Tag: health

The 5 BEST Foods For A Healthy Brain

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Gloria Kraegel

Posted in Brain Health & Healing Leave a comment

The way we eat determines how healthy we are in the long run. When we’re young greasy, fast food stops several times a week may not have much impact, but the impact you don’t see in the moment will manifest itself later in life.

There are many foods that support brain health, but I wanted to focus on the top five foods you can eat for a healthy brain:

Fatty Fish: Fatty fish is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for brain health. Omega-3 fatty acids are critical for the formation of brain cell membranes and have been shown to improve cognitive function, memory, and mood. They also have anti-inflammatory properties, which can help protect the brain from damage and reduce the risk of age-related cognitive decline. Round out your menu with salmon, sardines, and mackerel which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids can also aid in improving memory and cognitive function plus they are thought to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Berries: Berries are high in antioxidants, which protect the brain from damage caused by free radicals. They also contain compounds that can improve communication between brain cells, leading to better cognitive function. Blueberries, in particular, are rich in anthocyanins, which have been shown to improve memory and reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Blueberries, in particular, are known for their cognitive benefits and can help improve memory and reduce the risk of age-related cognitive decline.
Nuts and Seeds: Nuts and seeds are a good source of vitamin E, which is a powerful antioxidant that can help protect the brain from damage. Vitamin E has also been linked to a lower risk of cognitive decline as we age. Nuts and seeds are also rich in healthy fats, which are essential for brain health. Walnuts, almonds, and flaxseeds are great choices.
Dark Chocolate: Dark chocolate is rich in flavonoids, which are antioxidants that can help protect the brain from damage. Flavonoids have also been shown to improve cognitive function and memory. Dark chocolate also contains caffeine and theobromine, which can improve focus and alertness. Be sure to choose dark chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa solids for the most health benefits; 70% or higher is the best.
Leafy Greens: Leafy greens are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals that are essential for brain health, including vitamin K, folate, and beta-carotene. Vitamin K, in particular, has been linked to better cognitive function, and leafy greens are one of the best sources of this nutrient. Leafy greens also contain antioxidants that can help protect the brain from damage. Leafy greens such as spinach, kale, and broccoli are excellent choices.

What are some other good choices?
Whole grains such as oatmeal, quinoa, and brown rice are good sources of glucose, which is the primary source of energy for the brain. Avocados are a good source of healthy fats, including monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These healthy fats can help improve blood flow to the brain and protect brain cells from damage. Avocados also contain vitamin E and vitamin K.
Turmeric is a spice that contains a compound called curcumin, which has anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation in the brain has been linked to cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, so reducing inflammation may help protect the brain. Curcumin has also been shown to improve memory and cognitive function.
Eggs are a good source of choline, a nutrient that is essential for brain health. Choline is used to make acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that is involved in memory and cognitive function. Eggs also contain vitamins B6 and B12, which can help improve cognitive function.
Overall, a diet rich in whole, nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds is best for brain health. It’s also important to stay hydrated and limit the intake of processed foods, added sugars, and saturated and trans fats, which can have negative effects on the brain.

Gloria's career as an independent nonprofit consultant, trainer, and writer spans over 30 years giving her lots to talk about. She has a deep passion for sustainability, both environmentally and organizationally. Enjoy her perspectives on community, development, and tales from her virtual world travels.

10 Self-Care Tips You Can Start NOW

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Gloria Kraegel

Posted in Self-Care & Mindfulness Leave a comment

Spring is here. Open the windows. Let the stale winter air out and the fresh air in. You can begin with these 10 easy self-care tips:

Take a few deep breaths: This simple act can help you to feel calmer and more centered, especially during stressful moments.
Go for a walk: Taking a break from your daily routine and getting some fresh air can help clear your mind and reduce stress.
Listen to music: Listening to calming music can help you to relax and unwind, especially at the end of a long day.
Take a hot bath or shower: Taking some time to pamper yourself with a hot bath or shower can help you to feel refreshed and rejuvenated.
Practice gratitude: Taking a few minutes each day to reflect on the things you are grateful for can help you to cultivate a more positive mindset.
Get enough sleep: Make sure you are getting enough sleep each night, as this is essential for both physical and mental health.
Limit screen time: Taking a break from technology can help you to reduce stress and improve your overall well-being.
Spend time in nature: Spending time in nature can help you to feel more grounded and connected to the world around you.
Practice yoga or meditation: These practices can help you to reduce stress, improve your focus, and cultivate a sense of inner peace.
Eat mindfully: Pay attention to your body’s hunger cues and try to eat a balanced diet that nourishes both your body and mind.

