CHAPTER 19

BRAIN-ENHANCEMENT THERAPIES

INNOVATIVE WAYS TO STRENGTHEN YOUR MEMORY

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

HELEN KELLER

One of the most exciting lessons I’ve learned from looking at the brain is that there are many ways to strengthen it. Terry is one of my favorite examples. She shows that when one family member makes important lifestyle changes, others often follow suit.

Terry and family at a formal event.

Terry and her family

Terry is the CEO of Amen Clinics. Before working with us, she was the CEO of AutoZone, Frederick’s of Hollywood, and a number of other high-profile companies. My favorite story about Terry? She delivered one of her children while involved in a critical financial negotiation that rescued a billion-dollar company and 25,000 jobs. At 63, Terry is an older mom with kids ages 19 and 20 who still depend on her.

When her daughter was struggling in school, Terry brought her to Amen Clinics, and it transformed the girl’s life. That’s when Terry fell in love with our mission. Curious about her own brain, Terry decided to get scanned. She had suffered eight concussions racing cars, had been electrocuted in an improperly wired elevator, and had been exposed to arsenic while being treated for tropical sprue when she was in the Peace Corps in Haiti.

Terry’s brain looked damaged. The chronic work stress, insomnia, head injuries, and toxic exposure were visible on her scan, which revealed overall low blood flow, indicated by the holes and dents.

TERRY’S BRAIN SPECT SCANS

Surface SPECT scan showing areas of very low blood flow.

Before treatment: severe decreases in blood flow

Surface SPECT scan showing more uniform blood flow.

After treatment: significant overall improvement in activity and blood flow

TERRY’S BRIGHT MINDS RISK FACTORS AND TREATMENT PLAN

BRIGHT MINDS

TERRY’S RISK FACTORS

INTERVENTIONS

Blood Flow

Low blood flow on SPECT

Exercise, diet, ginkgo biloba, and other supplements

Retirement/Aging

Early sixties

Continual new learning

Inflammation

    

Genetics

    

Head Trauma

Eight concussions, electrocution

Nutraceuticals and hyperbaric oxygen therapy

Toxins

Arsenic exposure

Support all the organs of detoxification

Mental Health

Chronic work stress from being a CEO

Stress management tools

Immunity/Infection Issues

Low vitamin D

Vitamin D3 supplements

Neurohormone Deficiencies

    

Diabesity

    

Sleep Issues

Chronic insomnia

Sleep hygiene, melatonin, magnesium, hypnosis strategies

The scan made Terry appropriately anxious about her brain. She had spent her life taking care of others; now it was time for her to take care of herself. Eleven months after she started on our program —which included our BRIGHT MINDS strategies, especially significant dietary changes, targeted supplements, 40 sessions in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, and the sale of her Ducati motorcycle —Terry’s scan looked much healthier and showed better activity overall. She became a more effective CEO for us as her focus and follow-through improved. Now, rather than becoming a burden to her children, she will likely be a positive force in their lives for decades to come.

It’s worth repeating again and again: Your brain can be better, even if you’ve been bad to it, and with a better brain always comes a better life.

This chapter will discuss four innovative treatments to enhance your brain:

In addition, you’ll learn which health issues each may help treat. Depending on your own risk factors, you may want to explore how one or more of these therapies might fit into your own Memory Rescue plan.

HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY: THE CHAMBER OF HEALING

I first became interested in hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in the 1990s after listening to Michael Uszler, MD, a nuclear medicine physician, give a lecture on it at UCLA. Michael was one of the original pioneers in using brain SPECT imaging in the 1980s, and at this lecture he showed before-and-after SPECT scans of his patients who had undergone HBOT. They showed remarkable improvement in blood flow. As I started recommending this treatment, I saw the same improvement for many of our patients with low blood flow.

The body requires healthy oxygen levels in order to heal. HBOT uses the power of oxygen to create a regenerative environment inside the body, speeding up the healing process and reducing inflammation. During HBOT, a person lies down or sits in a chamber where the air pressure is 1.3 to 2 times greater than normal air pressure. This increased pressure allows the lungs to gather more oxygen. That means more oxygen gets into blood vessels and tissues, which can increase production of growth factors and stem cells, promoting healing.

