Name: You Can Fix Your Brain
Rating: 4.1 (599 reviews)
Author: Dr. Tom O'Bryan

What’s in it for me? Cut the fog and boost your brain

Does this happen to you? You're staring at your computer screen, trying to finish a project for work, but it feels like your thoughts are moving through a thick fog. Focusing feels impossible.

Or how about this: You're on the phone, about to jot down an important detail. You search for pen and paper – “Where’d they go again?” – but by the time you find them, you've forgotten what you were supposed to write down.

If you’ve ever experienced brain fog or memory lapses, you’re in good company. Millions of people, old and young, suffer from cognitive symptoms and impairments that affect their quality of life and productivity.

The good news? You can absolutely improve the situation.

In this Blink, we’ll examine underlying causes of brain dysfunction, often related to inflammation, and how to find out if they’re affecting you. We’ll also learn some strategies for addressing these with lifestyle modifications and dietary changes.

You can improve your cognitive function and achieve a better memory, clarity, and energy. Let’s get started.

Immunity, inflammation, and the brain

What do dementia, depression, anxiety, and memory loss have in common? They’re all caused by runaway processes of inflammation and autoimmunity. Not only that, they can all be treated by finding and eliminating the underlying triggers. Let’s look at how this process works.

The function of the immune system is, of course, to protect your body from foreign substances – harmful intruders impinging on your body. A well-functioning immune system can distinguish between your body's own cells and external threats, ensuring that only genuine dangers are targeted.

But what happens when this system malfunctions? Autoimmunity is a condition in which the immune system mistakes your healthy cells as invaders and launches an attack against them.

This leads to inflammation within the relevant cells and tissues and can even cause your immune system to destroy these cells if it believes they’re damaged.

So where does all this begin? Often it starts because of the presence of foreign substances, environmental toxins, or foods to which either you have an individual sensitivity or which are simply unhealthy, in general.

Unfortunately, the modern world exposes your body to many such slings and arrows. These insults can leave your immune system chronically triggered – constantly overactive. Brain symptoms like brain fog, memory issues, and even anxiety and depression, indicate that inflammation is happening in the brain, impeding its proper function.

So how do these substances get into your brain in the first place? Let’s zoom out to the rest of your body. First, your gut. Your intestinal system has evolved to do a difficult and sensitive job – allowing you to absorb all of the nutrients that your body needs to keep running while blocking out what’s harmful or not needed.

Your intestines have a semi-permeable mucous lining which acts as this filter. But in some people, the mucous lining becomes damaged and over-permeable, known as leaky-gut syndrome. A leaky gut lets through substances that it shouldn’t, like bacteria and toxins.

But your body has another protective mechanism in place to protect the brain – the blood-brain barrier. Just like the intestinal lining, your blood-brain barrier is a kind of filter, allowing only those substances which are supposed to get across to enter – straining what gets through, like an ultra-fine cheesecloth. Your brain is sensitive and important, so this filter is even finer and more selective than the one in your gut, operating at the molecular level and blocking whatever’s not needed.

But this filter, too, can become compromised – in what is referred to as a breach of the blood-brain barrier. Once that happens, the foreign substance is free to enter into your brain tissue. Your body then begins to initiate the immune response we discussed earlier. Brain tissue becomes inflamed and begins to lose function, resulting in slowly-worsening symptoms as the tissue becomes progressively damaged.

For many people, the idea of damage to the brain is an especially scary prospect. One reason is the sense that this damage is truly permanent. Scientists used to believe that we had a fixed number of brain cells and once they were gone, they were gone forever. While your brain cells certainly are precious and merit your careful protection, newer science has shown that it’s possible for brain cells to regenerate. This gives some hope that it’s possible to restore brain function that’s been compromised – to heal the brain.

But before we can, we need to address the underlying problems which resulted in damage. We have to eliminate leaky gut, restore the blood-brain barrier, and ultimately, eliminate the offending toxins that caused the problem in the first place.

So how do we know if these dangerous autoimmune processes are present? We’ll cover that in the next section.

Your biological dashboard

You're driving home after a long day at work, looking forward to a relaxing evening. Coming along an uphill stretch, you notice the temperature warning light on your dashboard turn on. Concerned, you bring your car to the mechanic.

"It's a good thing you came in,” they say. “You've got a leaking water pump, which made your engine overheat. If you'd kept driving, you could've ended up with major engine damage. But, don’t worry, I fixed the pump. You’re good to go.”

A great pyramid

When it comes to understanding and addressing brain-related illness, there are four primary areas of focus, representing four faces of what O’Bryan calls the pyramid of brain health. These four areas are structure, emotional and spiritual, biochemistry, and electromagnetic.

The base of the pyramid is your structure. That is your physical muscular-skeletal system – the framework that holds your brain up and off the ground, as it were. Believe it or not, mechanical problems such as postural misalignments and muscular imbalances can result in brain problems down the road. An example of this is osteoarthritis, where physical misalignment and poor joint function create wear and tear on the joint, resulting in restricted blood flow, local inflammation, and ultimately immune response.

Biochemistry and electromagnetism

The next face of the pyramid is biochemistry. One strategy here is detoxification. We talked earlier about how exercise can help flush toxins out of your body. One way you can help this process is through intermittent fasting. Fasting has been used for thousands of years as a way of purifying the body. The ancient Greeks knew it. Plutarch, for example, is quoted as saying "Instead of using medicine, rather, fast a day." Or Paracelsus: “Fasting is the greatest remedy – the physician within.”

Intermittent fasting, otherwise known as time-restricted feeding, is a practice in which people restrict their eating to a particular time window, say the 12-hours between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Regular intermittent fasting has been shown to, yes, burn fat – lipids are tissues where many toxins are stored – which allows the body to rid itself of organic pollutants. It also gives the body a chance to deal with damaged cells – which then get replaced by healthy new ones. To help with detoxification, make sure to drink enough water, as this helps your body circulate fluids and flush out the bad stuff.

Kernaussagen in You Can Fix Your Brain