MENTAL AND COGNITIVE HEALTH

There’s a lot of focus placed on physical wellness, but what about the brain?

Considering the brain controls all your physical and cognitive functions, it’s important to understand how to maintain it. The good news is that you can take a sustainable and holistic approach to brain health.

Cognitive and neurological health refers to the health of the brain, how efficiently the brain communicates with the body while maintaining a host of other functions such as memory, judgment, language, spacial sensing, recognition, dealing with colors, images and numbers as well as the ability to learn. We need to take care of it, just as we do the rest of our body to prevent or slow the age-related degenerative processes that lead to cognitive decline and dementia.

It is now the beginning of an exciting era as 2021 heralded the groundbreaking large-scale clinical-trial of Dale Bredesen and colleagues, demonstrating REVERSAL of COGNITIVE DECLINE with an individualised nutrition & lifestyle medicine approach.

If you notice a decline in cognitive function, worsening memory, this is the time to do something about it. There are different factors causing and driving cognitive decline in different individuals. Identifying these makes it easier to correct them, and restore optimal function.

Factors such as blood sugar dysregulation, infections, an inflammatory diet, nutritional deficiencies, hormonal deficiencies, stress, sleep deprivation, poor circulation, toxin exposure and trauma can all contribute to worsening brain function and development of Alzheimer's or related dementias.

The fantastic news is that these are largely REVERSIBLE factors. Whilst dead neurons cannot be recovered, poor cellular function can often be improved, when the imbalances are addressed.

Addressing cognitive decline requires an individualised approach, and the sooner you take the first steps, the better capacity for improvement.

Symptoms of cognitive decline are caused by damage to the brain's nerve cells. Symptoms generally appear gradually, and can initially be attributed to natural aging.

• Difficulty concentrating and remembering things
• Mood changes such as anger, anxiety, mistrust or confusion
• Not recognizing loved ones and forgetting names
• Inability to perform basic tasks
• Difficulty walking or talking
• Loss of bearings in familiar places
• Losing or misplacing objects
• Balance and coordination problems
• It can be heartbreaking to watch a loved one slowly develop cognitive decline, as well as being disconcerting and upsetting for the person suffering from it.

The brain contains billions of nerve cells, called neurons, which transmit information between each other.

As we age, brain function naturally declines due to reduced blood flow, decreased neurotransmitter production and deterioration of the protective sheaths surrounding the nerves. In the case of cognitive decline, these processes occur more rapidly.

Proteins known as beta-amyloid are naturally present in the brain, but when they accumulate, they can form hard, insoluble plaques that block the communication mechanism between brain cells. This may be because the proteins are not eliminated, or because they are produced in large quantities. Plaque accumulation is thought to be the result of infection, toxins, inflammation and oxidative stress.

It is also thought that increased inflammation leads to the destruction of healthy brain cells. Inflammation can be caused by a permeable intestinal mucosa, a pro-inflammatory diet, obesity or infections such as Lyme disease, herpes virus or dental disease.

Gut health has a considerable effect on brain health, as some intestinal bacteria release messenger molecules that increase inflammation or act directly as nerve cell irritants.

Insulin resistance, gluten sensitivity, nutrient deficiencies, stress, lack of sleep and a sedentary lifestyle are other factors that affect brain health. The brain is highly sensitive to the effects of toxins, including metals such as mercury and lead, environmental pollutants or mycotoxins from molds.

Some people have one or more genetic mutations which, if activated by environmental factors, can increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Severe cognitive decline is typically seen among aging adults (60+), but now we are seeing more individuals even in their 40’s starting to suffer from cognitive issues.

Most people suffer from mild cognitive impairment (MCI), including loss of memory – for example the inability to quickly remember names and numbers, which doesn’t hugely impact their ability to maintain necessary daily activities.

Conventional medicine states there is no cure for severe cognitive decline, but what they fail to recognize is the ability to treat early cognitive decline before the brain is in severe decline.

Many conventionally trained doctors still believe that memory loss is a result of the aging brain losing chemicals (like acetylcholine) that allow your brain cells to properly communicate.

While that is true in part, it’s only a very small part of the story. Typically, they prescribe medications to boost neurotransmitters (which only help marginally) but never address the other systemic insults leading to impaired brain function. If memory medications truly worked, then cognitive decline would be a manageable issue, instead of the growing problem that it is.

One of the reasons why many primary care practitioners are at a loss to treat cognitive impairments has to do with their training: They learn to treat symptoms with a prescription, while typically not getting to the root of why your brain is in decline, which is a complex equation.

While conventionally trained doctors are great at acute care, they simply don’t have the training and tools to deal with chronic disorders, including cognitive decline and dealing with issues like memory loss, brain fog, anxiety, and depression – which can sometimes be mistakenly diagnosed as emotional issues.

The Functional Medicine approach to healing cognitive decline is also a “whole body” approach to therapy.

This means we look at all the systems in the body to see how they are impacting your brain, including your gut and hormone balance, as well as deficiencies in key nutrients.

We also look at your toxic load and analyze how your environment might be impacting your brain. I see this often with my clients who have brain health issues due to toxic mold exposure, heavy metal poisoning, or high levels of inflammation due to gut imbalances.
We also test to see if you have undiagnosed food sensitivities that can cause gut issues as well as brain fog, anxiety, and insomnia.

Through advanced medical research  we’ve recently discovered that nutrition plays a huge part in the health of your brain. Unfortunately, nutrition is not a current part of your standard medical school training, but it is a primary focus in functional medicine training.

We’ve also discovered that deficiencies in key brain nutrients could be to blame for many cognitive issues – which we correct with high-quality, medical grade supplementation and a functional nutrition diet.

Only with a deep understanding of the complex interplay between the gut, inflammation, hormonal health and other factors, can a functional medicine-trained practitioner assess the true causes of cognitive decline.

This protocol is wonderful for your brain, but also benefits your entire body, as we look at your whole system and help you to make the needed changes to get your health back on track.

Feel free to schedule a complimentary  consultation to see what the best next steps are for you.

Do you have questions you’d like to ask connect with Christelle