Godsengineering &mdash; Mind Your Head Co-op https://mindyourheadcoop.org/tag:Godsengineering Your life, your brain, you're healing! Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:36:30 +0000 Help Your Brain Heal by Your Body Eating Itself? https://mindyourheadcoop.org/help-your-brain-heal-by-your-body-eating-itself?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[You read that title correctly. Autophagy is a very useful biological “clean-up crew” process that helps get rid bits and parts floating around that no longer need to be there. Trouble is, the conviences of modern living stop the clean-up crew from coming around disrupting our feasting and lounging. Regular, long-term, responsible fasting exercise, ketogenic diet (or at least low carb) were build in parts of daily life for thousands of years before we became agrarian. Bottom line, living in such a way that your body regularly engages it’s self-cleaning mechanisms, autophagy, not only promots long, healthy living, but it can help heal the brain because the body is restoring #Godsengineering, working as God created us to work. !--more-- This post from Mark’s Daily Apple is an excellent guide to autophagy and how to encorparate practices into daily life than may help you. Here is a preview quote... Autophagy: the word comes from the Greek for “self-eating,” and that’s a very accurate description: Autophagy is when a cell consumes the parts of itself that are damaged or malfunctioning. Lysosomes—members of the innate immune system that also degrade pathogens—degrade the damaged cellular material, making it available for energy and other metabolites. It’s cellular pruning, and it’s an important part of staving off the worst parts of the aging process. In study after study, we find that impairment to or reductions of normal levels of autophagy are linked to almost every age-related degenerative disease and malady you can imagine. Early in my brain injury I went off processed foods. Abnout ten years ago, I discovered paleo and ketogenic (I eat the ketogenic version of the Perfect Health Diet). I eat only two meals a day, with little to no snacking except on “hard” brain days. I ride my bike several hours every day my brain allows. I have improved slowly and steadily over this time, and notice I do worse in those times I am unable to regularly enter autophagy. For me, it is a key component of my #longtermTBIhealing. May God startle you with joy! ___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!]]> You read that title correctly. Autophagy is a very useful biological “clean-up crew” process that helps get rid bits and parts floating around that no longer need to be there. Trouble is, the conviences of modern living stop the clean-up crew from coming around disrupting our feasting and lounging. Regular, long-term, responsible fasting exercise, ketogenic diet (or at least low carb) were build in parts of daily life for thousands of years before we became agrarian.

Bottom line, living in such a way that your body regularly engages it’s self-cleaning mechanisms, autophagy, not only promots long, healthy living, but it can help heal the brain because the body is restoring #Godsengineering, working as God created us to work.

This post from Mark’s Daily Apple is an excellent guide to autophagy and how to encorparate practices into daily life than may help you. Here is a preview quote...

Autophagy: the word comes from the Greek for “self-eating,” and that’s a very accurate description: Autophagy is when a cell consumes the parts of itself that are damaged or malfunctioning. Lysosomes—members of the innate immune system that also degrade pathogens—degrade the damaged cellular material, making it available for energy and other metabolites. It’s cellular pruning, and it’s an important part of staving off the worst parts of the aging process.

In study after study, we find that impairment to or reductions of normal levels of autophagy are linked to almost every age-related degenerative disease and malady you can imagine.

Early in my brain injury I went off processed foods. Abnout ten years ago, I discovered paleo and ketogenic (I eat the ketogenic version of the Perfect Health Diet). I eat only two meals a day, with little to no snacking except on “hard” brain days. I ride my bike several hours every day my brain allows. I have improved slowly and steadily over this time, and notice I do worse in those times I am unable to regularly enter autophagy. For me, it is a key component of my #longtermTBIhealing.

May God startle you with joy!

___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!

]]> https://mindyourheadcoop.org/help-your-brain-heal-by-your-body-eating-itself Thu, 28 Mar 2019 15:23:04 +0000 Floor Living to Help Your Brain https://mindyourheadcoop.org/floor-living-to-help-your-brain?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Another aspect of #Godsengineering, floor living follows the precipt of removing cushioning and support for sitting and sleeping, and it's benifits can be profound. Positions such as cross-legged, squatting, kneeling, even leaning against a tree, insted of sitting in a chair in a position we weren't designed for, strengthens our core muscles, helps our muscles be limber and lithe and strong, and gives us better, stronger posture, all of which aid our motion when we are up and about, standing, walking, running, riding, working. Paired with going barefoot, our quality of life can be greatly improved through better body and mind function all the time. !--more-- Getting Started Sit on the floor. Chances are your core is weak and hips tight. Discomfort will come quickly. It is simply telling you to shift position. This is also a sign you will benefit from floor living, as your body is weak and will become much stronger as you use it well and properly, instead of weakened by cushion and support. Shift positions as needed, which may be every few minutes. Get up and walk about now and then when it all becomes too much. Then sit again. Experiment and learn. Read. Work at the computer. Write. Draw. Paint. Engage in creation. Shift position as needed. Walk as needed. Return and repeat. Over the coming days and weeks, notice how you move differently, better, all the time, whatever you are doing. When you do sit in a chair, notice how weird it feels, especially the cushier it is. Persevere. After about three months, you will likely notice you are going twenty or more minutes without realizing it, making subtle shifts in position without realizing it. Floor living has been around a long, long time. Grin. Jesus and the disciples reclined at the Last Supper. Sleep on the Floor or a Wood Platform Bed The simplest way to rapidly see benefits is to sleep on the floor or wood platform bed with a thin pad. I use a few wool blankets as my pad on a wood 2x4 platform bed we made. I do not use a pillow. Instead, my head rests flat when I am on my back or front; on my arm when on either side. Sleep is deeper and my body and mind well rested when I wake. We use light blocking curtains so the room is dark. Furniture Furniture will need to shift to be floor living height. Desks and tables all need to come down to your level. Grin. Coffee tables make great desks. Kneelers are a great way to be at a desk and work for hours (working up to doing so, of course). We have cut our kitchen table to coffee table height and sit on thin cushions on our tile floor. Where can we get Furniture and Cushions? I don’t know. We’ve made our own or re-purposed coffee tables, end tables, and the like to be desks and work spaces (or we just use the floor spread out before us). There are meditation cushions, but they look very thick and we’ve never tried them. How Much? How Little? As with all aspects of God's engineering, our family started as bare and simple as we could go for three months. We removed all chairs and stools, and slept on the floor and gave ourselves three months to get stronger and be able to decide what, if anything we needed to add back in. Less is more, until it isn't. More is great, until it diminishes our capacity. After three months, each family member assessed if they had difficulty doing things without a chair. Some things are designed for chair use, such as harp playing, sewing machines, but these are specific, defined activities, and so using a minimal stool or chair is workable. We build platform beds and couches, having found the floor too cold in winter and arm rests far more cosy. Our couches are deeper, so we can sit cross-legged or kneel on them, but they have minimal padding. We added just enough to make things work for each person. How Long’s this Gonna Take? I’ve found for myself, my family, and most folks I’ve worked with that any bodily transition, including to floor living, going barefoot, diet, etc., takes three months of doing it full time before it feels like a “new normal” vs. “I’m transitioning.” The shifts and strengthening continue, with marked milestones around one and three years. After that, it’s just ongoing, subtle learning rather than paridigm shifts. How does this help, especially brain injury and caregivers? We function better when we eliminate the "noise" of cushioning and support, allowing our bodies to strengthen and move as God created them to. Science is catching up with this idea, though it doesn't know it yet. Grin. Studies show sitting in office chairs are bad for health. Life with brain injury, either as a survivor or caregiver, is chronically stressful. That takes a toll on our health and capacity to function. But sitting and sleeping on the floor works those muscular stresses out, increases circulation, keeps us moving and shifting regularly, and increases mental alertness -- all of which relieve stress. If you are struggling with stress in your life, wouldn't it be great to have those stresses melt away as you sleep, working themselves out because you are on a hard bed instead of working themselves deeper and hidden to harm your capacity to function because you are on a cushioned bed? I no longer need to sit in a zero gravity chair, as I did before floor living. Floor living positions are solidly rooted, core to the earth, and my brain isn’t trying to figure out where I am in space (I have constant double axis neurological vertigo). Plus, my “chair” is always with me. Just sit down and I’m in my favorite chair. Grin. How’s hospitality work when people who can’t sit on the floor visit? Because of my brain injury, most people are too scented to come in the house, so we are poor hosts in that regard, long before the issue of seating comes up. Sardonic grin. Our somewhat amorphous plan for the possible future when folks who can’t sit on the floor visit inside is to make available the few chairs we still have, or pile more cushions on the platform sofas so they have a “normal” spot to sit. Rather like hosting someone vegan in a paleo household and attempting, however poorly, to extend hospitality. Grin. Questions? This ain't easy. Grin. Simple is always hard. You understand the idea in five minutes, but it takes a lifetime to learn. I'm happy to help, however I can. Please, feel free to Email me with any questions. #TBI #BrainInjury ___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!]]> Another aspect of #Godsengineering, floor living follows the precipt of removing cushioning and support for sitting and sleeping, and it's benifits can be profound. Positions such as cross-legged, squatting, kneeling, even leaning against a tree, insted of sitting in a chair in a position we weren't designed for, strengthens our core muscles, helps our muscles be limber and lithe and strong, and gives us better, stronger posture, all of which aid our motion when we are up and about, standing, walking, running, riding, working. Paired with going barefoot, our quality of life can be greatly improved through better body and mind function all the time.

