focus on holiday cocktails. Anyone with an eating disorder may feel the familiar urges to binge or purge when faced with holiday meals. And individuals who have anxiety or depression may find that their symptoms intensify when the holiday season approaches.
Aside from family feuds and underlying mental health issues, there are many factors that contribute to seasonal struggles. With a little planning, however, you can overcome these holiday hazards for a more joyous season.
Buying gifts, hosting lavish feasts, decorating—there’s a lot that goes into making the holiday season perfect. All of this added stress can take a toll on brain health and lead to increased vulnerability to mental health symptoms.
Holiday Helper: Stay grounded with a few minutes of daily meditation or prayer and don’t take on more projects than you can handle.
The excitement of the season and holiday parties often lead to less shut-eye and more disrupted sleep. When you aren’t getting your usual 7-8 hours a night, it impacts your moods and cognitive function. Just one night of bad sleep can leave you in a brain fog and make you more irritable, anxious, and depressed.
Holiday Helper: Stick to your sleep schedule as much as possible.
Sold-out flights, overcrowded airports, and jam-packed highways can mess with your mental well-being.
Holiday Helper: Leave early for your destination, bring some soothing music, and give yourself an attitude adjustment. Put yourself in a “We’ll get there when we get there” mindset.
Starting in October, it’s like there’s a free-for-all in the food department. People toss out all their good eating habits and dive into unhealthy dishes that leave you feeling spacy, fatigued, and bloated. The food you eat has an almost immediate effect on your brain function and giving in to cravings around the holidays lowers your ability to handle stress and family drama.
Holiday Helper: If you know that your family is going to be feasting on unhealthy foods, bring some good-for-you snacks with you or offer to prepare a few brain healthy side dishes for the festivities. And if you are going to indulge in something decadent, follow the 3-bite rule.
Alcohol lowers activity in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, the area involved in judgment, forethought, and impulse control. Boozing it up at holiday parties or family gatherings sets the scene for drama and discord.
Holiday Helper: To avoid drinking altogether, volunteer to be the designated driver or ask the bartender or host for a non-alcoholic drink that looks festive. If you are going to drink, set a limit and be sure to eat something beforehand to minimize the effects of alcohol.
Sitting on the couch watching football with your extended family drains your energy and deprives you of the feel-good endorphins you get when you get your blood pumping with exercise.
Holiday Helper: Start your day with a morning walk or suggest playing a game of touch football (never tackle football!) during halftime.
If you dread the holidays and need help coping with the emotions that surface, Amen Clinics can help. If you want to join the tens of thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health and overcome their symptoms at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.
By Mark Filidei, DO
When patients present with anxiety, depression, attention problems, fuzzy thinking, irritability, insomnia, or other issues, most traditional psychiatrists simply dole out prescription medications to try to treat these problems. But these issues are just symptoms, and using a Band-Aid to mask symptoms without investigating and addressing their underlying causes will never work. Clinicians need to think like detectives and look at symptoms as clues to the real culprit.
Let’s look at two case studies.
Joe was 65 years old when he came to see me with his wife Rita (not their real names) for couples counseling. Rita complained that Joe was “not himself anymore.” He had abruptly changed two years earlier and started making very poor decisions. Rita was unhappy and wondered what had happened to the man she had married.
The traditional treatment route would have been to give Joe medication, such as Provigil, for his fuzzy thinking. But was it really cognitive impairment, the onset of Alzheimer’s, or something else?
I met with 7-year-old Tyler (not his real name) and his mother, who complained about her son’s severe behavioral issues, filthy mouth, and extreme anger. Tyler had threatened to kill people, talked about violent acts, and had his parents worried that he would grow up to be a murderer. His mom was afraid Tyler would get kicked out of school and felt ashamed that she was raising a “sociopath.”
In traditional psychiatric care, Tyler may have been prescribed one or more drugs—such as stimulants, anticonvulsants, or antipsychotics—in an attempt to change his behavior. But were these medications the right answers to his problems?
