The Chaos Theory

Organization is important for several different reasons. When you stop to think about it, the opposite of organization is chaos and chaos is synonymous with stress. When we look at the pillars of effective brain training, cognitive, physical, metabolic, and lifestyle factors, we see how stress relates directly to lifestyle factors. Many of these come with at least some level of personal control.

Organization is an important factor for managing stress and making sure your brain experiences as little unnecessary distraction as possible. If you’re living by the seat of your pants and organizing your day by countless post-it notes or digital notes, it can bog you down. Also, when you’re not accomplishing things it gives you a sense of fear and worry, because you’re not completely doing the things you feel you are supposed to be doing.

A lack of organization can be a significant challenge in your life. Simply crossing things off of your to-do list doesn’t mean that you are organized. To a certain degree, it might make more sense to sit down and write a 'to-not-do list'. Sometimes you can look at your current to-do list and find things that have been on there for months, if not years. If you’re not doing those things, then it probably means they are not all that important.

Getting control of your thoughts and energies by having a to-not-do list can actually be quite liberating. It can even start to eliminate some of the fear and worry that comes from not getting everything done.

There is a great deal of research that shows us how fear and worry are the two most damaging emotions to the human brain. They contribute to the production of significant amounts of stress hormones. These hormones circulate through the body and can actually cause damage to certain parts of the brain that allow us to learn. They can even damage connections that have been made in the brain. The more we do to eliminate those two emotions, the better off our brains will be.

Some people might find that taking 10 or 15 minutes on Sunday evenings, to organize their week, can be incredibly powerful. You don’t have to go into minute detail. Simply prioritizing and putting your top tasks for the week in order can take a great deal of stress out of the week ahead. It can also help you think better, sleep better and interact more efficiently with friends, family and coworkers.

Contributor Author: Dr. Michael Trayford is a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and Founder of APEX Brain Centers in Asheville, NC. For more information, please visit www.ApexBrainCenters.com/memory.

The opinions expressed by contributing authors are not necessarily the opinions of the Dementia Society, Inc. We do not endorse nor guarantee products, comments, suggestions or other forms of content contained within blog posts- that have been provided to us with permission, or otherwise. Dementia Society does not provide medical advice, please consult your doctor. www.DementiaSociety.org

Oxygen is the Secret

There are virtually hundreds of different breathing exercises with different purposes and outcomes. However, there is a simple, foundational breathing exercise that you can do each day to help your brain work better. This is particularly helpful for people that are not getting enough oxygen to their brain.

Decreased oxygen levels has a serious impact on the brain. When we breathe normally, we typically inhale and exhale at a 1 to 1 ratio; meaning, for every second we breathe in, we breathe out for a count of 1 (e.g. 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out). When this happens we’re not really holding the air in our lungs for a significant length of time. This means there isn’t sufficient transfer of air to oxygen in the lungs, which limits the amount of oxygen in our bloodstream available to the brain.

During this breathing exercise you breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. When doing this make sure you’re sitting comfortably, or you could even be lying on your back. Don’t slouch, as you won’t be able to take in the maximum volume of air. You want to be able to feel your abdomen rise and fall.

The rate of breathing for this exercise happens at a 1 to 2 ratio. When you inhale, that breath going in should take around 4 to 5 seconds. Don’t hold your breath. Tighten your lips a little bit as you breathe out, which will slow it down to take about twice as long, or 8 to 10 seconds. 

You could time this with a stop watch or do it roughly by keeping track in your own mind. The key is to make sure that you’re breathing out longer than you’re breathing in. This exercise can will increase oxygen levels in the blood stream within 30 seconds to a minute after beginning.

You can do this exercise throughout the course of the day. Each time try to do ten breaths. As you do this you will start to effectively train the brain to take in that breath, and retain it a little longer as you breathe out.  This improves oxygen levels far better than just breathing to breathe.

Breathing is something we need to do, so it’s something that we should do well. This is particularly important at certain times of the day when the brain might be lacking from an energy standpoint. This exercise can help raise your energy levels without having to resort to sugar, caffeine, or some other type of stimulant.

It’s important to reinforce that in this particular exercise you don’t actually hold your breath! In fact, there might be some instances where someone has a medical problem where holding their breath could cause them to pass out. This exercise is about breathing in and immediately out. As your breathing becomes more efficient you can begin to explore more advanced breathing techniques.