Another Great Memory …

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Isaac Peterson

Posted in Motivation & Inspiration, Our BEST Stories, Self-Care & Mindfulness Leave a comment

Well, it happened again last night, that thing I do all the time where I’m out walking at night and out of the blue, a thought or a memory hits. I’ve written about that before, and this is one of those times I have just got to write it down.

In college, back in Wyoming, I made friends with a group of people from Jackson, Wyoming, near Jackson Hole. I would go there with them on school vacations and make visits over the summer. We got to be good friends and it was always non-stop fun, real fun. They were truly funny and listened to some of the best rock around, but lesser-known stuff like Mother’s Finest and Legs Diamond. They were some of the very few in my life who could hit me with something I hadn’t at least heard about. And these folks could party like…well, nobody could party like these guys.

One year I went there over spring break. Spring can be so incredibly beautiful in Wyoming.

We went to a spot outside of town that had natural warm springs and laid down blankets, spread apart in the grass. I remember it being a fantastic day, weather-wise. It was just warm enough to not be too cold and there were flawless blue skies and no breeze. You can see further than you can imagine, up there in the mountains on a clear day.

It’s not possible to describe that day, really close to the Grand Teton mountain range, near Yellowstone Park. The Tetons is beyond my ability to put into words. But I can say, without fear of contradiction, that the Tetons are cool and impressive looking. The scene in the photo was what it looked like that day but were closer to those mountains than pictured here.

We laid there, out in the noonday sun on that perfect day, not saying much. It took away our ability to speak, but that silence during nature was so calming and so peaceful and life-affirming, just perfect contentment, and tranquility.

Off in the distance we noticed a herd of buffalo, just shambling around while they grazed. We were silent.

After a while, the herd started moving in our direction. They were walking slow, and we could see there were buffalo of all sizes as they headed directly toward us. They were coming closer and closer and nobody so much as twitched, and finally they reached us.

We were all still spread apart, and the herd walked between us all, on all sides, in between the blankets.

They were slow walkers, and it took quite a while for them to move on. They were close enough we could have reached out and touched them. Such huge, gentle quiet creatures.

No one moved a muscle or said a word the whole time. We all were just there, surrounded by buffalo. And we were all blown away beyond words.

It was like we all were transfixed, caught in a magic spell. It was like we all, all of us young kids and all those beautiful animals, shared a spiritual bond.

We watched them as they slowly made their way past and watched for as long as we could see them. I don’t remember anybody saying a word. It would have broken the spell and cheapened the moment somehow.

It hit me full force last night—I have been in a herd of buffalo.

It is beyond my ability to put across in words the feelings of that day—I don’t even know if such words exist.

I haven’t thought about that in a long time. It obviously wasn’t something I’d forgotten, just something I hadn’t thought about in a long time. I can still see that day in my head and in high definition.

I have to say, looking back over my life, this was one of the absolute coolest things that ever happened to me. I have to say though that surviving a major stroke was up there on the coolness scale too.

At times I’ve replayed that scene in my head when I’ve needed to relax and be calm.

If I have anything to be thankful for (and I do) it’s that a stroke hasn’t erased my memories. If it had, it would be as if that day hadn’t happened. That magic day would have been lost to me forever. I’m not the same man I was before that stroke, and if there is anything I can be happy about it that he left me his memories, both good and bad, and this is one of the very best ones. He went through some very beautiful and fantastic events. Parts of that guy are gone now, left in the past, but he sure went through some great experiences, and he left behind the memories.

When I began my new post-stroke life, I didn’t have to start all over again from scratch. I had beautiful memories to build on and to add to. I had great memories to guide me and to aspire to in my new life.

Of course, the bad memories are, but they serve as examples of things to avoid, moving forward. I have those beautiful memories and they help guide me in positive directions as I pick up the pieces and move on.

If I live, those beautiful memories will too. For me, they are what life is all about.

I know loss of memory can be a huge issue for stroke survivors, but somehow it hasn’t been an issue for me. I wish all stroke survivors could be as lucky.

And I also wish everybody could know what it felt like that day and experience that feeling every day.

The world would be a much better place to live.