At Amen Clinics, our brain imaging work has shown that many common “psychiatric” symptoms are actually related to biological causes. On brain SPECT scans, we often see evidence of encephalopathy (any abnormal condition of the structure or function of brain tissues) or encephalitis (inflammation of the brain).
Once again, abnormal brain scan results are often symptoms of another problem, clues that something else is in the body isn’t functioning optimally. In general, causes of encephalopathy fall into the following four categories:
To determine which one (or more than one) of these is causing the brain to look unhealthy, clinicians can perform specific lab tests, and they need to ask more probing questions.
There are numerous lab tests available that can provide valuable information for the clinician. A lab workup for toxic encephalopathy may include the following:
Although these tests can offer critical data, they are only one portion of a comprehensive diagnostic process. Delving into a patient’s clinical history helps complete the picture.
When encephalopathy is noted on brain scans, it should prompt you to ask patients a series of questions, including:
Combining the clues gleaned from the patient’s clinical history with the lab test results and the patterns seen on brain scans, the clinician can close in on what’s causing a patient’s symptoms. Let’s look at what the lab tests and clinical history questions revealed about our two case studies.
Joe’s lab results showed off-scale high levels for toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies, as well as low testosterone levels. No amount of Provigil would have treated these issues. In taking his clinical history, I discovered that the couple had gotten a cat a few years earlier, and Joe was tasked with changing the kitty litter. This is where he might have come in contact with toxoplasma gondii, a single-celled parasite that is often carried in cats and shed in their feces. With hormone replacement therapy (HRT), treatment for toxoplasmosis, and instructions to always wear gloves when changing the kitty litter, he is doing much better. His wife says she feels like she’s got her husband back.
Tyler, the 7-year-old’s lab tests showed abnormal results in his nutritional and metabolic panel. In particular, he had increased urinary excretion of 3-(3-hydroxyphenyl) 3-hydroxypropionic acid (HPHPA), an abnormal phenylalanine metabolite of Clostridium spp. found in the GI tract. Research in Nutritional Neuroscience shows that HPHPA has been found in higher concentrations in children with autism and also in people with psychosis related to schizophrenia. By enhancing Tyler’s gut health, it helped calm his aggressive behavior, and his mother was no longer afraid he would grow up to be a murderer.
In summary, clinicians must think of symptoms as clues to a deeper biological problem. Similarly, brain SPECT scans, lab tests, and a patient’s clinical history are other clues that help solve the mystery and lead to an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment plan.
Dr. Mark Filidei is an Internal Medicine physician and is the Director of Integrative/Functional Medicine for Amen Clinics. Functional Medicine incorporates the latest developments in systems biology, genetics, and a deep understanding of human physiology to address complex medical and mental health issues. Dr. Filidei’s approach is to find the root cause of a person’s health problems including metabolic, genetic, and environmental factors, and to treat those problems in as natural a way as possible by using targeted nutritional supplements, correcting hormone and metabolic imbalances, improving lifestyle and diet, and detecting and treating toxin exposure and infections like mold and Lyme disease.
At Amen Clinics, we understand that “mental health” is really “brain health,” and for your brain to be healthy, you need a healthy body. If your brain is not healthy, then no matter what medications you take, you will not get better to the greatest degree possible. It’s basically like putting jet fuel in a broken-down car. It just doesn’t work.
What I like about the case study I am going to detail for you here is how beautifully it describes the importance of looking at underlying factors rather than just treating symptoms.
This is the story of Jake and his wife Gen (names have been changed).
For 8 months, Gen had been suffering almost nightly with an eerily similar pattern. Between 2-4 a.m., Gen would feel Jake get up and go out to the kitchen where he would rummage through the pantry and refrigerator, eat messily like he was in a hot dog eating competition, then head back to the bedroom, leaving a trail of food and crumbs like Hansel and Gretel all the way back into their bed.
She would also notice a glazed look in his eyes, as if he was not all there, and was afraid to wake him out of it.
As understanding as she was, she was just not the kind of woman who fancied waking up next to a snoring partner in a bed full of crumbs with the first chore of the day having to be cleaning up after him.