Contributor Author: Dr. Michael Trayford is a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and Founder of APEX Brain Centers in Asheville, NC. For more information, please visit www.ApexBrainCenters.com/memory.

The opinions expressed by contributing authors are not necessarily the opinions of the Dementia Society, Inc. We do not endorse nor guarantee products, comments, suggestions or other forms of content contained within blog posts- that have been provided to us with permission, or otherwise. Dementia Society does not provide medical advice, please consult your doctor. www.DementiaSociety.org

Timeout in the Bedroom

Eliminating technology from the bedroom is a very important topic we can talk at great length about. Suffice it to say, all of our gadgets and technology addictions are posing a significant threat to our brain and body health. The biggest reason we know of relates to the effects of artificial lights on our brains. This is particularly true for laptops, tablets and handheld devices. Research has found that LED lighting is suggestive to the brain. The blue light emitted by these types of devices simulates the light outdoors.

This means you could be on your tablet, in bed, at ten o’clock at night and the blue light is telling your brain that it’s light outside. The human sleep-wake cycle is based on our relationship to the natural light in our environment.

When we are artificially inducing daylight through use of these devices, particularly at night, the brain gets very confused. Hormones such as cortisol are produced and start to circulate through the blood stream causing a more alert state. This also causes the body to lack certain hormones (i.e. melatonin) that are naturally supposed to be present before sleeping.

Of course, this isn’t just about smart phones and tablets. This also extends to other electronic devices like televisions and stimulation from radios. All devices should be taken into consideration as it’s not just that blue light tricking the brain into thinking it’s light outside. Other types of stimulation disrupt sleep/wake cycles. Simple things like anticipating a text message, email, or phone call create a sense of anticipation that stimulates the brain, making it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep.

At the same time, there is also a concern that EMF, or electromagnetic field, waves can have a negative impact on the brain.

All of these electronic devices need to be turned off and left in places outside of the bedroom; in the kitchen or wherever they will be used first thing the next morning. This is critically important training for children as all they know is technology and boundaries are becoming less clearly defined as time progresses.

The bottom line is that it’s just not good sleep hygiene to have these electronic devices in your bedroom.

Contributor Author: Dr. Michael Trayford is a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and Founder of APEX Brain Centers in Asheville, NC. For more information, please visit www.ApexBrainCenters.com/memory.

The opinions expressed by contributing authors are not necessarily the opinions of the Dementia Society, Inc. We do not endorse nor guarantee products, comments, suggestions or other forms of content contained within blog posts- that have been provided to us with permission, or otherwise. Dementia Society does not provide medical advice, please consult your doctor. www.DementiaSociety.org

To The One I Love, I Will Not Miss You

To The One I Love, I Will Not Miss You

When you walk in the door, I will not know who you are.

The familiar features of your face, I will not know.

Your gentle hand upon my brow, will be awkward.

Your voice will be strange, but only to my ears.

Please try and console my fears.

As soon as your gentle touch reaches my heart, my heart will know who you are.

Because only my thoughts are confused, my heart is and always will be true to you.

Dementia is only in my thoughts, it cannot touch the memories in my heart.

Please show me the pictures of our life together.

Help control the fears that are only in my thoughts.

My thoughts will not miss you, my heart will cry in pain.

Help me now with love, pictures and recordings of us.

For soon Dementia will be my only master.

And I will not miss you.

- © 2015 Jeff Morden. Reproduced by the Dementia Society of America with permission of the author.

Get to Know Dementia

"KNOW DEMENTIA!

Obviously a play on words that we coined, to help folks quickly understand that there's more to know about Dementia, than most people think they know.

It's like anything else, if you scratch just below the surface of any subject, you begin to understand that there's a whole world of knowledge just waiting to wade through.

This blog (short for weblog. see you learned something already) will be attended to like a year-round garden: figure out what veggies you want and when you want them; create some space for planting, a great deal of on-going nourishment; a basket full of tender love and care; and behold, after awhile, there are fruits to thy labors.

We will attempt to share some of our knowledge and experiences in life caring for, and about, those with Dementia. As comedian George Carlin said, "brain droppings." Plus there'll be some bits and pieces of wisdom we've harvested from all of those that have gone before us down this rocky, but awesomely challenging path. #dementia #alzheimers #caregiving #dementiasociety

Welcome...

Kevin
President & Founder
Chairman of the Board
Dementia Society of America