Getting Started

Sit on the floor. Chances are your core is weak and hips tight. Discomfort will come quickly. It is simply telling you to shift position. This is also a sign you will benefit from floor living, as your body is weak and will become much stronger as you use it well and properly, instead of weakened by cushion and support. Shift positions as needed, which may be every few minutes. Get up and walk about now and then when it all becomes too much. Then sit again. Experiment and learn. Read. Work at the computer. Write. Draw. Paint. Engage in creation. Shift position as needed. Walk as needed. Return and repeat.

Over the coming days and weeks, notice how you move differently, better, all the time, whatever you are doing. When you do sit in a chair, notice how weird it feels, especially the cushier it is. Persevere. After about three months, you will likely notice you are going twenty or more minutes without realizing it, making subtle shifts in position without realizing it.

Floor living has been around a long, long time. Grin. Jesus and the disciples reclined at the Last Supper.

Sleep on the Floor or a Wood Platform Bed

The simplest way to rapidly see benefits is to sleep on the floor or wood platform bed with a thin pad. I use a few wool blankets as my pad on a wood 2x4 platform bed we made. I do not use a pillow. Instead, my head rests flat when I am on my back or front; on my arm when on either side.

Sleep is deeper and my body and mind well rested when I wake. We use light blocking curtains so the room is dark.

Furniture

Furniture will need to shift to be floor living height. Desks and tables all need to come down to your level. Grin. Coffee tables make great desks. Kneelers are a great way to be at a desk and work for hours (working up to doing so, of course). We have cut our kitchen table to coffee table height and sit on thin cushions on our tile floor.

Where can we get Furniture and Cushions?

I don’t know. We’ve made our own or re-purposed coffee tables, end tables, and the like to be desks and work spaces (or we just use the floor spread out before us). There are meditation cushions, but they look very thick and we’ve never tried them.

How Much? How Little?

As with all aspects of God's engineering, our family started as bare and simple as we could go for three months. We removed all chairs and stools, and slept on the floor and gave ourselves three months to get stronger and be able to decide what, if anything we needed to add back in. Less is more, until it isn't. More is great, until it diminishes our capacity.

After three months, each family member assessed if they had difficulty doing things without a chair. Some things are designed for chair use, such as harp playing, sewing machines, but these are specific, defined activities, and so using a minimal stool or chair is workable. We build platform beds and couches, having found the floor too cold in winter and arm rests far more cosy. Our couches are deeper, so we can sit cross-legged or kneel on them, but they have minimal padding. We added just enough to make things work for each person.

How Long’s this Gonna Take?

I’ve found for myself, my family, and most folks I’ve worked with that any bodily transition, including to floor living, going barefoot, diet, etc., takes three months of doing it full time before it feels like a “new normal” vs. “I’m transitioning.” The shifts and strengthening continue, with marked milestones around one and three years. After that, it’s just ongoing, subtle learning rather than paridigm shifts.

How does this help, especially brain injury and caregivers?

We function better when we eliminate the “noise” of cushioning and support, allowing our bodies to strengthen and move as God created them to. Science is catching up with this idea, though it doesn't know it yet. Grin. Studies show sitting in office chairs are bad for health.

Life with brain injury, either as a survivor or caregiver, is chronically stressful. That takes a toll on our health and capacity to function. But sitting and sleeping on the floor works those muscular stresses out, increases circulation, keeps us moving and shifting regularly, and increases mental alertness — all of which relieve stress. If you are struggling with stress in your life, wouldn't it be great to have those stresses melt away as you sleep, working themselves out because you are on a hard bed instead of working themselves deeper and hidden to harm your capacity to function because you are on a cushioned bed?

I no longer need to sit in a zero gravity chair, as I did before floor living. Floor living positions are solidly rooted, core to the earth, and my brain isn’t trying to figure out where I am in space (I have constant double axis neurological vertigo). Plus, my “chair” is always with me. Just sit down and I’m in my favorite chair. Grin.

How’s hospitality work when people who can’t sit on the floor visit?

Because of my brain injury, most people are too scented to come in the house, so we are poor hosts in that regard, long before the issue of seating comes up. Sardonic grin. Our somewhat amorphous plan for the possible future when folks who can’t sit on the floor visit inside is to make available the few chairs we still have, or pile more cushions on the platform sofas so they have a “normal” spot to sit. Rather like hosting someone vegan in a paleo household and attempting, however poorly, to extend hospitality. Grin.

Questions?

This ain't easy. Grin. Simple is always hard. You understand the idea in five minutes, but it takes a lifetime to learn. I'm happy to help, however I can. Please, feel free to Email me with any questions.

