90% of us have HOLES in our Head. Or in our Brain scans anyway.

The Following is a summary of much of the information from 

CHANGE YOUR BRAIN, CHANGE YOUR LIFE

As we grow older we are seeing more need to preserve our mental capacity if we want to continue to grow and explore the world well into retirement. This is a list of general and specific suggestions on how to preserve and even enhance brain function.

Dr Amen the author and his research team took over 40,000 brain scans using SPECT imaging to determine how different areas of the brain are effected. They found only 90 out of 3000 brains they measured are actually healthy. That means you and I probably have unhealthy brains and are at risk of some serious senility later in life. Or more literally we have holes in our head.

Dr. Amens team found that unhealthy brains will have holes of inactivity where function is absent. These are seen from a range of a few empty areas to more in a drug addict and large holes in Alzheimer patients. 

This list is a summary and below are specific suggestions for particular areas of the brain.

He suggests these foods  and activities as GOOD FOR THE BRAIN lessen Holes in brain scan or SPECT readings.

1. Blueberries are the best, my favorite stock up and freeze when cheap.
2. Avocados great all the time for the fatty acids similar to brain matter.
3. Walnuts 3x more healthy fatty acids than almonds shaped like a brain too.
4. Green tea decaf is seen as better.
5. Fish oil, or flax or hemp oil for omega 3. take or cook with daily.
6.Get enough sleep – less than a minimum of six hours decreases blood flow to the brain
7.  Exercise - dance - play table tennis – the best sport because it utilizes eyes, hands and feet. Exercise is found to be better than any cognitive activity like reading or chess in retaining healthy senior brain function.
8. Keep learning, languages are the most beneficial since they create massive new neuro interconnections or musical instrument. 
9. Water is critical to brain - drink plenty through the day - 80% of the brain is water
10.  Take a multivitamin daily.
11.Best brain diet is lean protein, good complex and low glycemic carbohydrates
Green leafy vegetables and vegetables in general of many colors which increase antacids. Turkey, tuna and other lean meat are great for maintaining the tissue of the brain.
12. Broccoli for folate.
13. Vitamin C, citrus or red peppers daily.
14. Avoid hits to the Head most serious for brain function. 



Bad for the brain Increase holes in brain scan or Spect readings.

1. Too much caffeine
2. Alcohol
3. Inhaling fumes gas, sprays, paint all add up like a rain barrel effect.
4. Organic toxins- avoid pain and anxiety medications if you can
5. Head injuries - wear a helmet that fits; use your seat belt, repair your vehicle, use snow tires, drive safe, bike safe ect.
6. Stress and lack of sleep both decrease blood flow to brain when chronic will slowly dry the brain out causing holes.

SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF BRAIN FUNCTION To better understand how the brain works and what to be aware of when preventing or understanding problems.

1st principle – The brain determines how you think, feel, act and get along with others. Your personality, character and soul. This is why it should be seen as very important. 

2nd Principle – When the brain works right you work right, and when it is not working right you don’t work right When your brain is healthy you are focused, happy, relaxed, loving and affectionate When your brain is not working right you are distracted, sad, anxious, angry, and not as affective

3rd principle – The brain can lose up to 85000 connections a day when compromised.
      
4th principle –Wear a helmet the brain is like jello in a hard skull. Brain injuries are very debilitating as we see in boxers and hockey players concussions can make a big difference in brain function.

5th principle - Many things can hurt or help the brain

Things that hurt:

• Drugs
• Head injuries are very bad
• Alcohol (take only one or two drinks a week) Drinkers have smaller brains
• Lack of exercise
• Not enough sleep – less than six hours a night decrease blood flow to the brain.
• Stress
• Smoking ages the brain and dehydrates it.
• Too much caffeine. Only one or two dehydrates the brain and blood flow.
• Negative thinking reduces blood flow to the brain.

Things that help:

• New learning makes new connections
• Healthy diet
• Daily vitamins and fish oil
• Exercise
• Great sleep
• Social connections of family hobby, club
• Positive thinking especially gratitude. Your brain is more coordinated
when you are grateful
• Meditation is amazing for brain function. It activates the most thoughtful
part
• Regular sexual activity helps mood and pain relief. Having sex three times
a week reduces heart and stroke problems by 50% and decreases pain by
50%

6th principle – One (size) does not fit everyone’s diagnosis. Depression is a symptom
Causes:

•  Chemical imbalance
•  Grief
•  Chronic stress
•  Financial losses
•  Relationship problems
•  Low thyroid

7th principle – You can change your brain and change your life
Only 90 out of 3000 brains are healthy drugs and smoking cause more damage than you can imagine. Smoking is number one cause of strokes in the brain.
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SPECIFIC BRAIN PART FUNCTIONS PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS.