Normally, only red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body. With HBOT, oxygen dissolves into other bodily fluids, such as plasma, and can be carried to regions with low or damaged circulation. When someone is dealing with vascular problems, strokes, or nonhealing wounds, for example, adequate oxygen cannot reach damaged areas, so the body’s natural healing ability is ineffective. When extra oxygen is able to reach these troubled areas, it speeds the healing process. Researchers have found that increased oxygen strengthens the ability of white blood cells to kill bacteria, reduces swelling, and allows new blood vessels to grow into damaged areas. HBOT is a simple, noninvasive, and painless treatment with minimal side effects.

In a study from Taiwan, HBOT reversed brain damage in patients who had significant neurological issues caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.[681] HBOT may be able to improve a person’s quality of life when standard medicine is not working. Some research also suggests it may be helpful for several other conditions:

Improvement in soldiers

In 2011, Paul Harch, MD, and I, along with a number of colleagues, published a study on 16 soldiers who had experienced blast-induced traumatic brain injuries. They were studied with brain SPECT imaging and neuropsychological testing before and after 40 sessions of HBOT. Following treatment, our patients demonstrated significant improvement in their symptoms, full-scale IQ (a term for complete cognitive capacity; up 14.8 points), delayed and working memory scores, tests of impulsivity, mood, anxiety, and quality of life scores. Their SPECT scans showed remarkable overall improvement in blood flow.

COMPOSITE SCAN OF SOLDIERS’ BRAINS BEFORE AND AFTER HBOT

Overhead image of a white brain with splotchy shaded areas, mostly at the rear and sides.

Increased blood flow after 40 sessions of HBOT indicated by dark areas on scan

Improvement in NFL and NHL players

Many of the NFL and NHL (National Hockey League) players treated at Amen Clinics also improved after undergoing HBOT treatments. Marvin Fleming, the first player in NFL history to play in five Super Bowls, is a good example. He played tight end for 12 years —first for the Green Bay Packers and then for the Miami Dolphins, including during the Dolphins’ perfect season in 1972. When he first came to see us at age 67, his brain was in trouble. All our players undergo extensive cognitive testing, and Marvin’s general cognitive testing was not good. But he made every healthy change we prescribed for him, including losing weight, eating right, taking supplements, and completing 40 sessions of HBOT. Two years later, he had lost 20 pounds, his brain looked dramatically younger (as did he), and his cognitive scores had improved by as much as 300 percent.

MARVIN’S “BEFORE” AND “AFTER” BRAIN SPECT SCANS

Surface SPECT scan showing areas of very low blood flow.

Damage to PFC and temporal lobes

Surface SPECT scan showing more uniform blood flow.

Marked improvement

TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION: HEALING PULSES

A form of “brain stimulation,” transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is used to treat certain psychiatric and neurological disorders that have not improved through traditional approaches. TMS uses a noninvasive, highly focused, brief magnetic pulse to stimulate activity in the areas of the brain known to affect mood —without the troubling side effects people often experience from taking medication. While TMS has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of resistant depression, there is new evidence that it can enhance memory and potentially help improve a wide range of other brain-related issues, including

Electrical stimulation has been used for healing for centuries. The earliest known use occurred more than 2,000 years ago, when the Egyptians discovered that certain fish —including various electric rays —produced electrical impulses that could be used to treat pain and gout. These treatments were later practiced by the Greeks and Romans. In the 1780s Italian physician and physicist Luigi Galvani passed an electrical current through the spine of a frog, which resulted in the contraction of the frog’s muscles. He discovered that nerves were not water pipes, as René Descartes thought, but electrical conductors carrying information within the nervous system. The young novelist Mary Shelley found inspiration from Galvani’s research while writing her best-known work, Frankenstein. Roughly 50 years later, Michael Faraday’s experiments in stimulating nerves and the brain laid the groundwork for the first use of transcranial magnetic stimulation in 1985. In 1997, TMS was approved for use in Canada, and in 2008 the FDA cleared it as a treatment for depression.