#TBI #BrainInjury

___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!

]]> https://mindyourheadcoop.org/floor-living-to-help-your-brain Tue, 05 Feb 2019 01:41:53 +0000 Start Healing https://mindyourheadcoop.org/start-healing?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Best Therapy: Enter Life as Fully As Possible Entering life as fully as possible is the best therapy possible for healing our brain. This website offers tips and approaches quite different from what you may have heard from your doctors. This is because the medical world focuses on acute care, demanding rapid results, and it does not understand long term healing and living with a chronic brain injury. If you wish to love life and simultaneously maximize the healing of your brain this approach may help you as much as it has me. God's Engineering A powerful way to maximize healing of chronic healith challenges like TBI is to remove any and all clutter preventing our bodies from functioning at their best. Go created us wonderfully, and this includes amazing engineering and functionality - but what we eat, wear, how we move, and how we sit and sleep deeply impacts our body and brain functionality. These articles may be helpful... What we eat can heal our brain (or harm it). Exercise helps heal the brain Prayer helps smooth the way Floor Living Aids Brain Function and Healing Understanding Brain Injury These articles will help caregivers, family, and friends better understand brain injury and what your loved one is going through (if you have the brain injury and wish family and friends understood you better, send them the links!). Family and Friends’ Guide to Brain Injury Spend a Day on Planet TBI Brain Budgeting TBI Anger and Over Stimulation of the Senses Connect with Others Sharing the journey with others who understand is critical. If you are on Facebook, search for TBI groups. There are some excellent ones (and some less than, but you'll weed them out quickly). If you prefer email (I find it far less "noisy" and brain draining), I'd love for you to join one of the email support groups I moderate. These links will bring you there: Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado (BIAC) Email Support Group: for both caregivers and survivors. BIAC Caregiver Support Group: for caregivers only Grieve Your Loss We have lost a lot. Grieving our loss is a critical way of freeing us to move forward, whatever that looks like for us now. As Fast As I Can, As Slow As I Must! To enter life as fully as possible we need to learn balance. Push too hard and we need a lot of recovery time, go too slow and we languish, miss out on life and don't make new connections because we aren't pushing our boundaries. Focus on What You Love and Can Do In the accute phase of healing, doctors focus on what is hard for us to do. This often means a lot of recovery time. As we enter the chronic phase (to varying degrees, likely for the rest of our lives), we need to shift to focusing on what we love to do and on what we can do. What are you passionate about? What do you love to do? Write? Draw? Run? Play? Sing? Dance? Whatever it is, what part of it can you do, right now, with the capacity you have? You never know what you'll discover and/or heal tomorrow because of what you do today. The idea is simple. When we love something, we want to do it and find ways to do it. When we do things in a way we can, we discover new avenues to do more in ways we couldn't have if we frustratingly focused on what our incapacities are. I've found I do more, spend less brain energy, recover faster, and celebrate the joy of life more by focusing on what I love and am passionate about. Rather than bashing into a brick wall over and over trying to do what you can't (for now), do what you love instead and eventually you'll discover the wall crumbled. Sanctuary Create a sanctuary - a room where you can focus on what you love without distraction. This may mean soundproofing, simplifying clutter, changing out fluorescent lights to incandescent full spectrum ones, and more. Set up your indoor activities so you can do them in your sanctuary. When the world overwhelms you with barrages of sight, sound, smells, tastes, and touch, escape to your sanctuary to recover. When your TBI anger flares, go to your sanctuary to avoid saying things you'll regret later, and start recovering. This post on TBI anger, and this one on adrenaline halflife may be helpful. I have days where I can't get out of my "hobbit hole" at all. Other days, I'm in and out, spending five minutes with my wife and kids, and an hour or two recovering. Because my hobbit hole is so stimulation free, even while recovering I can create (write, draw, etc). As I write this, I'm actually a week in to recovering from an adrenaline crash. Portable Sanctuary When I do need to go out into the world, I don my armor. Ear plugs and noise canceling headphones are my main armor. Others find sunglasses (even glacier glasses, which block the sides) helpful. This Crazy Approach Works! Focusing on entering life as fully as possible while going "as fast as I can, as slow as I must" helps our brain heal. Through discovering and living this approach, I have been amazed and blessed by how effective it is. Despite my many challenges (I test 3rd percentile in short term memory, easy derailing of thought and focus), and constant neurological vertigo, I spend wonderful time with my wife and daughters, write, pray, engage in theology, and I even have learned how to (by going barefoot) run and bike mountain trails and back roads. True, I can't attend or serve at Mass or join my family when they go elsewhere (the overstimulation of the laundry scents, flashing, barrage of noise, and other over stimulation mean I have to shut down and escape after thirty seconds, and then need a week or so to recover), but the quality of life we experience as a family is dramatically higher because of this approach. I pray you find it does the same for you! May God startle you with joy! #caregiving #howto #advocacy #Godsengineering]]> Best Therapy: Enter Life as Fully As Possible

Entering life as fully as possible is the best therapy possible for healing our brain. This website offers tips and approaches quite different from what you may have heard from your doctors. This is because the medical world focuses on acute care, demanding rapid results, and it does not understand long term healing and living with a chronic brain injury.

If you wish to love life and simultaneously maximize the healing of your brain this approach may help you as much as it has me.

God's Engineering

A powerful way to maximize healing of chronic healith challenges like TBI is to remove any and all clutter preventing our bodies from functioning at their best. Go created us wonderfully, and this includes amazing engineering and functionality – but what we eat, wear, how we move, and how we sit and sleep deeply impacts our body and brain functionality.

These articles may be helpful...

What we eat can heal our brain (or harm it).

Exercise helps heal the brain

Prayer helps smooth the way

Floor Living Aids Brain Function and Healing

Understanding Brain Injury

These articles will help caregivers, family, and friends better understand brain injury and what your loved one is going through (if you have the brain injury and wish family and friends understood you better, send them the links!).

Family and Friends’ Guide to Brain Injury

Spend a Day on Planet TBI

Brain Budgeting

TBI Anger and Over Stimulation of the Senses

Connect with Others

Sharing the journey with others who understand is critical. If you are on Facebook, search for TBI groups. There are some excellent ones (and some less than, but you'll weed them out quickly).

If you prefer email (I find it far less “noisy” and brain draining), I'd love for you to join one of the email support groups I moderate. These links will bring you there:

Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado (BIAC) Email Support Group: for both caregivers and survivors.

BIAC Caregiver Support Group: for caregivers only

Grieve Your Loss

We have lost a lot. Grieving our loss is a critical way of freeing us to move forward, whatever that looks like for us now.

As Fast As I Can, As Slow As I Must!

To enter life as fully as possible we need to learn balance. Push too hard and we need a lot of recovery time, go too slow and we languish, miss out on life and don't make new connections because we aren't pushing our boundaries.

Focus on What You Love and Can Do

In the accute phase of healing, doctors focus on what is hard for us to do. This often means a lot of recovery time. As we enter the chronic phase (to varying degrees, likely for the rest of our lives), we need to shift to focusing on what we love to do and on what we can do.

What are you passionate about? What do you love to do? Write? Draw? Run? Play? Sing? Dance? Whatever it is, what part of it can you do, right now, with the capacity you have? You never know what you'll discover and/or heal tomorrow because of what you do today.

The idea is simple. When we love something, we want to do it and find ways to do it. When we do things in a way we can, we discover new avenues to do more in ways we couldn't have if we frustratingly focused on what our incapacities are.

I've found I do more, spend less brain energy, recover faster, and celebrate the joy of life more by focusing on what I love and am passionate about.

Rather than bashing into a brick wall over and over trying to do what you can't (for now), do what you love instead and eventually you'll discover the wall crumbled.

Sanctuary

Create a sanctuary – a room where you can focus on what you love without distraction. This may mean soundproofing, simplifying clutter, changing out fluorescent lights to incandescent full spectrum ones, and more.

Set up your indoor activities so you can do them in your sanctuary.

When the world overwhelms you with barrages of sight, sound, smells, tastes, and touch, escape to your sanctuary to recover.

When your TBI anger flares, go to your sanctuary to avoid saying things you'll regret later, and start recovering. This post on TBI anger, and this one on adrenaline halflife may be helpful.

I have days where I can't get out of my “hobbit hole” at all. Other days, I'm in and out, spending five minutes with my wife and kids, and an hour or two recovering. Because my hobbit hole is so stimulation free, even while recovering I can create (write, draw, etc). As I write this, I'm actually a week in to recovering from an adrenaline crash.

Portable Sanctuary

When I do need to go out into the world, I don my armor. Ear plugs and noise canceling headphones are my main armor. Others find sunglasses (even glacier glasses, which block the sides) helpful.

This Crazy Approach Works!

Focusing on entering life as fully as possible while going “as fast as I can, as slow as I must” helps our brain heal. Through discovering and living this approach, I have been amazed and blessed by how effective it is. Despite my many challenges (I test 3rd percentile in short term memory, easy derailing of thought and focus), and constant neurological vertigo, I spend wonderful time with my wife and daughters, write, pray, engage in theology, and I even have learned how to (by going barefoot) run and bike mountain trails and back roads. True, I can't attend or serve at Mass or join my family when they go elsewhere (the overstimulation of the laundry scents, flashing, barrage of noise, and other over stimulation mean I have to shut down and escape after thirty seconds, and then need a week or so to recover), but the quality of life we experience as a family is dramatically higher because of this approach. I pray you find it does the same for you!

May God startle you with joy!