Isaac Peterson grew up on an Air Force base near Cheyenne, Wyoming. After graduating from the University of Wyoming, he embarked on a career as an award-winning investigative journalist and as a semi-professional musician in the Twin Cities, the place he called home on and off for 35 years. He doesn’t mind it at all if someone offers to pick up his restaurant tab and, also, welcomes reader comments. Email him at isaac3rd@gmail.com. Read more articles by Isaac here; https://www.brainenergysupportteam.org/archives/tag/isaac-peterson

Seasonal Affective Disorder and TBI

Posted on November 12, 2022 by Isaac Peterson

Posted in Brain Health & Healing, Self-Care & Mindfulness Leave a comment

Oh boy. Another rainy fall day in Washington (yawn).

It rains a lot here in the fall and winter, which means it’s also cloudy a lot in those seasons. It’s cloudy more than half the days of the year, which makes it gloomy for many people here, but not me, having lived most of my life in Wyoming and Minnesota. It doesn’t rain in either state as much as the Pacific Northwest, but those two states have their own style of cloudy gloominess.

What Wyoming and Minnesota have in common is lots of snow. For half the year all that grows there are snowdrifts and icicles, and people from out of state have heart attacks just hearing the weather forecast. But it never affected my mood.

The weather up here in Washington doesn’t affect my mood either, but I have to say it’s weird seeing people mowing their lawns in January. The fall and winter months are the rainiest ones here, whereas I’m used to it snowing during that time.

The people who do have trouble when it’s gloomy outside or with the change of seasons are ones with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). SAD can make living in a beautiful state like Washington a gloomy and depressing experience.

SAD is considered a major depressive disorder. People struggling with SAD experience depressed mood, loss of interest in their normal routine and activities, low energy, feelings of hopelessness and trouble concentrating. At least some of this may be brought on by the progressively shorter days, causing their internal clock to be out of synch with nature’s clock. And changing the clocks for Daylight Saving Time can’t be helping matters any.

Seattle ranks in the top ten American cities for gloomy cloud cover, because it has at least half the time with these kinds of weather conditions. People who already deal with mental health issues like depression are more likely to get SAD. Women, people who live at higher latitudes (including us Pacific Northwesterners), and people who are younger, all have a higher risk for SAD.

I also wonder how the depression some feel during winter holidays—Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years—might be related to SAD.

From personal experience, I had days where I began work just before sunrise and got off work just before sundown and didn’t see much of the sun. I don’t have SAD, but I can see how that could affect someone who does.

For many people who do have SAD, the depression they feel may be severe enough to bring on suicidal thoughts, and some do go on to commit, or attempt, suicide. I have reason to believe, from skimming some medical literature, that SAD is or at least can be worse for those already prone to depression.

What does that mean for traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors who may already live with severe depression? I’m not aware of a lot of research looking into it, but I would guess that TBI-related depression would be treated the same way as people struggling with SAD.

One way is the time-honored treatment with antidepressant medications, as well as mental health therapy.

Another treatment that’s shown some promise is known as light therapy. Some researchers believe disruptions in levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that regulates mood, and melatonin, another chemical that helps maintain a normal sleep cycle contribute to depression. Light therapy uses what’s called a light box, a device that emits light that imitates outdoor lighting. Some researchers and therapists believe this type of lighting may cause a natural chemical lift in a patient’s mood and lessen other SAD symptoms like feeling tired much of the time or sleeping too much.

There are several types of light boxes, tailored for specific needs, such as for treating skin conditions and that use various kinds of light. Not every kind of light will be effective for treating SAD. There are other considerations that come with using a light box, like the intensity of the light; it’s recommended to look in the direction of the light but not right at it. This is important for people like me, a traumatic brain survivor with sensitivity to light.

Light box treatments are for short stretches every day, and medical professionals recommend that the first exposure be soon after first waking up. It’s not necessary to have a prescription for a light box, but it’s a good idea to use it under the guidance of a health care provider.

It might be helpful for a caregiver to know whether a survivor’s depression is chronic and TBI-related or is caused by SAD, which will lessen when a gloomy season passes. I’m not a doctor but I do think that information might in some way be helpful for a TBI survivor’s medical provider to be aware of.

It’s important for depression, from any cause, to get diagnosed and treated.

BEST Mindfulness Resources

Posted on July 20, 2022 by BEST Admin

Posted in Brain Health & Healing, Brain Injury Awareness, Caregiver Corner, Education, Motivation & Inspiration, Second Life, Self-Care & Mindfulness Leave a comment

“Training your mind to be in the present moment is the number one key to making healthier choices.” – Susan Albers

Mindfulness is a great tool to living our best lives.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is noticing what is happening right now. What are your senses and emotions telling you? What is your mind telling you?

Through the practice of mindfulness, we can learn who we are and define our own personal empowerment and self-love.