Between his incessant snoring, messy night-time eating habits, and other issues, Gen was at her wit’s end and needed solutions. Fast. So, she recorded his bizarre sleeping behaviors on video, which is a great idea for a partner to do, and convinced him to come to see me.
In discussing his history, I learned that Jake was a 39-year-old veteran (served in Iraq and Afghanistan), with a medical history of obesity (body mass index 36), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol abuse (in the past), vitamin D deficiency, hypothyroidism, and chronic pain.
The sleep complaints included snoring, nightly sleep-eating behaviors, excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale of 16), fatigue, non-refreshing sleep, and weight gain of over 40 pounds in the last 8 months.
Now it was time for me to solve the case.
As clinicians, it is very important that we understand how different health issues impact one another. This was very true in Jake’s case.
Jake was obese, which is a risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In this condition, the airway collapses and the tongue periodically falls back in the throat during sleep, closing off the airway and resulting in symptoms like snoring, tiredness, sleepiness, depression, lack of motivation, and concentration problems. It also puts a lot of strain on the heart, resulting in less blood flow to the brain and an increased risk of dementia, anxiety, heart attacks, high blood pressure, strokes, and sudden death.
Several times during the night, the brain can wake up (arousals) in order to trigger the muscles to breathe and get oxygen to the brain. Hence, sleep apnea also leads to excessive sleepiness, which can result in workplace and traffic accidents. It is estimated that 6,400 fatal accidents each year in the U.S. are attributed to sleep apnea. Frost & Sullivan calculated that the annual economic burden of undiagnosed sleep apnea among U.S. adults is approximately $149.6 billion. The estimated costs include $86.9 billion in lost productivity, $26.2 billion in motor vehicle accidents, and $6.5 billion in workplace accidents.
Jake’s sleep-related eating disorder is a form of parasomnia—any abnormal behaviors that occur during sleep—and involves binge eating during the sleep period. Typically, it is associated with minimal recollection or conscious control as well as weight gain. In some instances, sleep eating episodes may be caused by arousals related to untreated OSA that occur during sleep.
Other types of parasomnias—such as sleep talking, sleepwalking, or confusional arousals—can be a clue not just to sleep apnea, but also to chronic sleep deprivation. In sleep deprivation, we are concerned not only with the total amount of sleep somebody gets, but also the quality of that sleep. If you get 8 hours of sleep a night, but you have sleep apnea and are waking up tired, it is not adequate sleep. In fact, it is terrible sleep because every minute you are asleep with untreated OSA, your brain is suffocating. In some cases, parasomnias may be the result of something more serious, such as a seizure disorder.
We know that parasomnias like sleep eating disorder tend to occur most commonly in the transitional period between sleep and wakefulness.
Additionally, there was Jake’s PTSD to consider. When the nervous system is on high alert as it is in syndromes like PTSD, a person may tend to breathe heavily and blow off a lot of carbon dioxide. The brain can detect a drop in carbon dioxide and even trigger the muscles to stop breathing periodically to get the levels of carbon dioxide up to normal levels.
This is called central sleep apnea and is yet another way that the brain can be deprived of oxygen. The brain can then wake up, slip into the transitional zone between sleep and wakefulness, and trigger another parasomnia episode like sleepwalking and sleep eating.
Studies also suggest PTSD may be a risk factor for sleep disruption and sleep apnea, and treatment of OSA improves PTSD symptoms.
In Jake’s case, I had to look into the association between sleep apnea, PTSD, weight gain, sleepwalking, and sleep eating and how they perpetuate an unhealthy sleep cycle. In addition, a clinician must consider other factors, such as:
To best serve our patients, we must be aware of how all these different factors may come together.
Let’s go back to Jake, whose main concern was his sleep-eating behaviors, which resulted in a weight gain of over 40 pounds. Gen’s main concerns were his snoring and sleep eating (which were destroying her sleep and ruining her mood), as well as his sleepwalking (which made her worry that Jake might hurt himself).
