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Sunday, November 29, 2015
Gratitude
Sunday, July 5, 2015
The Neuro Map
The Neuro Map
This month is rockin. I will be speaking at 3 different meetings! I would like to invite you all. It's this Wednesday, July 8th, 2:00pm at Mountain People's Organics located at the Columbia Airport. I will be talking about brain health. Fuel and Activation Baby!
RSVP here.
Also, July's promotion is 50% discount on a brain map of your very own brain. Which includes a BrainMap, a detailed color report and a 20 minute consult. Read all about the Brain Map below.
The Neuro Map: It’s What Makes Our System Better
The Clear Mind system includes the Neuro mapping feature, which gives you the whole picture for each person in a detailed report. Also known as brain mapping, this process allows you to visualize inside the brain and identify very clearly the irregular brainwaves that cause neurological issues. From that brain map, a report is generated for each patient that shows the areas of dysfunction and the protocols recommended to address them.
A customized system means more accurate training, faster results and happier patients. This results in a higher success rate and can lead to quality referrals and more business through your door.
How Does Brain Mapping Work?
Using a cap placed on the scalp, our software captures the electrical impulses in the brain. This method is known as an electroencephalogram (EEG). The results show brain wave patterns in different parts of the brain. The process takes about 15 minutes, and the data is then converted into a visual brain map report. We analyze the brain map report and identify any problem areas. The report will display the results in a clear and concise format that can be easily understood.
The Brain Map Report
Here are several pages from the brain map report:
This page shows an analysis of each lobe of the brain (frontal, parietal, central, temporal and occipital) for each type of brain wave: Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta. Green indicates a normal level, red is elevated and yellow is extreme.
The Discriminants Analysis page (below) shows a visual meter for the major functions of the brain, such as the cognitive, emotional, memory processing, executive functions, and more.
The Emotional and Cognitive Analysis compares the results of your self-assessment against the results of the brain map and helps identify problem areas within the brain. Red indicates a strong potential match, green indicates no match.
The Midline Analysis is a visual reference of your brainwaves compared to normal ones. Gray bars are normal levels, color bars are from your brain map.
Based on the results of your brain map, the report will generate suggested protocols for training your brain back into normal ranges, as well as suggested supplements.
This report was taken from the ClearMind website. Learn more by clicking here .
Friday, May 8, 2015
CoQ10 for Exercise Recovery
CoQ10 for Exercise Recovery
Posted on Tue, May 05, 2015 @ 09:56 AM
- inShare41
Designs for Health Research & Education Blog
Another name for coenzyme Q10—ubiquinone—gives us an idea of just how important a compound it is, and how frequently it’s found in living organisms. It is “ubiquitous,” as it is found in almost all cell membranes and lipoproteins, where it inhibits the peroxidation of structural lipids. Its most well-known role, however, is in transferring electrons along the mitochondrial electron transport chain. The “10” part of CoQ10 refers to its biochemical structure, which consists of ten isoprene units attached to a benzoquinone head.
CoQ10 is a fat-soluble compound synthesized endogenously on a branch of the mevalonate pathway, which also produces cholesterol. Dietary sources highest in CoQ10 are animal proteins (beef, poultry and fish), with smaller amounts occurring in nuts and seeds, and even smaller amounts found in some vegetables and fruits. Among animal sources of CoQ10, the richest concentrations occur in hardworking tissue, such as heart, liver and kidney. Because it can be synthesized internally, it’s not technically an “essential” nutrient. However, as is the case with many vitamins and minerals, supplemental amounts of this nutrient may be beneficial forameliorating specific health conditions, preventing or limiting oxidative damage, and giving the body a leg up when it comes to performing certain tasks.
One area in which CoQ10 may offer a slight advantage is in physical exercise performance and recovery. This isn’t surprising, considering its aforementioned role in the mitochondrial electron transport chain—the mechanism by which the vast majority of skeletal muscle cells’ energy (ATP) is generated. Sufficient CoQ10, therefore, is instrumental in providing the body with the energy to perform physical exercise, but this nutrient’s role extends even further than that. As a powerful antioxidant, supplemental CoQ10 has been shown to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation induced by strenuous exercise. In highly trained male athletes, oral CoQ10supplementation was shown to decrease membrane hydroperoxides, 8-Hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG, a marker for DNA damage due to oxidation), and the inflammatory marker, TNF-α. It also resulted in reduced creatinine excretion, suggestive of decreased muscle tissue damage.
A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial involving elite Japanese athletes engaging in long bouts of kendo (a martial art) showed that CoQ10 supplemented at 300mg/day was effective for lowering lipid peroxidation, serum myoglobin, and serum creatine kinase compared to placebo, suggesting that supplementation may reduce exercise-induced muscle damage.