In a 2015 study, researchers from the University of São Paulo in Brazil studied the effect of TMS on memory in 34 elderly men and women with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), using 10 sessions of active TMS in one group and sham (or fake) treatment in the other to stimulate the left front side of the brain. Cognitive testing before and after TMS showed significant improvement of everyday memory in the treatment group as compared to the sham group. The researchers reported that their findings suggested that TMS might be effective as a treatment for MCI and “probably a tool to delay deterioration.”[702]

TMS is a targeted treatment, and unlike medication, it has no systemic side effects (because it doesn’t get into your bloodstream). It’s noninvasive and usually well tolerated, although people with certain implants (particularly metal) may not be able to use it. Side effects are generally mild to moderate and may include headaches; scalp discomfort at the site of stimulation; tingling, spasms, or twitching of facial muscles; and lightheadedness. They improve shortly after an individual session and decrease over time with additional sessions. Serious side effects are rare but may include seizures and mania, particularly in people with bipolar disorder. Treatment sessions last about 40 minutes, and normal activities can be resumed immediately after each session. After a full course of treatment, which ranges from 16 to 30 sessions, a high percentage of patients report a significant reduction in symptoms and experience improvement in their quality of life.

Susan: lifted out of depression

Susan, 58, consulted Garrett Halweg, MD, a psychiatrist at Amen Clinics’ Costa Mesa office, because of her severe depression. She succinctly explains the role of and benefits from TMS in her treatment plan:

In January 2016, I received a devastating emotional shock. I was numb for several weeks but then started sinking into a deep depression. Amen Clinics had been recommended to me two years earlier to help one of my children with some emotional difficulties, and I was very impressed with how successful the treatment plan was. When I realized that I was sinking into depression, I called Dr. Halweg at the clinic. He placed me on one treatment for depression, then added a second and then a third. Each one helped, but I was still having difficulties. I was only getting about two hours of sleep per night. I had virtually no short-term memory and was struggling with long-term memory. I’d even lost my sense of direction. All I wanted to do was stay in bed all day with my door locked.

I had to take a leave of absence from work and was just doing the minimum to care for my children. I thought my situation was completely hopeless and couldn’t see how it could ever get better. After a few weeks, it was clear that I needed more help. At that time, Dr. Halweg performed a SPECT scan to determine the best course of treatment. He told me that my SPECT scan showed a high degree of post-traumatic stress disorder, where both anxiety and depression were cycling around and my brain couldn’t shift out of those gears. He recommended TMS as a supplement to the antidepressants. I hoped and prayed that it would work. . . . By the fourth treatment, I started to see some improvement. My short-term memory had started to work a little bit. By the eighth treatment, my memory was much better, I regained my sense of direction, and I started sleeping better at night. By the twelfth treatment, I was actually beginning to feel tiny flickers of hope that maybe my situation could get better. At the end of my course of treatment, my memory was better than ever, I felt positive about my situation and my future, and I was able to return to work. Dr. Halweg stayed in close contact with me throughout my struggles, and I don’t think I would have successfully made it through without his help. I basically have my life back. I feel so good, I will actually sing along with the radio. And I’m able to manage the demands on a busy working mom. The TMS therapy is truly a life-changing experience.

SUSAN’S BRAIN SPECT SCAN BEFORE AND AFTER TMS

Surface SPECT scan showing areas of very low blood flow.

Low prefrontal and temporal lobe function

Surface SPECT scan showing more uniform blood flow.

Improved prefrontal and temporal lobe function

NEUROFEEDBACK: YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR BRAIN WAVES

In 1987, I was the chief psychiatrist at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert. It was an isolated assignment, and I was looking for tools to help decrease the stress of soldiers who were training for challenging operations in a desert environment. There was a high incidence of depression, anxiety disorders, drug abuse, and domestic violence. I brought a treatment technique to the army post called biofeedback, which uses instruments to measure hand temperature, sweat gland activity, breathing, heart rate, muscle tension, and brain-wave patterns. The idea behind the treatment was that once people know their hand temperature or breathing patterns, for example, they could learn to change them with focused attention and mental exercises. They could learn to warm their hands, breathe with their bellies, decrease sweat gland activity, and so on; my goal was to use the technique to help the soldiers control their stress.

When I took the 10-day training in San Francisco to learn how to use biofeedback equipment that same year, it changed the trajectory of my career. As I taught people that they could change their own physiology, I developed a consistent internal thought in dealing with my patients: Teach them skills to manage their emotions and minds; don’t just give them pills.

Skills, not just pills.