So where do you begin on your journey to mindfulness?

We have some tools that will help you get started!

The BEST Calm Mind Video Course

Life after a brain injury can be challenging.

Our thoughts are often jumbled and the littlest thing can create an unusual amount of stress. Meditation can also help control stress.

That’s why the Brain Energy Support Team (BEST) is excited to share The Calm Mind Video Course. In this online course, you’ll learn what meditation is and some simple techniques you can use.

From breathing techniques to how to sleep more soundly, this course gives you a comprehensive education on calming your mind and self-care.

And if you are a caregiver or anyone that could use some tools and support to achieve a calmer mind, this course is also for you.

This course can be purchased here.

Enjoy your journey to a calmer mind, brain health and overall wellness!

BEST Mindful Monday (Online in Second Life)

The stress of our daily lives often runs over all of our best intentions to take care of ourselves. Take time today to join Namaara MacMoragh and friends in a relaxing hour of guided mindfulness on the fourth Monday of the month. We meet at the BEST PEER Center in Second Life. It’s free and all are welcome!

BEST Mindfulness Blog Article Library

Our BEST Blog features a number of articles on mindfulness to practices, techniques, tools, and more. Click here to check it out.

We also have a large selection of self-care articles to add to your experience. Click here to view the online library.

A Self-Care Update

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Isaac Peterson

Posted in Brain Health & Healing, Brain Injury Awareness, Our BEST Stories, Self-Care & Mindfulness Leave a comment

I just got home from seeing my primary doctor.

It was just a routine exam that would let me know how well my self-care program has—or hasn’t– been working out.

Turned out the hardest part, as usual, was sitting waiting for my turn.

But my overall exam results were good.

Here is the outcome:

Heart: Good
Lungs: Good
Blood pressure: Okay
Oxygen level: Good
Weight/body mass index (BMI): Good
Colon screening results: Good

At my previous visit last month, the doctor had a mild concern about my kidneys. There was some indication that I might have the beginnings of deposits in my kidneys, but today the doctor said everything now looked fine.

As part of my self-care program I had started drinking orange juice every day. I had read that citrus can break down deposits or prevent them altogether. I don’t know for sure whether the good news now was due to the orange juice, but I will take all the good news I can get.

Besides, I really like orange juice.

I’m going to permanently add daily orange juice to my self-care program, along with the water I drink all the time for hydration.

I’m also going to keep up the walking, which has always been part of my self-care program. I have walked at least 45 minutes a day, sometimes more. I’ve also started doing push-ups, sit-ups and squats.

I would eat better if I could, but in my current living situation, we are unable to prepare our own meals. I’m doing my best, despite the challenges of the meals I have to work with.

My blood pressure had been a problem before, and I got a massive stroke to show for not getting it diagnosed and treated. My blood pressure is under control now. I never miss or skip my meds.

But the best news was I didn’t need to have another blood test, thank goodness. I had one on my previous visit and I guess that was good enough for the doctor this time. Maybe he forgot or something, but I sure wasn’t going to remind him to stick a sharp needle in my arm. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there is just something about sharp objects piercing my flesh that really turns me all the way off. I’m funny like that.

When we were done, my doctor told me I was in reasonably good shape (and thankfully he didn’t add for a guy your age. We talked for a minute about my self-care and he told me to continue, as it seems to be working. I don’t need to see him again until some time next fall for a routine visit.

So it looks like I’m in tip-top TBI superhero fighting form.

Going to the doctor is in itself part of my self-care. It’s a kind of real time progress report on how well my program is working out for me. Although you know what’s best for you, a doctor can find things you may not be aware of. As I’ve stated, although I had always felt great, if I had bothered to make it in and get looked at by a doctor, my hypertension could have been diagnosed and treated and I probably
would not have found out first hand all the joy that goes with experiencing a major stroke (there actually wasn’t much joy involved, take my word for it).

I encourage everyone to participate in their own health care and develop a self-care plan that works for them, in addition to what the doctor says, because you know yourself best.

Participate in maintaining your own health and well being. Insist on it: you should feel free to ask questions and have them answered. Make as many decisions on your own and talk with your doctor about them.

My doctor didn’t recommend drinking orange juice to fix whatever the concern was with my kidneys—I came up with that myself and the doctor confirmed it was a good decision.

I believe in doing my best on my own, but I feel like I’m in a partnership with my doctor. I do what I’m able to do and he does what he’s able to. The big winner in the long run is me.

Even better: the thing I like best about my own self-care plan is it doesn’t include needles.

#EmpowerYourBrain

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