Many of us have or know of someone close to us that has concerns regarding brain health. Perhaps we had a parent that experienced alzheimer’s or dementia, we have occasional or chronic depression or anxiety ourselves, one of our friends may have experienced brain tumors, TBIs, or neuropathy. We may notice more brain fog as our hormones change, we experience a virus like Covid, we get to the other side of a cancer diagnosis, or even just as we age. I know I or those I love have experienced each of these things. My auto-immune conditions, hormone changes as I age, and after my cancer surgery all dramatically impacted how my brain functioned, my recall, my emotional regulation.
It may feel like these things “just happen” and we have no control over it. Luckily, there Are things we can do to at least positively influence or mitigate the impact these conditions have on us and our lives.
The field of yoga therapy has provided extensive clinical research around generalized and specific brain health over the years, especially in the pathology of Alzheimer, neurologic conditions including Parkinsons and neuropathy, and general mental health.
With its emphasis on breathing practices and meditation—both of which help calm and center the mind— it’s hardly surprising that yoga also brings mental benefits, such as reduced anxiety and depression. What may be more surprising is that it actually makes your brain work better. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/yoga-for-better-mental-health
While generalized massage therapy can often help with some of the physical issues that accompany brain health concerns, a focus on the lymphatic/glymphatic system that is my area of specialization can positively affect the neuro-inflammation that is often a contributing component of brain health concerns. It, like most things in integrative medicine is not a one and done approach, but an ongoing practice, which is why I generally try to educate folks to do self-massage techniques from the beginning.
Both yoga therapy and health coaching will look at environmental and lifestyle factors that may be less than conducive to a healthy brain. While many of us think this means adding more to our to-do list, it can often be a matter of eliminating things or finding substitutions that may have positive benefits that we didn’t even connect to that thing, brain health, exhaustion, sleep issues, etc. Yoga therapy and health coaching can provide some guidance for us to make the best decisions for our own health and wellbeing practices, and an accountability partner for the transition of developing that new habit or lifestyle.
While there are no magical things that guarantee a healthy brain, or that we won’t experience brain challenges in our lifetime, finding genuinely valid tools and techniques to help our general health and wellness are a start. I still have days where I can’t get the right word, or forget why I walked into a room, but those are fewer and farther between occurrences, and I generally know what will trigger them and how to schedule my activities accordingly when possible. As long as I continue to take the steps I need to and practice the tools that increase my focus, sustain my ability to move and process, and get good sleep, I’m doing okay. Very little in our bodies is inevitable, if we know some where to start.