On reviewing details of Jake’s mental health history, as well as his sleep history, I discussed how sleep deprivation can worsen sleep disordered breathing (sleep apnea) and likewise, how sleep disordered breathing can lead to disrupted sleep, which can then perpetuate parasomnias like sleepwalking and sleep eating. Adding in Jake’s hyper-arousal (PTSD), which has been linked to an increased risk of sleep disordered breathing, compounded the sleep disruptions and consequent parasomnia (sleep eating), which in turn caused weight gain and worsened sleep disordered breathing.
Thus, my running hypothesis was that sleep-eating behaviors could be a secondary disorder of arousal due to severe sleep apnea.
To better understand Jake’s sleep patterns, I ordered a nocturnal polysomnography, a sleep study that involves the following:
Jake’s study demonstrated severe sleep apnea with an overall AHI (Apnea Hypopnea Index) of 108.3 events per hour. This means that Jake stopped breathing over 108 times an hour.
This is dangerous and requires immediate treatment because of the risks of untreated sleep apnea, as discussed previously.
I put Jake through another sleep test, in which different levels of CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) are tried. Here, they monitor how many times the person stops breathing, as well as what pressures work best and are best tolerated. This device works because the pressure of the air delivered from the machine via tubing and a mask can keep the airway open and prevent its collapse.
The study concluded that pressures of between 8-14 cmH2O worked best to minimize the pauses in breathing. I hypothesized that if the sleep apnea was controlled adequately, there would be fewer arousals from sleep into sleepwalking and sleep eating. This would result in weight loss, which would further improve the sleep apnea. Controlling the sleep apnea would also improve his symptoms of PTSD.
I followed Jake for several months, making adjustments to his CPAP machine, getting downloads from the machine to make sure it was doing what it was supposed to be doing. In addition, I treated his PTSD independently and utilized a whole-brain approach to his health that included exercise, nutrition, targeted supplements, and cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.
Over time, he regained his energy, his symptoms of depression subsided, his concentration improved, his weight dropped, and his overall quality of life improved. His snoring was eliminated, and the nightly sleep-eating resolved for the most part, much to the delight of Gen, his patient wife.
Jake had his life back and had the tools he needed to be the father, husband, employee, family member, and friend that he wanted to be.
Dr. Shane Creado is a board-certified psychiatrist and sleep medicine physician. He is also a sports psychiatrist and is on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Sports Psychiatry, as its Chairman of Memberships. Additionally, he has clinical experience with the veteran population, college mental health, exercise prescription and mental health, co-morbid psychiatric and sleep problems, CBT-Insomnia, alcohol recovery groups, MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), administrative psychiatry, health care policy, cultural psychiatry, couples therapy, and regressive hypnosis. He uses the skills he acquired in these disciplines to holistically apply evidence-based medicine in the service of his patients. In his spare time, he likes to travel, write, act on stage, and play racquet sports.
When young adults head to college, they sometimes worry about the dreaded “Freshman 15″—the 15 (or more) pounds new students often pack on during their first year in school. But there is something far more worrisome than going up a pant size.
Did you know that many serious mental health conditions begin during young adulthood? The age of onset for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, substance use disorders, eating disorders, psychosis, and suicidal thoughts and behavior is common in the late teens or early 20s—a time when many students are entering college. In fact, 75% of mental health conditions start by age 24, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
And the numbers are getting worse. In 2017, teens and young adults in the U.S. were more prone to depression, distress, and suicide compared with Millennials when they were the same age.
What is the connection between college and mental illness?
The human brain is not finished developing until age 25 for females, and closer to age 28 for males. A process called myelinization is still underway. With this process, brain cells are coated with a protective sheath that increases the brain’s processing speeds. The process starts at the back of the brain and works forward, making the front part of the brain—the prefrontal cortex that is involved in focus, planning, decision-making, judgment, and follow-through—the last area to gain the protective covering.
Because of this, young people need supervision until their brains have matured and they can supervise themselves. Throwing young adults into an environment where they no longer have parental supervision when their brains have yet to fully develop invites risky behavior and poor habits that may contribute to mental health issues.