These findings are logical, given CoQ10’s well-recognized antioxidant function. Regarding the role of CoQ10 in enhancing athletic performance, however, a systematic review of studies provided mixed results. Studies included trained as well as untrained subjects, across a variety of activities, including cycling, skiing, and general athletics. In the studies that did show a benefit from CoQ10, the positive changes were in maximum oxygen consumption, and exercise capacity. It may be that supplementation only benefited those with lower levels to begin with, and most of the studies involved small sample sizes, which may have weakened the findings.
There may still be a small role for CoQ10 in athletic performance, however. In a double-blind, crossover RCT employing 300mg/day of CoQ10, the test group reached a greater maximum velocity and reported reduced subjective fatigue, compared to placebo, after performing workload trials on a bicycle ergometer.
Rather than providing athletes—and weekend warriors, alike—with a performance edge during exercise, it seems the benefits of CoQ10 are more closely tied to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory function. The CoQ10-mediated decrease in cellular damage incurred by exercise may reduce recovery time and better prepare athletes for their next training session.
Bottom line: CoQ10 isn’t going to turn a couch potato into an Olympic medalist, but by decreasing the cellular damage induced by exercise, and reducing feelings of fatigue, it might help people engage more frequently in physical activities they enjoy, which may contribute to overall improved health.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Current Events
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Sunday, April 19, 2015
ADHD and Neurofeedback
NO MORE STIMULANTS
Photo Source: www.themessofmen.tumblr.com
Living with a child with ADD or ADHD can be confusing, exhausting and very stressful. From “explaining” their behaviors to others and researching different medications and side effects of those medications it can begin to consume your entire life.
According to the Center For Disease Control, approximately 11% of children 4-17 years of age (6.4 million) have been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011. And those numbers are growing each year, the percentage of children with an ADHD diagnosis continues to increase, from 7.8% in 2003 to 9.5% in 2007 and to 11.0% in 2011. The main form of treatment for children struggling with ADHD is stimulant medication, which can have serious and detrimental side effects like loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, stomachaches, or emotional issues.
There is another way and it doesn’t involve medication, it involves science and reconditioning your children’s brain. Neurofeedback therapy is a natural process that enables us to measure and view brain waves. Brain waves occur at various frequencies. Some are fast, and some are quite slow. But remember, there is no bad or good wave. But, if we have too much of one or the other, the imbalance can negatively affect us. Through Neurofeedback therapy we can help your child regulate undesirable brain activity and enhance desirable brain activity, all without medication.
Sounds pretty amazing right? Well, it is! If you’re still on the fence about it, don’t hesitate to schedule a free consultation with Tamara Lund, DC today and learn more about this revolutionary new treatment that’s leaving pill bottles and side effects in the rear view mirror.
Sounds pretty amazing right? Well, it is! If you’re still on the fence about it, don’t hesitate to schedule a free consultation with Tamara Lund, DC today and learn more about this revolutionary new treatment that’s leaving pill bottles and side effects in the rear view mirror.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Insomnia and Sleep Disorders
Insomnia and Sleep Disorders
Sleep Disorders
At least 40 million Americans each year suffer from chronic, long-term sleep disorders, and an additional 20 million experience occasional sleep problems. Neurofeedback is a powerful tool for regulating sleep. Health professionals around the world report significant improvement in a large percentage of their clients using neurofeedback to treat chronic, long term sleep problems.
At least 40 million Americans each year suffer from chronic, long-term sleep disorders, and an additional 20 million experience occasional sleep problems. Neurofeedback is a powerful tool for regulating sleep. Health professionals around the world report significant improvement in a large percentage of their clients using neurofeedback to treat chronic, long term sleep problems.
What are the most commonly reported sleep issues that improve with neurofeedback training?
- Insomnia – Difficulty falling asleep; difficulty maintaining sleep during the night
- Difficulty waking from sleep
- Difficulty getting to bed
- Not feeling rested after sleep
- Sleeping too long (over 10 hours)
- Physically restless sleep
- Nightmares
- Bedwetting (Nocturnal enuresis)
- Sleepwalking
- Restless leg syndrome – Leg discomfort or sleep causing movement & arousal
- Bruxism – teeth grinding during sleep
- Sleep terrors – Abrupt arousal with intense fear, difficult to awaken, no dream recall or memory of event
- Narcolepsy
- Dysregulated sleep patterns/cycles (circadian rhythms)
Many of the conditions helped with EEG biofeedback are correlated with disorders of sleep. These include epilepsy, anxiety and depression, closed head injury, hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder, chronic pain and fibromyalgia, Tourette’s syndrome. Even when poor sleep is not the cause for referral for biofeedback, it is often mentioned as a problem during the intake interview. The first reported signs of change upon initiating EEG training often relate to the quality of sleep. We believe that the principal mechanism of efficacy of EEG training is that it normalizes self-regulation of physiological arousal, and the beneficial effects of the training on sleep can be explained in the same manner. When self-regulation is deficient, this should be apparent when arousal level is least tightly regulated, i.e. during sleep in general, and during transitions between sleep stages in particular. Nothing so cogently demonstrates that EEG biofeedback confers a new competence to the brain–as opposed to a consciously applied tool to the patient–than its efficacy in remediating disorders of sleep.