#caregiving #howto #advocacy #Godsengineering

]]> https://mindyourheadcoop.org/start-healing Wed, 30 Jan 2019 23:32:35 +0000 Relaxing Through The Rocks in the Road https://mindyourheadcoop.org/relaxing-through-the-rocks-in-the-road?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[ Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who tells you different is selling something.” – Wesley (aka the Great Pirate Roberts) in the film “The Princess Bride” Life with brain injury is often compared to a “long hard road.” It is. It’s got extreme ups and downs plus all kinds of rocks and other challenges. The question is, what do we do about it? The road, after all, is the road. It’s ours to travel. How do we travel it with the greatest amount of joy and the least amount of pain? Attitude and faith. !--more-- Relax, Relax, Relax One of the challenging and fundamental things I had to learn when going barefoot (either running or walking) was to relax. The pain tender feet experience on rocky roads is significant. It causes the whole body, foot included, to tense up. This ironically only makes things worse. You see, our feet are designed to mould to whatever we step on. Yes, they need to thicken (but not callus), but they remain soft and flexible, shaping themselves, when relaxed, to whatever the are places upon. This allows me to walk on roads and over rocks that would be too painful otherwise. No Friction Another fundamental principle of barefooting is to place the foot onto the ground without friction. This means placing the foot softly straight up and down, no matter the speed. How do these to concepts translate to life on the TBI “long, hard, road?” All those rocks (challenges, burdens, things we can’t do, losses) we experience in TBI life are much the same. Our reflex is to tense up, fight back, get angry, try and take control. That only makes things worse. We end up bruised and bleeding because of our own self inflicted beating Instead, allow faith to help melt your attitude. Focus on the gifts, rather than dwelling on the pain. Prayer of Thanksgiving Here’s how I do it (sometimes every five minutes!). Whenever I feel burdened, I think of three gifts in my life at that very moment. Sometimes it’s hard. I can often get to one or two fairly easily, but three can be a real stumper. When I finally get that third, somehow I see another hundred or more gifts all present in that same moment. Then I pray a simple prayer of thanksgiving to God. Somehow it relaxes my entire countenance, and I start gliding over the rocks without really even paying attention to them. Whether you’re a caregiver or survivor, the burdens of life with TBI are ever present. Learning to move through life with as little friction as possible makes life that much more enjoyable. That’s not to say there won’t be rough people or situations, but how we move when we encounter them makes a huge difference. I still run over rough decomposed granite, which can feel like running on the tips of three knives, but by both relaxing and lifting my foot straight up and placing it straight down, I minimize the impact on me and on the rock. Godsengineering ___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!]]>

Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who tells you different is selling something.” – Wesley (aka the Great Pirate Roberts) in the film “The Princess Bride”

Life with brain injury is often compared to a “long hard road.” It is. It’s got extreme ups and downs plus all kinds of rocks and other challenges. The question is, what do we do about it?

The road, after all, is the road. It’s ours to travel. How do we travel it with the greatest amount of joy and the least amount of pain? Attitude and faith.

Relax, Relax, Relax

One of the challenging and fundamental things I had to learn when going barefoot (either running or walking) was to relax. The pain tender feet experience on rocky roads is significant. It causes the whole body, foot included, to tense up. This ironically only makes things worse.

You see, our feet are designed to mould to whatever we step on. Yes, they need to thicken (but not callus), but they remain soft and flexible, shaping themselves, when relaxed, to whatever the are places upon. This allows me to walk on roads and over rocks that would be too painful otherwise.

No Friction

Another fundamental principle of barefooting is to place the foot onto the ground without friction. This means placing the foot softly straight up and down, no matter the speed.

How do these to concepts translate to life on the TBI “long, hard, road?”

All those rocks (challenges, burdens, things we can’t do, losses) we experience in TBI life are much the same. Our reflex is to tense up, fight back, get angry, try and take control. That only makes things worse. We end up bruised and bleeding because of our own self inflicted beating

Instead, allow faith to help melt your attitude. Focus on the gifts, rather than dwelling on the pain.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Here’s how I do it (sometimes every five minutes!). Whenever I feel burdened, I think of three gifts in my life at that very moment. Sometimes it’s hard. I can often get to one or two fairly easily, but three can be a real stumper. When I finally get that third, somehow I see another hundred or more gifts all present in that same moment. Then I pray a simple prayer of thanksgiving to God. Somehow it relaxes my entire countenance, and I start gliding over the rocks without really even paying attention to them.

Whether you’re a caregiver or survivor, the burdens of life with TBI are ever present. Learning to move through life with as little friction as possible makes life that much more enjoyable. That’s not to say there won’t be rough people or situations, but how we move when we encounter them makes a huge difference. I still run over rough decomposed granite, which can feel like running on the tips of three knives, but by both relaxing and lifting my foot straight up and placing it straight down, I minimize the impact on me and on the rock.

#Godsengineering

___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!

]]> https://mindyourheadcoop.org/relaxing-through-the-rocks-in-the-road Wed, 30 Jan 2019 18:01:55 +0000 Exercise Helps Heal the Brain https://mindyourheadcoop.org/exercise-helps-heal-the-brain?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Exercise really does help heal the brain. One of the now known ways it does is by helping generate new mitochondria in the brain and throughout the nervous system. When mitochondria, the powerhouse within each cell of the body, get low neurons risk dysfunction or death. Running the Colorado Trail, along with all other forms of exercise, help heal my brain. What exercise do you find helps heal yours? !--more-- Here are the articles and the pertinent quotes: Exercise Training Increases Mitochondrial Biogenesis in the Brain These findings suggest that exercise training increases brain mitochondrial biogenesis which may have important implications, not only with regard to fatigue, but also with respect to various central nervous system diseases and age-related dementia that are often characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction. Impaired cerebral mitochondrial function after traumatic brain injury in humans Decreased oxygen metabolism due to mitochondrial dysfunction must be taken into account when clinically defining ischemia and interpreting oxygen measurements such as jugular venous oxygen saturation, arteriovenous difference in oxygen content, direct tissue oxygen tension, and cerebral blood oxygen content determined using near-infrared spectroscopy. Restoring mitochondrial function might be as important as maintaining oxygen delivery. Mitochondria (the Powerhouses of our Cells) and Brain Disease Mitochondrial defects are now described in a wide spectrum of human conditions, including neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases, aging, and cancer. Further studies examining the importance of mitochondrial pathophysiology in neurodegenerative diseases such as AD and HD may provide important insight into neurodegenerative disease pathogenesis and may indeed provide a target for specific therapies. There is increasing interest in the potential usefulness of coenzymeQ10 (CoQ10) to treat neurodegenerative diseases because CoQ10 administration can increase brain and brain mitochondrial concentrations in brain in mature and older animals. CoQ10 (also known as ubiquinone) serves as an important cofactor of the electron transport chain, where it accepts electrons from complexes I and II, thus serves as an important antioxidant in both mitochondria and lipid membranes. A prior study showed that vitamin E has efficacy in slowing the progression of AD. The antioxidants curcurmin and melatonin exert beneficial effects on amyloid deposition in transgenic mouse models of AD. It is, therefore, possible that CoQ10 might similarly be beneficial in AD.” A big thanks to Joe (JZ) and Luis Manuel for these links. Thanks, lads! Godsengineering ___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!]]> Exercise really does help heal the brain. One of the now known ways it does is by helping generate new mitochondria in the brain and throughout the nervous system. When mitochondria, the powerhouse within each cell of the body, get low neurons risk dysfunction or death. Running the Colorado Trail, along with all other forms of exercise, help heal my brain. What exercise do you find helps heal yours?

Here are the articles and the pertinent quotes:

Exercise Training Increases Mitochondrial Biogenesis in the Brain

These findings suggest that exercise training increases brain mitochondrial biogenesis which may have important implications, not only with regard to fatigue, but also with respect to various central nervous system diseases and age-related dementia that are often characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction.

Impaired cerebral mitochondrial function after traumatic brain injury in humans

Decreased oxygen metabolism due to mitochondrial dysfunction must be taken into account when clinically defining ischemia and interpreting oxygen measurements such as jugular venous oxygen saturation, arteriovenous difference in oxygen content, direct tissue oxygen tension, and cerebral blood oxygen content determined using near-infrared spectroscopy. Restoring mitochondrial function might be as important as maintaining oxygen delivery.

Mitochondria (the Powerhouses of our Cells) and Brain Disease

Mitochondrial defects are now described in a wide spectrum of human conditions, including neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases, aging, and cancer. Further studies examining the importance of mitochondrial pathophysiology in neurodegenerative diseases such as AD and HD may provide important insight into neurodegenerative disease pathogenesis and may indeed provide a target for specific therapies.