The last years of high school and the first years of college can be extremely stressful. And stress can wreak havoc on brain health. Dealing with challenging life circumstances—such as starting college, moving, having new roommates—elevates stress hormone levels and makes people more vulnerable to many mental health conditions. Toxic stress has been associated with ADHD, learning disabilities, social anxiety, depression, alcohol and drug abuse, PTSD, and more.
Unfortunately, young people don’t learn about stress management skills in school. Learning how to deal with stress in a healthy way should be taught in elementary classes nationwide.
Cheesy pizza, bottomless cups of coffee or sodas, bags of chips, kegs of beer—the foods most college students eat zap brainpower and mess with your mental well-being. In 2015, a group of 18 scientists concluded that “the emerging and compelling evidence for nutrition as a crucial factor in the high prevalence and incidence of mental disorders suggests that diet is as important to psychiatry as it is to cardiology, endocrinology, and gastroenterology.”
The standard student diet is filled with pro-inflammatory, allergenic foods laced with artificial chemicals that will damage the brain and increase the risk for depression, ADHD, and anxiety disorders, as well as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and even dementia.
While you are sleeping, your brain is hard at work performing some very critical functions necessary to keep it operating at optimal levels. For example, during sleep, your brain cleans or washes itself by eliminating cellular debris and toxins that build up during the day (basically taking out the neural trash), consolidates learning and memory, and prepares for the following day.
College students are notorious for pulling all-nighter study sessions and partying until dawn. It adds up to a sleep deficit that can take a toll on mental health. Over time, sleep problems can lead to a higher risk of mental health problems, including depression, ADHD, panic attacks, brain fog, memory problems, and dementia. For example, teenagers who on average get an hour less sleep at night were 38 percent more likely to feel sad and hopeless, 42 percent more likely to consider suicide, 58 percent more likely to attempt suicide, and 23 percent more likely to engage in substance abuse.
At Amen Clinics, we have helped thousands of struggling students overcome brain imbalances and mental health problems so they can be more successful at school and in life. Speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.
Dealing with exhaustion, body aches, and digestion problems? Could it be adrenal fatigue? You may have heard of this term, which is used to describe symptoms that appear to be related to an overload of chronic stress. The concept is that when the body is under duress, the adrenal glands pump out the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. The theory goes that when stress is constant, it wears out the adrenal glands. But this theory leaves out one very important part of this equation—the brain.
It’s the brain—and in particular, the hypothalamus and pituitary gland—that is controlling the action. Together with the adrenal glands, they form the HPA axis, which regulates the way your body responds to stress.
This hardwired response happens automatically upon activation, such as witnessing or experiencing an emotional or physical threat. Your heart beats faster, breathing and blood pressure increase, hands and feet become cooler to shunt blood away from the extremities to the big muscles (to help you defend yourself or run away), and the pupils dilate (to see better).
For our cave-dwelling ancestors, this stress reaction helped us stay alive by helping us run from predators—think saber-tooth tigers or an encroaching tribe. In today’s world, it’s things like mind-numbing traffic, impossible deadlines, or over-exercising that can set this process in motion.
When stress becomes chronic, the HPA axis gets stuck on high alert, and the brain keeps telling the adrenals to continue releasing stress hormones. This may cause the adrenals to become depleted, but it’s the brain that’s in the driver’s seat. Brain imaging studies show that chronic stress has serious impacts on the brain. It constricts blood flow to the brain, which lowers overall brain function, and it also drains your emotional well-being and is associated with anxiety, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease. Unrelenting tension can also wreak havoc with gut health, which is involved in producing neurotransmitters, such as serotonin.
The key to reducing chronic stress and reestablishing a healthier HPA axis is to enhance your overall brain health. Here are 11 strategies that help:
At Amen Clinics, brain SPECT imaging is performed as a component of a comprehensive evaluation for people with symptoms of chronic stress, anxiety, and depression. The Amen Clinics Method takes an integrative approach to diagnosis and includes looking at the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of your life to identify areas that can be optimized.
If you’re tired of feeling tired and worn down all the time, call 888-288-9834 to talk to a specialist today or schedule a visit.
