the amazing brain!

I have been contemplating taking DR. CARRICK’S 400 HOUR CHIROPRACTIC NEUROLOGY COURSE (start date, April of 2012).  In preparation, I have been taking Dr. Huber’s 36 hour neurology review.  In our last class, Dr. Huber was talking about the cerebellum and going over all the different loops and pathways that it uses for motor control.  He specifically used two video clips to demonstrate coordination and neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to learn new things and create new pathways).  I could not resist —- here they are.  BTW, the first video is not trick photography (watch the cars going by in the window’s reflection). 

The brain has an amazing ability to build new pathways and learn new things.  However, much of this ability comes back to the age old principle, “use it or lose it”.  Your brain (cerebellum included — particularly the cerebellum) needs two things to function properly………

• Activation
• Fuel

Activation comes in the form of neurological stimulation.  You need to be challenging your brain constantly to learn new things.  This needs to be in the form of both mental activity as well as physical activity.  Or you could do something that requires both.  Take up the banjo, for instance (Dr. Huber did this).  He also learned how to play the drums as well as learning German.  He understands that if you do not constantly challenge your brain with new things, it atrophies.  Think of it as what happens to your muscles if they go unused.  They get smaller, and weaker.  (For those who might ask, video games and television area actually counter productive.)

The other thing your brain needs in order to function properly is fuel.  This fuel comes in the form of a steady supply of Glucose (BLOOD SUGAR), as well as oxygen.  Maintaining proper levels of both these things is highly problematic here in America.  With 70% of the population either overweight or plain obese, we are obviously not controlling our blood sugar.  Weight issues are intimately related to blood sugar via numerous disease processes (INSULIN RESISTANCE, HYPOGLYCEMIA, Metabolic Syndrome X, TYPE II DIABETES).  The mind-blowing thing about uncontrolled blood sugar (whether high or low) is that current research is tying it (causally) to almost every conceivable disease process imaginable, including LEAKY GUT SYNDROME, most AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES and INFLAMMATORY CONDITIONS, not to mention virtually all ENDOCRINE PROBLEMS including HYPOTHYROIDISM.  Maintaining a proper blood sugar is critical to good health —- and just remember that the values your doctor says are “normal” can actually be quite liberal (too high or too low).

Your body also needs oxygen.  Most people in this country exist in a perpetually oxygen-deprived state.  This is due to many factors including OBESITY, improper breathing techniques (shallow breathing or SLEEP APNEA), poor nutrition, and lack of exercise.  Trust me, if you are not getting oxygen into your system, you will experience a myriad of health problems, including FIBROMYALGIA (and even CANCER).  This is why our Fibromyalgia Program involves using OXYGEN THERAPY.  For any chronic disease process that involves the nervous system, oxygen must be a part of the protocol if you expect to have good results, and have them in a timely fashion.

If you couple DYSBIOSIS, with a lack of fuel and activation, you are probably living a nightmare.  Are you trying to break free?  You do not need learn how to dance like the person in the first video, or stack cups like the person in the second, but you have to do some of the basics.  For more information, learn how poor brain function can ruin your life (HERE), and then visit BRAIN-BASED THERAPY, MISSOURI.