There is increasing interest in the potential usefulness of coenzymeQ10 (CoQ10) to treat neurodegenerative diseases because CoQ10 administration can increase brain and brain mitochondrial concentrations in brain in mature and older animals. CoQ10 (also known as ubiquinone) serves as an important cofactor of the electron transport chain, where it accepts electrons from complexes I and II, thus serves as an important antioxidant in both mitochondria and lipid membranes. A prior study showed that vitamin E has efficacy in slowing the progression of AD. The antioxidants curcurmin and melatonin exert beneficial effects on amyloid deposition in transgenic mouse models of AD. It is, therefore, possible that CoQ10 might similarly be beneficial in AD.”

A big thanks to Joe (JZ) and Luis Manuel for these links. Thanks, lads!

#Godsengineering

___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!

]]> https://mindyourheadcoop.org/exercise-helps-heal-the-brain Wed, 30 Jan 2019 17:58:32 +0000 Ketogenic Diet Increases Brain Function and Healing https://mindyourheadcoop.org/ketogenic-diet-increases-brain-function-and-healing?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Ketogenic simply means getting your primary energy by burning fat, as opposed to most people in the US today who get most of their energy by burning glucose. Science is showing us that when fat is our primary fuel we function much smoother and healthier — including multiple studies showing brain benefits of burning fat os our primary fuel. In essence we access God’s engineering by shifting to burning fat rather than glucose. !--more-- Many people think our brain needs glucose as it’s primary energy. Wrong. Ketones are a by-product of burning fat and they duel our brain just fine. But if our body and brain are used to only having glucose as fuel (which likely means battling weight gain no matter how little you eat and often feeling hungry and having quick and sudden loss of brain and body energy, among other things (like high risk for diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and more, which are the result of the Standard American Diet (SAD)), it can be a challenging process to switch, a process some experience as the low-carb flu. How do we switch to burning mostly fat? Diet. Simply put, eat (at least) twice as many fat calories as you do carb calories. Here is a great review of “The Perfect Health Diet” book, an excellent resource for exploring and understanding the ketogenic diet and the science behind it. Diet essentials (from the Perfect Health Diet) By Calories, 20% carbs, 65% (healthy) fats, 15% protein. By weight, 65% plants, 35% animal foods, Eliminate all veggie oils, eating only olive oil, animal fat, coconut oil, cold water fish oil (be sure it is mercury minimal or free). Eggs are fantastic. Eliminate all grain and legumes, some nuts and seeds are OK, but soak them first to eliminate toxins and maximize nutrition and digestibility. Counter to Popular Understanding… (from the Perfect Health Diet) You will lose weight eating a high fat diet (lots of reasons, but put simply, your body is able to burn fat in addition to storing it). Animal fat is good for you, veggie oils are very unhealthy. Since USDA recommendations and the standard diet pyramid of food groups, US diet has dropped from an average of 40% fat to 30% fat, but we are fatter and less healthy and at greater risk of health issues than ever because we are malnourished. Grains and legumes are hard to prepare traditionally in a “pre-digested” way and such preparation does not eliminate all toxins — in effect their nutritive value is negative because of their anti-nutrients. Personal Experience Since learning of it in 2009, I have been experimenting with just how I do and feel on various levels of ketogenic diet. The results are amazing. The more ketogenic my diet, the better my brain capacity, cognitive energy, energy stability, longevity, and the better I feel. Making the switch is not easy. There are some things I have struggled to hold onto. Despite wanting oatmeal to work for me, I have discovered there is no way with current modern food production methods to duplicate the way oats need to be handled to make them part of my diet. For me, giving up wheat and other grains was not a big deal, but the oats hurt and I needed to be sure I could not make them work. I can’t. The science is a lot to follow, but the Weston A. Price Foundation explains why, with this excerpt: Oats contain very little phytase, especially after commercial heat treatment, and require a very long preparation period to completely reduce phytic acid levels. Soaking oats at 77 degrees F for 16 hours resulted in no reduction of phytic acid, nor did germination for up to three days at this temperature.63 However, malting (sprouting) oats for five days at 52 degrees F and then soaking for 17 hours at 120 degrees F removes 98 percent of phytates. Adding malted rye further enhances oat phytate reduction.64 Without initial germination, even a five-day soaking at a warm temperature in acidic liquid may result in an insignificant reduction in phytate due to the low phytase content of oats. On the plus side, the process of rolling oats removes a at least part of the bran, where a large portion of the phytic acid resides. How do we square what we know about oats with the fact that oats were a staple in the diet of the Scots and Gaelic islanders, a people known for their robust good health and freedom from tooth decay? For one thing, high amounts of vitamin D from cod’s liver and other sources, helps prevent calcium losses from the high oat diet. Absorbable calcium from raw dairy products, consumed in abundance on mainland Scotland, provides additional protection. In addition, it is likely that a good part of the phytase remained in the oats of yore, which partially germinated in stacks left for a period in the field, were not heat treated and were hand rolled immediately prior to preparation. And some Scottish and Gaelic recipes do call for a long fermentation of oats before and even after they are cooked. Unprocessed Irish or Scottish oats, which have not been heated to high temperatures, are available in some health food stores and on the internet. One study found that unheated oats had the same phytase activity as wheat.65 They should be soaked in acidulated water for as long as twenty-four hours on top of a hot plate to keep them at about 100 degrees F. This will reduce a part of the phytic acid as well as the levels of other anti-nutrients, and result in a more digestible product. Overnight fermenting of rolled oats using a rye starter — or even with the addition of a small amount of fresh rye flour — may result in a fairly decent reduction of phytate levels. It is unclear whether heat-treated oats are healthy to eat regularly.” Godsengineering ___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!]]> Ketogenic simply means getting your primary energy by burning fat, as opposed to most people in the US today who get most of their energy by burning glucose. Science is showing us that when fat is our primary fuel we function much smoother and healthier — including multiple studies showing brain benefits of burning fat os our primary fuel. In essence we access God’s engineering by shifting to burning fat rather than glucose.

Many people think our brain needs glucose as it’s primary energy. Wrong. Ketones are a by-product of burning fat and they duel our brain just fine. But if our body and brain are used to only having glucose as fuel (which likely means battling weight gain no matter how little you eat and often feeling hungry and having quick and sudden loss of brain and body energy, among other things (like high risk for diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and more, which are the result of the Standard American Diet (SAD)), it can be a challenging process to switch, a process some experience as the low-carb flu.

How do we switch to burning mostly fat? Diet. Simply put, eat (at least) twice as many fat calories as you do carb calories. Here is a great review of “The Perfect Health Diet” book, an excellent resource for exploring and understanding the ketogenic diet and the science behind it.

Diet essentials

(from the Perfect Health Diet)

  • By Calories, 20% carbs, 65% (healthy) fats, 15% protein. By weight, 65% plants, 35% animal foods,
  • Eliminate all veggie oils, eating only olive oil, animal fat, coconut oil, cold water fish oil (be sure it is mercury minimal or free). Eggs are fantastic.
  • Eliminate all grain and legumes, some nuts and seeds are OK, but soak them first to eliminate toxins and maximize nutrition and digestibility.

(from the Perfect Health Diet)

  • You will lose weight eating a high fat diet (lots of reasons, but put simply, your body is able to burn fat in addition to storing it).
  • Animal fat is good for you, veggie oils are very unhealthy.
  • Since USDA recommendations and the standard diet pyramid of food groups, US diet has dropped from an average of 40% fat to 30% fat, but we are fatter and less healthy and at greater risk of health issues than ever because we are malnourished.
  • Grains and legumes are hard to prepare traditionally in a “pre-digested” way and such preparation does not eliminate all toxins — in effect their nutritive value is negative because of their anti-nutrients.

Personal Experience

Since learning of it in 2009, I have been experimenting with just how I do and feel on various levels of ketogenic diet. The results are amazing. The more ketogenic my diet, the better my brain capacity, cognitive energy, energy stability, longevity, and the better I feel.