The part of the training that completely blew my mind was neurofeedback, a specific form of biofeedback focused on the brain that is also called brain wave or EEG biofeedback. In the 1980s, the brain was still considered by many a “black box,” but my professors were telling me and my classmates that we could look at brain wave signatures and teach people how to change them. It was a whole new world, which just a few years later led to my looking at the brain with SPECT scans. That series of lectures is where I first got the idea that would become the signature statement of my professional life:

You are not stuck with the brain you have; you can change it! You can change your brain and your life.

When I brought neurofeedback to Fort Irwin, I found it helped patients decrease their impulsivity and anxiety and improve their attention, learning, and mood. Now nearly 30 years later, more than 1,000 scientific studies show that neurofeedback can help a wide variety of mental-health and brain-related conditions, such as

It can also help

Here are the common brain-wave patterns (discussed in chapter 4), plus one more:

A healthy brain will generate the wave frequency appropriate for any given situation. The basic neurofeedback technique uses behavioral reinforcement to help people change their brain-wave state accordingly. The more they can concentrate and produce fast beta brain waves, for example, the more rewards they can accrue. With Amen Clinics’ neurofeedback equipment, a child or adult sits in front of a computer monitor with a biofeedback game. If he increases the beta activity or decreases the theta activity, the game continues. The game stops, however, when the player is unable to maintain the desired brain-wave state. People find the activity fun, and we gradually shape their brain-wave pattern to a healthier or more optimal one. This treatment technique is not an overnight cure. People often have to practice this form of biofeedback for 20 to 60 sessions to be able to recreate it on their own. But the results are worth it.

AUDIOVISUAL ENTRAINMENT: RHYTHMS OF SOUND AND LIGHT

Imagine sitting in a room at home with goggles and headphones on —strobe lights flicker through the goggles and pulses come through the headphones, both designed to stimulate your mind. Our minds “think” in states of brain-wave frequency. The changes in frequencies are based on brain activity. When the brain is stimulated with light and sound pulses (audiovisually), it begins to mimic or follow the same frequencies. This is called entrainment. In a sense, audiovisual entrainment (AVE) speaks to the mind in its own language —the language of rhythmic frequency —using a special machine that produces light and sound. The science of brain-wave entrainment, or the brain picking up the rhythm in the environment, is one of the fastest-growing technologies in brain enhancement.

A review of 20 clinical studies concluded that AVE was helpful for people suffering from cognitive functioning deficits, stress, anxiety, PMS, and behavioral problems.[715] It has also been found to improve overall brain activity[716] and help with several other issues:

Take Roger, age 62, a pastor who has Parkinson’s disease. After having trouble sleeping for years, he came to Amen Clinics. From the first time he used audiovisual entrainment, he started sleeping better. Now he uses it multiple times a week to calm stress, balance his mood, and improve his focus.

Consider this: Everything in the universe vibrates and moves to certain rhythms. Striking one tuning fork near others of the same frequency will cause them to resonate also. Pendulum clocks hanging on the same wall, over time, will tick in synchrony. Crowds of people walking on a pedestrian bridge will unconsciously synchronize their steps if the bridge is slightly swaying. In concert halls, it is common for an audience’s clapping to synchronize into rhythmic waves. Even the heartbeats and breathing patterns of couples sitting close to each other can match up. In hospitals, high-frequency oscillation ventilation machines are used to deliver stereo-speaker-like vibrations to help infants breathe. This phenomenon of vibration and synchronization is all around us and in the brain. The brain has its own vibrations. When masses of neurons fire in synchronized rhythmic oscillations, the small electrical vibrations emitted (brain waves) can change how we feel.

The idea of using rhythm and frequency to facilitate shifts in our brain is nothing new. From music to sunlight, sound and light have long played a central role in shaping our human consciousness. When we listen to music, certain songs can make us happy, sad, or irritated. Fast beats tend to speed up our brain waves. Slow beats tend to slow down our brain waves. Through the amazing use of AVE, we are able to stimulate the brain with rhythmic pulses of light and sounds at specific frequencies to purposefully guide the brain into different brain wave patterns.

I like AVE because it is so easy to use and cost-efficient, and you can use it in the comfort of your own home, on your own time. If you are looking for a clinically proven, pharmaceutical-free way to improve your life and want to learn more about how AVE can help, go to www.brainmdhealth.com/mind-alive.

This is an exciting time for brain-enhancement therapies, including the four discussed here. Outer space was once considered the new frontier. Now it is the space between your ears.