Pre frontal cortex – Humans have 30%, chimps 14% (?) dogs 7% and cats 0%

Controls:
• Focus
• Forethought
• Judgment
• Empathy
• Impulse control
• Learning from mistakes

Problems cause:

Short attention span, Don’t learn from mistakes, Act like cat that lacks impulse control, Procrastination, Bad judgment
Not much empathy, ADD – low activity version
Weak conscience, Low persistence
Low energy depression
Need to be upset in order to concentrate

Things that help:

Develop and maintain clear focus (One page miracle)
Focus on what you like a lot more than what you don’t like
Have meaning, purpose, stimulation, and excitement in your life
Get organized; get help when you need it
Consider brain - wave biofeedback training
Try audiovisual stimulation
Don’t be another person’s stimulant
Consider prefrontal cortex stimulation
Watch your prefrontal cortex nutrition
Try Mozart for focus
Write out goals in all aspects – relationship, money, physical, spiritual
Exercise – intense aerobic
High protein, low carbohydrate diet
Fish oil

Cingulate brain - at front of brain

Controls:

Brain’s ability to shift gears
To be flexible and go with the flow
Sees options
Idea to idea movement
Error detection
Problems cause:
If it works too hard serotonin gets too low
Get stuck in thoughts, hurts, grudges
Argumentative
Fault finding
Micro managers
Rigid
Appears selfish
Inflexible

Things that help:

Notice when you are stuck, distract yourself, and come back to the
problem later
Think through answers before automatically saying no
Write options and solutions when you feel stuck
Seek the counsel of others when you feel stuck
Memorize and recite the serenity prayer when bothered by repetitive
thoughts
Don’t try to convince someone else who is stuck: take a break and come
back later
Try making paradoxical requests
Learn how to deal with oppositional children. Give them options or use
reverse psychology (Baby powder is an aphrodisiac for women who say
no to sex)
Consider cingulated medications
Try nutritional interventions
Exercise boosts serotonin
Best diet is high carbohydrate and low protein
Carbohydrates boost serotonin
Dark chocolate
Take 5 http supplement

Limbic system

Controls:

Emotional brain
Our bonding
Processing pain, smell, sex and libido
Drive us to love and work
Our mood, happy or sad
Cinnamon is an aphrodisiac for men

Problems cause:

Sadness, Depression
Negativity
Automatic negative thoughts
Thoughts lie a lot
Isolation
Less interest in things usually

Things that help:

Exercise is critical at least 4 x a week (works better than drug Zoloft)
Fish oil is low in depressed people. Countries where people who ate the
most fish had lowest depression
Write out negative thoughts and talk back to them – Ask is this true?
Natural food supplements

Deep Limbic System

Functions:

• Sets the emotional tone of the mind
• Filters external events through internal states (creates emotional coloring)
• Tags events as internally important
• Stores highly charged emotional memories
• Modulate motivation
• Controls appetite and sleep cycles
• Promotes bonding
• Directly processes the sense of smell
• Modulates libido

Problems:

• Moodiness, irritability, clinical depression
• Increased negative thinking
• Negative perception of events
• Decreased motivation
• Flood of negative emotions
• Appetite and sleep problems
• Decreased or increased sexual responsiveness
• Social isolation

SOLUTIONS:

• Kill the ANTS (automatic negative thoughts)
• Kill the ANTS/ Feed your anteater
• Surround yourself with people who provide positive bonding
• Protect your children with limbic bonding
• Build people skills to enhance limbic bonds
• Recognize the importance of physical contact
• Surround yourself with great smells
• Build a library of wonderful memories
• Consider limbic medications
• Try physical exercise
• Watch your limbic nutrition

Basal Ganglia

Controls:

Integrates feeling and movement
Shifts and soothes fine motor behaviors
Suppresses unwanted motor behaviors
Sets the body’s idle speed or anxiety level
Enhances motivation
Mediates pleasure/ecstasy

Problems cause:

Anxiety, nervousness
Panic attacks
Physical sensations of anxiety
Tendency to predict the worst
Conflict avoidance
Tourette’s syndrome/tics
Muscle tension, soreness
Tremors
Fine motor problems
Headaches
Low/excessive motivation

Things that help:

Kill the fortune telling ANTS (automatic negative thoughts)Use guided imagery
Try diaphragmatic breathing
Try meditation /self hypnosis
Learn how to deal with conflict
Consider basal ganglia medications
Watch your basal ganglia nutrition

The temporal lobes

Controls:

Dominant side (usually the left)
• Understanding and processing language
• Intermediate-term memory
• Long term memory
• Auditory learning
• Retrieval of words
• Complex memories
• Visual and auditory processing
• Emotional stability
Non dominant side (usually the right)
• Recognizing facial expressions
• Decoding vocal intonation
• Rhythm
• Music
• Visual learning

Problems with the dominant (Usually left) Temporal Lobe

• Aggression, internally or externally directed
• Dark or violent thoughts
• Sensitivity to slights; mild paranoia
• Word-fining problems
• Auditory processing problems
• Reading difficulties
• Emotional instability

Problems with the Nondominant (Usually right) Temporal Lobe

• Difficulty recognizing facial expression
• Difficulty decoding vocal intonation
• Implicated in social-skill struggles

Problems with Either or Both Temporal Lobes

• Memory problems
• Headaches or abdominal pain without a clear explanation
• Anxiety or fear for no particular reason
• Abnormal sensory perceptions, visual or auditory distortions
• Feelings of déjà vu (that you have previously experienced something when
you haven’t) or jamais vu (not recognizing familiar people or places)
• Periods of spaciness or confusion
• Religious or moral preoccupation
• Hypergraphia, exercise writing
• Seizures

Things that help:

Create a Library of wonderful experiences
Sing whenever/wherever you can
Use humming and toning to tune up your brain
Listen to Classical music
Learn to play a musical instrument
Move in rhythms
Consider temporal lobe medications
Get enough sleep
Eliminate caffeine and nicotine
Watch your nutrition
Try EEG biofeedback