Making the switch is not easy. There are some things I have struggled to hold onto. Despite wanting oatmeal to work for me, I have discovered there is no way with current modern food production methods to duplicate the way oats need to be handled to make them part of my diet. For me, giving up wheat and other grains was not a big deal, but the oats hurt and I needed to be sure I could not make them work. I can’t. The science is a lot to follow, but the Weston A. Price Foundation explains why, with this excerpt:

Oats contain very little phytase, especially after commercial heat treatment, and require a very long preparation period to completely reduce phytic acid levels. Soaking oats at 77 degrees F for 16 hours resulted in no reduction of phytic acid, nor did germination for up to three days at this temperature.63 However, malting (sprouting) oats for five days at 52 degrees F and then soaking for 17 hours at 120 degrees F removes 98 percent of phytates. Adding malted rye further enhances oat phytate reduction.64 Without initial germination, even a five-day soaking at a warm temperature in acidic liquid may result in an insignificant reduction in phytate due to the low phytase content of oats. On the plus side, the process of rolling oats removes a at least part of the bran, where a large portion of the phytic acid resides.

How do we square what we know about oats with the fact that oats were a staple in the diet of the Scots and Gaelic islanders, a people known for their robust good health and freedom from tooth decay? For one thing, high amounts of vitamin D from cod’s liver and other sources, helps prevent calcium losses from the high oat diet. Absorbable calcium from raw dairy products, consumed in abundance on mainland Scotland, provides additional protection.

In addition, it is likely that a good part of the phytase remained in the oats of yore, which partially germinated in stacks left for a period in the field, were not heat treated and were hand rolled immediately prior to preparation. And some Scottish and Gaelic recipes do call for a long fermentation of oats before and even after they are cooked.

Unprocessed Irish or Scottish oats, which have not been heated to high temperatures, are available in some health food stores and on the internet. One study found that unheated oats had the same phytase activity as wheat.65 They should be soaked in acidulated water for as long as twenty-four hours on top of a hot plate to keep them at about 100 degrees F. This will reduce a part of the phytic acid as well as the levels of other anti-nutrients, and result in a more digestible product. Overnight fermenting of rolled oats using a rye starter — or even with the addition of a small amount of fresh rye flour — may result in a fairly decent reduction of phytate levels. It is unclear whether heat-treated oats are healthy to eat regularly.”

#Godsengineering

___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!

]]> https://mindyourheadcoop.org/ketogenic-diet-increases-brain-function-and-healing Wed, 30 Jan 2019 17:43:38 +0000 Life Is the Best Therapy for Long Term Brain Injury Healing https://mindyourheadcoop.org/life-is-the-best-therapy-for-long-term-brain-injury-healing?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[You and your caregiver are the expert on your brain injury As of now, 2019, I am seventeen years into life aware I have brain injury. My eighth concussion in 2002 left with with cognitive deficits (memory, focus, attention, variable brain fatigue, sensory overstimulation, and more) and vertigo. My first concussion was 33 years ago. When I was ignorant I had brain injury, between the ages of 12 and 31, life had waves of times when it “just seemed harder” — especially in the weeks, months, and years after each concussion along the way. I unwittingly compensated — learned how to get around the deficits I didn’t know I had. As with all of us and our caregivers, I am the expert on my brain injury and the doctors are my consultants. The doctors ran out of ideas years ago. I haven’t. And my ideas are working and helping, and they may help you also. They are not specific answers, but rather ideas that you and your caregiver together can examine and apply to your specific situation and symptoms and needs and learn together how to run forward more fully. !--more-- My brain injury is more akin to a football player sustaining multiple big and small concussions and head impacts over years than it is to someone in a single traumatic accident. My brain has sloshed back and forth inside my skull many times and this creates a lot of axonal diffusion injuries throughout my brain. Acute v. chronic brain injury Healing The medical world often says healing slows or even stops at six to eighteen months. They are right and they are wrong. They are right that acute trauma healing slows or stops, but they miss that there is a shift to long-term, chronic healing and the rules for long term healing are different. The medical world doesn’t focus on chronic healing so it really has no grasp of what is involved. As a general rule, when the other bodily injuries are healed (or would be if you had them, in the event you didn’t) as much as they will, the shift from acute brain healing to chronic brain healing as also occurred. There are rules I’ve found very helpful for guiding me through the healing I’ve experienced so far. They are: God is a God of wild abundance Faith matters. We are never alone. We are always loved. And God so loves us he always gives us exactly what we need to do what he calls us to do. The challenge is to accept it. Even when it includes brain injury. How can brain injury be a wild, abundant gift? That answer will be different for each of us, because we are different people with different brains, different brain injuries, and different challenges because of our brain injuries. In my case, I’ve learned the gift of having to ask for help, of reaching sideways to help others, and receiving that help and seeing others be helped by what I could do. My faith has deepened in a way that is only possible with the challenge of suffering and accepting with abandon that I am not in control. No matter your challenges or their severity, you are made in God’s image, and you contain a unique breath of God that only you can share with the world. You are a gift to those around you, and God will help you do and accomplish beautiful things that are beyond understanding — some you’ll know about, others will simply be invisible to you. That’s how God works. Consider praying daily, reading sacred scripture, participating in your faith community however you are able. This will deepen your journey and be part of your ongoing healing. Focus on what you can do Acute cognitive therapy focuses on what we find difficult. This is good early on. But the way chronic healing works is long-term. What we do must be sustainable. Focusing on what I can do allows me to spend less brain energy doing what I do and thus allows me to enter life more fully and thus heal more. It also helps my brain recover the things I can’t do over time, so occasionally test out the “hard” things to see if they are still hard. Because of my vertigo, I couldn’t ride a bicycle. But I discovered barefoot running and the gift of proprioception compensating so my body knew where I was in space though my brain had no idea. It took four to five years, but in stages I was able to use lighter walking sticks, then no walking sticks, then ride a bicycle, though I still have constant neurological vertigo as strong as ever. Manage your brain injury budget People with brain injury are on a brain budget. We get a daily allowance of a dime. Non-brain injured people get so much brain energy they rarely have to budget, and if they do it’s a Park Avenue or Hollywood budget rather than a ghetto budget. With this dime a day we have to do everything we are going to do. Different activities or occurrences cost us more or less and only experience can teach us what costs us what. We have to be brave enough to try new things and push the envelope, yet cautious enough to recover as we need. A “brain overload” happens when something costs you more brain energy than you have that day. Say I’ve already spent $0.06 of my dime, and as I put down my four-year-old she unexpectedly lifts her legs instead of standing. I slump to the floor, my brain having been suddenly charged $0.09, putting me in half-a-day debt. I need half a day without brain stimulation to recover (I do this in my sanctuary, described below). Depending on your brain injury different things will cost you differently. For me, I am very sensitive to sensory overstimulation. Focusing on details or doing things in a new way is very pricy. Activities and methods that remove the “noise” and clutter of much of the modern way of doing things costs me less, and in the case of running and bicycling it is possible I return home doing better than I left, so I get $0.12 that day because I rode my bike and didn’t get overly wholloped by the constant bombardment of the world. Some rides end early, and some rides my wife has to pick me up. But for me, the chance that I get a 20% bonus in brain injury is well worth the possibility, especially as I’ve learned back routes that minimize stimulation. Give yourself permission to go: “As fast as I can, as slow as I must!” Type “A” personalities need permission to slow down, give themselves time to recover before bursting out into the world. This takes patience and humility to instead focus on recovering. Read, write, paint, create on the computer, if you must, watch TV or play video games, but I suggest they be last resorts as they aren’t the cognitive therapy creating is. Conversely, type “B” personalities need permission to push the envelope, get out of their sanctuary and engage the world. It takes courage and persistence, especially where there is a world-wide conspiracy to be noisy and have flashing lights, and everyone puts stink in their laundry. But your brain needs to be pushed if you are going to enter life as fully as possible and heal over time by making those new connections through neuroplasticity. Choose and control your environment to limit sensory overstimulation Sensory overstimulation is behind many of the symptoms the medical world sees and understands. Variable brain fatigue happens because of brain energy debt (and recovery) and it is often sensory overstimulation that puts us into debt. Learn to choose and control your environment to limit sensory overstimulation and you’ve gone a long way to maximizing your capacity to enter life as fully as possible, day in and day out rather than one over-loaded day followed by a month or two of recovery. We accomplish far more by allowing ourselves to focus on what we do well in an environment that we do it at the least cost, in the way that is easiest for us and stopping when our brain begins to get tired. For you whole home, are you effected by cleaning and laundry and dryer sheets, soap, shampoo scents? Get rid of them and use simple chemical free and fragrance free alternatives (scent free is just more chemicals added on top of everything else to cover up the scents, and it is actually worse). Simplify clothing, both so you don’t need to spend brain energy figuring out what to wear but also so your clothing doesn’t constantly move over your skin, which can unwittingly sap a lot of brain energy if you are sensitive to touch. Sanctuary Create a sanctuary in your home that minimizes your exposure to any stimulation that costs you. Mine has sound proofing, a rock wall between me and my family, blinds to keep out flickering sunlight but let in indirect light, silent heat for winter. Mobile Sanctuary I use Mighty Plug ear plugs. They are inexpensive and for me the most effective as they form to my ear (I’ve tried the pricy custom silicon ones and them clicked in my ear when I moved). I have them on my bike for loud areas and stop to put them in if needed crossing a busy intersection or near construction. I also wear Exercise heals I’ve found that both long and slow aerobic exercise, breathing through my nose to ensure I don’t over do it and am at a “conversational pace” as well as a few times a week full on all out efforts help my body feel and function better and over time my brain has fewer hard days and down swings. Access God’s engineering God made our bodies to move and function in specific ways and modern living often gets in the way of this. This modern “noise” weakens us, making us believe we need support to function when we simply need to get rid of the crutches. Shoes, nearly all of which have a raised heel, cushioning, poor shape, and arch support, are an excellent example that is easy to understand. Our feet become weak because of these supports and cushions, then they hurt, and we think we need more support and cushioning and they become even weaker. However, take off the shoes, take things slowly to give feet time to strengthen and adjust, and hey presto, most people’s feet become strong and are capable of far more than they realized and at far greater body and brain effecience than before. This “leakage” of body and brain energy adds up. Other things that weaken us: chairs, beds, motors replacing what we could do on our own energy, and much more. Nutrition Matters Food is amazing medicine or horrible poison. Research high fat diets, including paleo. At a minimum, eliminate processed foods and notice how much better you feel. I am on the ketogenic version of the Perfect Health Diet. Find Gift in the Challenges of Moving Forward Every brain injury is different. The brain controls or influences every physical aspect about us, so any aspect of our being that is physical can be effected by brain injury. Common deficits to people with brain injury are variable brain fatigue, cognitive issues, sensory overstimulation, among others. Even among these, there are nearly infinite “flavors.” My “flavor” is unique even among the unique. I have been blessed with higher functions despite scans revealing these parts of my brain effectively being like the legs of a paraplegic. Some of how my brain injury works I have an understanding of and some of it I do not. The simplest way to explain the concept involved rather than dive into the weeds is this: I can do almost anything. Thus, to someone like you looking at my outward activities I appear “normal” yet say there is a lot I “can’t” do. “Choose not to do” is more accurate, for everything I do comes at a price. The question is what price do I pay for doing it? I don’t get to set the price I pay in brain energy. I have to try and navigate the world as best I can with the dime of brain energy I get per day. Non-brain injured people generally get so much per day they don’t have to budget. So I choose to do what allows me to do the most possible with the capacity I have. My approach to long term brain injury healing is this: Life is therapy. I strive to enter life as fully as possible, focusing most on what I CAN do — that has lead to healing and increased capacity so I can do things now that I couldn’t before. It is a razor thin line. I still have not recovered from being “stuck” at the altar at Mass when the priest at OLW failed to understand and heed my need for no music. I used to be able to attend Mass, but I can’t now. Why? Because my brain has no filter against stimulation. This has slowly been improving over the past seven years, in part because I push my capacity by being stupid enough to venture into the world on a bike (which is also vestibular and cognitive therapy in other ways). Most rides I return home better than I left (more brain energy). Some rides something happens, and I get “charged” $0.50 in brain energy. That takes a while to pay back. But the charge for some things is coming down — and I am recovering from things sooner than I did even just a year ago. There are details I could delve into about why I ask for the accommodations I ask for. Do we really need to do that? If you think I am lying, then you are accusing me of putting my family through a living hell for years. Have I been pulling the wool over their eyes, Bishop Sheridan’s, my formation teams, your predecessors, and our faith community for years? There is another possibility: God is a God of wild abundance — who gives gifts oddly wrapped, with amazing blessings wrapped in suffering and challenge. Our God is a God who gives me the grace to do things I shouldn’t be able to do. Yet I must be a wise steward in how I manage my brain energy in order to do them. Is your God big enough to allow that possibility? To specifically address your question about what I do for my ministry, websites, etc., every app I use is far simpler and more intuitive than anything by Microsoft. Without that I would not be able to do what I do. The reality is a blind man can walk through a dark room he’s never been in before without injury, while a seeing man is likely to harm himself. An ignorant seeing man might accuse the blind man of being able to not only see, but see in the dark. In a sense, that is true, but the blind man “sees” through the stick in his hand, accommodation to help him navigate the world in a way to looks odd to the ignorant. Can you please trust me to know what my capacity is? Can you trust me to only ask for accommodations that I need so that I can focus my limited brain energy on what I can do most efficiently? #caregiving #Godsengineering #howto ___ Join the discussion on our Mind Your Head Forum!]]> You and your caregiver are the expert on your brain injury