Bedwetting is among the most common symptoms seen in our clinical population, which consists largely of persons with attentional deficits (bedwetting is seen in 30% of institutionalized children; i.e. there is a high correlation with minor neurological deficits). In more than 90% of children under twelve with this condition, remediation is expected within the first twenty sessions of training. In older children and in adults, the problem is more resistant to remediation. It may take more training sessions than in younger children. We have seen much lower incidence of sleep walking, sleep talking, and night terrors. However, remediation is also observed for these conditions. Excessive fears about falling asleep, or about sleeping in one’s own bed, usually remediate very quickly with the onset of training.
There is an intimate connection of insomnia with disorders of arousal such as anxiety and depression. The success of EEG training in effecting improved self-regulation of arousal should, therefore, be expected to result in improved regulation of sleep in these cases, and that is what we observe.
Sleep apnea is generally thought to consist of a central, neurological component, and a somatic, obstructive component, the latter due to the fact that the condition closely correlates with obesity. Obstructive sleep apnea has historically been treated surgically, with rather poor outcomes, so that surgery is now gradually being abandoned in favor of a breathing aid device which provides continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). EEG training has been successful in fully remediating apnea episodes in adult males, even in the absence of any other behavioral changes such as weight loss. The condition is seen as arising from cortical under arousal.
Neurofeedback training often helps these problems as it improves brain regulation. These are common reports: A 75 year-old reported recently that she “slept like a baby for the first time in 25 years” after neurofeedback training. Parents of children with ADHD often say it’s easier to get their kids to sleep. Depressed clients remark they have a much easier time getting going in the morning.
The role of the brain and sleep
The brain regulates sleep. Neuroscience has established the role of neuromodulator systems in the brainstem that play a role in maintaining awake states and, conversely, help the brain sleep. The EEG (brainwaves) clearly reflects changes in sleep stages. Training brainwaves using neurofeedback to decrease or increase slow brainwave activity, or to increase specific EEG activation patterns appears to help the brain normalize sleep. Based on reports from a large number of licensed health professionals the evidence shows that training the EEG impacts sleep regulatory mechanisms and people sleep better. Since sleep is complex and involves many systems, it is not possible to suggest that sleep problems always improve as a result of neurofeedback. But clinicians say that they routinely expect changes to occur in sleep patterns after appropriate training for a large percentage of their patients. As with any program, a complete sleep assessment is helpful. Sleep hygiene issues (including caffeine, alcohol and other behavioral factors) and other potential contributory factors such as possible sleep apnea also need to be carefully reviewed and corrected in combination with neurofeedback training.
The brain regulates sleep. Neuroscience has established the role of neuromodulator systems in the brainstem that play a role in maintaining awake states and, conversely, help the brain sleep. The EEG (brainwaves) clearly reflects changes in sleep stages. Training brainwaves using neurofeedback to decrease or increase slow brainwave activity, or to increase specific EEG activation patterns appears to help the brain normalize sleep. Based on reports from a large number of licensed health professionals the evidence shows that training the EEG impacts sleep regulatory mechanisms and people sleep better. Since sleep is complex and involves many systems, it is not possible to suggest that sleep problems always improve as a result of neurofeedback. But clinicians say that they routinely expect changes to occur in sleep patterns after appropriate training for a large percentage of their patients. As with any program, a complete sleep assessment is helpful. Sleep hygiene issues (including caffeine, alcohol and other behavioral factors) and other potential contributory factors such as possible sleep apnea also need to be carefully reviewed and corrected in combination with neurofeedback training.
Sleep is a good example of the research challenge of neurofeedback. There are good neurofeedback studies in ADHD, epilepsy and addiction. The fact that no significant studies exist on sleep and neurofeedback is remarkable. In virtually every study related to neurofeedback outcomes, changes to sleep are noted, but not always highlighted or even reported.
Sleep researchers are primarily unaware of neurofeedback and its implications for insomnia and other sleep disorders. Hopefully, cross-fertilization between clinically-oriented therapists and sleep researchers can occur. As in many academic areas, this kind of cross fertilization can take significant time and funding. Because of the vast amount of literature about brain regulation, sleep and the EEG, there is a solid basis for using neurofeedback with sleep problems. Hundreds of experienced licensed professionals have used this modality successfully to improve sleep for over 25 years.
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