When you think about hypnosis, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? A stage act where some celebrity hypnotist makes you do stupid and embarrassing things in front of the audience just for laughs? You’re not alone.
Many people are unaware of what hypnosis can do for you, especially when it comes to using it as a mental health treatment or for medical conditions. The American Medical Association recognized hypnotherapy as a standard medical treatment back in 1958, and the American Psychological Association followed suit by endorsing it as a branch of psychology in 1960. Since then, it has been used to help people overcome a variety of symptoms and conditions, including:
If you’re suffering from anxiety, hypnosis can help. Think of hypnosis as your body’s natural soothing power source. It can help you change your state of mind from anxious to calm.
Hypnosis can help you change the way you think, feel, and react to food. It can also alter the way you view exercise and other lifestyle habits that can contribute to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
Smoking is highly addictive, but hypnosis can help you break the habit. Even people who have tried quitting several times without success have given up cigarettes through hypnosis.
Research shows that hypnosis can help you take control of your thought patterns and breathing methods to manage and overcome chronic pain.
Hypnosis and self-hypnosis can calm a busy brain, so you can fall asleep faster and get a better night’s rest.
In a 4-part series on The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast with special guest Dr. Jeffrey Zeig, the founder and director of the Milton H. Erickson Foundation, who has studied with one of the world’s most famous hypnotists, you’ll discover more about the many benefits of hypnosis.
In this remarkable series, you’ll learn:
Listen to the 4-part series on hypnosis with Dr. Jeffrey Zieg on the Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast.
At Amen Clinics, we have used hypnosis as part of a comprehensive treatment plan to help thousands of people with mental health issues so you can minimize your symptoms and stick with a brain-healthy program. If you or a loved one might benefit from a brain-body approach to healing, call 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.
Everybody wants to know the secrets to a happy marriage, but it can be just as important to know what leads to marital conflict. By understanding what you’re doing to mess things up and how your brain is involved, you’ll know how to turn things around to make marital magic. By understanding what you’re doing to mess up your relationship—and how your brain is involved—you’ll know how to turn things around to make it magical again.Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) gets a lot of press, especially regarding military veterans who return from combat. For example, it’s estimated that 11-20% of veterans who served in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD in a given year.
However, you don’t have to see combat in the military to be vulnerable to PTSD, a potentially debilitating condition that can lead to intrusive thoughts and flashbacks, avoidance of reminders of the traumatic event, feelings of guilt, a sense of being on edge at all times, being easily startled, anxiety or depression, problems sleeping, as well as other symptoms.
You may be surprised to discover that PTSD can affect anyone—any ethnicity, nationality, or age—although women are 2-3 times more likely to develop the condition than men. Approximately 3.5% of adults in the U.S. are affected by the condition, and about 7-8 people out of 100 will have PTSD in their lifetime.
What’s even more surprising is that in some cases, you don’t even have to be involved first-hand in a traumatic event. Simply hearing about a traumatic event or repetitive viewing of violent news stories on television can increase the risk of PTSD.
Not everybody who is exposed to a traumatic event will develop PTSD. Certain things can make you more vulnerable to the condition, including having little or no social support in the wake of a traumatic event, as well as coping with additional stresses due to injuries, the death of a loved one, or the loss of your home.
Most media articles talk about PTSD as a psychological problem, but that isn’t accurate. Although it does cause psychological consequences, PTSD is, in fact, a brain disorder. Brain imaging studies using a technology called SPECT show PTSD is associated with changes in the brain. Without brain imaging, PTSD is often misdiagnosed because symptoms overlap with other conditions, such as traumatic brain injury. Research shows that brain scans help differentiate PTSD from TBI to help you get an accurate diagnosis and more effective treatment.
If you or a loved one has experienced a traumatic event and is experiencing symptoms of PTSD, it’s important to seek help. At Amen Clinics, we perform brain scans using a technology called SPECT as part of a complete evaluation to diagnose and treat PTSD with the least toxic, most effective solutions.
Don’t let PTSD steal your life. Call one of our brain health advisors at 888-288-9834 to see how Amen Clinics can help you or schedule a visit online.