As of now, 2019, I am seventeen years into life aware I have brain injury. My eighth concussion in 2002 left with with cognitive deficits (memory, focus, attention, variable brain fatigue, sensory overstimulation, and more) and vertigo. My first concussion was 33 years ago. When I was ignorant I had brain injury, between the ages of 12 and 31, life had waves of times when it “just seemed harder” — especially in the weeks, months, and years after each concussion along the way. I unwittingly compensated — learned how to get around the deficits I didn’t know I had.

As with all of us and our caregivers, I am the expert on my brain injury and the doctors are my consultants. The doctors ran out of ideas years ago. I haven’t. And my ideas are working and helping, and they may help you also. They are not specific answers, but rather ideas that you and your caregiver together can examine and apply to your specific situation and symptoms and needs and learn together how to run forward more fully.

My brain injury is more akin to a football player sustaining multiple big and small concussions and head impacts over years than it is to someone in a single traumatic accident. My brain has sloshed back and forth inside my skull many times and this creates a lot of axonal diffusion injuries throughout my brain.

Acute v. chronic brain injury Healing

The medical world often says healing slows or even stops at six to eighteen months. They are right and they are wrong. They are right that acute trauma healing slows or stops, but they miss that there is a shift to long-term, chronic healing and the rules for long term healing are different. The medical world doesn’t focus on chronic healing so it really has no grasp of what is involved. As a general rule, when the other bodily injuries are healed (or would be if you had them, in the event you didn’t) as much as they will, the shift from acute brain healing to chronic brain healing as also occurred.

There are rules I’ve found very helpful for guiding me through the healing I’ve experienced so far. They are:

God is a God of wild abundance

Faith matters. We are never alone. We are always loved. And God so loves us he always gives us exactly what we need to do what he calls us to do. The challenge is to accept it. Even when it includes brain injury.

How can brain injury be a wild, abundant gift? That answer will be different for each of us, because we are different people with different brains, different brain injuries, and different challenges because of our brain injuries.

In my case, I’ve learned the gift of having to ask for help, of reaching sideways to help others, and receiving that help and seeing others be helped by what I could do. My faith has deepened in a way that is only possible with the challenge of suffering and accepting with abandon that I am not in control.

No matter your challenges or their severity, you are made in God’s image, and you contain a unique breath of God that only you can share with the world. You are a gift to those around you, and God will help you do and accomplish beautiful things that are beyond understanding — some you’ll know about, others will simply be invisible to you. That’s how God works.

Consider praying daily, reading sacred scripture, participating in your faith community however you are able. This will deepen your journey and be part of your ongoing healing.

Focus on what you can do

Acute cognitive therapy focuses on what we find difficult. This is good early on. But the way chronic healing works is long-term. What we do must be sustainable. Focusing on what I can do allows me to spend less brain energy doing what I do and thus allows me to enter life more fully and thus heal more.

It also helps my brain recover the things I can’t do over time, so occasionally test out the “hard” things to see if they are still hard. Because of my vertigo, I couldn’t ride a bicycle. But I discovered barefoot running and the gift of proprioception compensating so my body knew where I was in space though my brain had no idea. It took four to five years, but in stages I was able to use lighter walking sticks, then no walking sticks, then ride a bicycle, though I still have constant neurological vertigo as strong as ever.

Manage your brain injury budget

People with brain injury are on a brain budget. We get a daily allowance of a dime. Non-brain injured people get so much brain energy they rarely have to budget, and if they do it’s a Park Avenue or Hollywood budget rather than a ghetto budget.

With this dime a day we have to do everything we are going to do. Different activities or occurrences cost us more or less and only experience can teach us what costs us what. We have to be brave enough to try new things and push the envelope, yet cautious enough to recover as we need.

A “brain overload” happens when something costs you more brain energy than you have that day. Say I’ve already spent $0.06 of my dime, and as I put down my four-year-old she unexpectedly lifts her legs instead of standing. I slump to the floor, my brain having been suddenly charged $0.09, putting me in half-a-day debt. I need half a day without brain stimulation to recover (I do this in my sanctuary, described below).

Depending on your brain injury different things will cost you differently. For me, I am very sensitive to sensory overstimulation. Focusing on details or doing things in a new way is very pricy. Activities and methods that remove the “noise” and clutter of much of the modern way of doing things costs me less, and in the case of running and bicycling it is possible I return home doing better than I left, so I get $0.12 that day because I rode my bike and didn’t get overly wholloped by the constant bombardment of the world. Some rides end early, and some rides my wife has to pick me up. But for me, the chance that I get a 20% bonus in brain injury is well worth the possibility, especially as I’ve learned back routes that minimize stimulation.

Give yourself permission to go: “As fast as I can, as slow as I must!”

Type “A” personalities need permission to slow down, give themselves time to recover before bursting out into the world. This takes patience and humility to instead focus on recovering. Read, write, paint, create on the computer, if you must, watch TV or play video games, but I suggest they be last resorts as they aren’t the cognitive therapy creating is.

Conversely, type “B” personalities need permission to push the envelope, get out of their sanctuary and engage the world. It takes courage and persistence, especially where there is a world-wide conspiracy to be noisy and have flashing lights, and everyone puts stink in their laundry. But your brain needs to be pushed if you are going to enter life as fully as possible and heal over time by making those new connections through neuroplasticity.

Choose and control your environment to limit sensory overstimulation

Sensory overstimulation is behind many of the symptoms the medical world sees and understands. Variable brain fatigue happens because of brain energy debt (and recovery) and it is often sensory overstimulation that puts us into debt. Learn to choose and control your environment to limit sensory overstimulation and you’ve gone a long way to maximizing your capacity to enter life as fully as possible, day in and day out rather than one over-loaded day followed by a month or two of recovery.

We accomplish far more by allowing ourselves to focus on what we do well in an environment that we do it at the least cost, in the way that is easiest for us and stopping when our brain begins to get tired.

For you whole home, are you effected by cleaning and laundry and dryer sheets, soap, shampoo scents? Get rid of them and use simple chemical free and fragrance free alternatives (scent free is just more chemicals added on top of everything else to cover up the scents, and it is actually worse).

Simplify clothing, both so you don’t need to spend brain energy figuring out what to wear but also so your clothing doesn’t constantly move over your skin, which can unwittingly sap a lot of brain energy if you are sensitive to touch.

Sanctuary

Create a sanctuary in your home that minimizes your exposure to any stimulation that costs you. Mine has sound proofing, a rock wall between me and my family, blinds to keep out flickering sunlight but let in indirect light, silent heat for winter.

Mobile Sanctuary

I use Mighty Plug ear plugs. They are inexpensive and for me the most effective as they form to my ear (I’ve tried the pricy custom silicon ones and them clicked in my ear when I moved). I have them on my bike for loud areas and stop to put them in if needed crossing a busy intersection or near construction. I also wear

Exercise heals

I’ve found that both long and slow aerobic exercise, breathing through my nose to ensure I don’t over do it and am at a “conversational pace” as well as a few times a week full on all out efforts help my body feel and function better and over time my brain has fewer hard days and down swings.

Access God’s engineering

God made our bodies to move and function in specific ways and modern living often gets in the way of this. This modern “noise” weakens us, making us believe we need support to function when we simply need to get rid of the crutches. Shoes, nearly all of which have a raised heel, cushioning, poor shape, and arch support, are an excellent example that is easy to understand. Our feet become weak because of these supports and cushions, then they hurt, and we think we need more support and cushioning and they become even weaker. However, take off the shoes, take things slowly to give feet time to strengthen and adjust, and hey presto, most people’s feet become strong and are capable of far more than they realized and at far greater body and brain effecience than before. This “leakage” of body and brain energy adds up. Other things that weaken us: chairs, beds, motors replacing what we could do on our own energy, and much more.

Nutrition Matters

Food is amazing medicine or horrible poison. Research high fat diets, including paleo. At a minimum, eliminate processed foods and notice how much better you feel. I am on the ketogenic version of the Perfect Health Diet.

Find Gift in the Challenges of Moving Forward

Every brain injury is different. The brain controls or influences every physical aspect about us, so any aspect of our being that is physical can be effected by brain injury.

Common deficits to people with brain injury are variable brain fatigue, cognitive issues, sensory overstimulation, among others. Even among these, there are nearly infinite “flavors.”

My “flavor” is unique even among the unique. I have been blessed with higher functions despite scans revealing these parts of my brain effectively being like the legs of a paraplegic.

Some of how my brain injury works I have an understanding of and some of it I do not. The simplest way to explain the concept involved rather than dive into the weeds is this:

I can do almost anything. Thus, to someone like you looking at my outward activities I appear “normal” yet say there is a lot I “can’t” do. “Choose not to do” is more accurate, for everything I do comes at a price. The question is what price do I pay for doing it? I don’t get to set the price I pay in brain energy. I have to try and navigate the world as best I can with the dime of brain energy I get per day. Non-brain injured people generally get so much per day they don’t have to budget. So I choose to do what allows me to do the most possible with the capacity I have.

My approach to long term brain injury healing is this: Life is therapy. I strive to enter life as fully as possible, focusing most on what I CAN do — that has lead to healing and increased capacity so I can do things now that I couldn’t before.

It is a razor thin line. I still have not recovered from being “stuck” at the altar at Mass when the priest at OLW failed to understand and heed my need for no music. I used to be able to attend Mass, but I can’t now. Why? Because my brain has no filter against stimulation. This has slowly been improving over the past seven years, in part because I push my capacity by being stupid enough to venture into the world on a bike (which is also vestibular and cognitive therapy in other ways).

Most rides I return home better than I left (more brain energy). Some rides something happens, and I get “charged” $0.50 in brain energy. That takes a while to pay back. But the charge for some things is coming down — and I am recovering from things sooner than I did even just a year ago.

There are details I could delve into about why I ask for the accommodations I ask for. Do we really need to do that? If you think I am lying, then you are accusing me of putting my family through a living hell for years. Have I been pulling the wool over their eyes, Bishop Sheridan’s, my formation teams, your predecessors, and our faith community for years? There is another possibility: God is a God of wild abundance — who gives gifts oddly wrapped, with amazing blessings wrapped in suffering and challenge. Our God is a God who gives me the grace to do things I shouldn’t be able to do. Yet I must be a wise steward in how I manage my brain energy in order to do them. Is your God big enough to allow that possibility?

To specifically address your question about what I do for my ministry, websites, etc., every app I use is far simpler and more intuitive than anything by Microsoft. Without that I would not be able to do what I do.

The reality is a blind man can walk through a dark room he’s never been in before without injury, while a seeing man is likely to harm himself. An ignorant seeing man might accuse the blind man of being able to not only see, but see in the dark. In a sense, that is true, but the blind man “sees” through the stick in his hand, accommodation to help him navigate the world in a way to looks odd to the ignorant. Can you please trust me to know what my capacity is? Can you trust me to only ask for accommodations that I need so that I can focus my limited brain energy on what I can do most efficiently?

#caregiving #Godsengineering #howto

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