Nutrition and the Brain

Food impacts the way we act and the way we feel. We all know when we are hungry we get cranky easily. In more extreme cases when blood sugar plummets, our iritability and ability to think clearly suffers drastically.A person who has just eaten a meal may, in reverse, feel calm and relaxed, even sleepy. That same sleepy person may be more productive after a cup of coffee and a brisk walk. Some one who has consistantly eaten less food  or energy than needed over a long period of time may be apathetic and moody.
How does this relate to the mind? The brain is an organ that requires very specific nutrients and very high energy needs. Any alteration in these can impact both brain function and neurological functioning . Neurotransmitters, transmit nerve impulses from one cell to the next, to the next, and so on and they directly influence things like sleep, moods, and thinking. Deficiencies or extremes of certain vitamins or minerals can cause damage to this very delicately balanced mechanism in the brain causing changes in memory, limiting problem solving and impairing brain function, perhaps permamently.
The first thing we will talk about on the next post will be the issue of energy  intake and mental health.
You should know going in, that several nutritional factors can influence mental health including overall energy intake, intake of energy containing nutrients( proteins, the dreaded carbohydrtes  and even more maligned fats) , alcohol  and intake of vitamin and minerals. Sometimes a deficiency of a single nutrient will have a huge impact on the mind.
Also, please consider in the US and other developed countries, alcoholism is often responsible for nutritional deficiences that affect mental functioning. Disease can also have an impact as does poverty, ignorance, fad diets and the like.
 As we go deeper into this topic, please take time to notice how food, or the lack of it impacts your own mood. When are you at your best and when do people run from you like the plague because of your crancky nature? Examine the attributes of any diets you have embarked upon and note carefully the characteristics of these diets. We won't even go into exercise for a while so save those issues for later.
 I hope you will join me on this pilgrimage and hopefully we will arrive at a greater understanding of the impact of what goes into our bodies and how that impacts what comes out in the way of thought and behaviors.

What Were They Thinking?

At least fifteen times a day I asked myself this question when my kids were teens. They seemed to suddenly have lost any intelligence they had manage to acquire in the blink of an eye. They were impulsive and did things that were just plain stupid, with absolutely no thought of the consequences or the long term effects of what they were doing. Sound familiar? Current research tells us why teens seem to have lost their minds. We all know there is a growth spurt that happens at precise times in kids. Turns out, their brains have growth spurts too. Unfortunately, the second spurt in brain development happens the same time the hormones kick in. Their brains are rapidly firing and building new connections at a rate unseen since infancy and that will never be matched again. They don't get the cognitive equivalent of the massive brain surge till much later, kinda like turning a kid loose with an 800 horsepower engine and no guidance on the power it possesses.
Kids may look very mature, and we tend to expect them to act with the maturity of their looks. We forget they are still kids. You know a child's brain is not fully cognitively developed until late into their 20's? Think of how much adult complex problem solving and decision making we expect our kids to make when they have limited cognitive power at their disposal, or massive brain activity and no idea how to handle it. What kids have is a surge in brain connections that is bombarding them with new information at a much higher rate but with no way to sort it all out. They get the power but none of the discipline that goes with the maturity of growing up, so the next time we adults wonder "What were they thinking?" remember they probably were too overwhelmed with all the chemical responses in their bodies, the pressures at home and at school and intense peer pressure of their social groups. These kids are still kids and we need to learn to give them time to figure out what to do with this new found brain power and ability to understand and process the consequences of any actions they are contemplating. From jumping out a 3nd floor window on a dare to robbing a little old lady on a bus line for beer money, it all can seem fairly harmless without the added advantage of practice and adult modeling for kids to figure out how to hande the new path they are thrust into. Kids have great brain potential but they lack great recall measures. Think of a conversation with your kids in which you gave them specific instructions like, take out the trash and wash the dishes. You find none of these things were accomplished. The answer you will get to to why will be : "I don't know." which may not be a cop out. Maybe they got caught up in an impulsive act that completely erased that mundane bit of info. Compare that to what you advise them to do in a dangerous situation, like getting in a car with a drunk driver. We need to give them a way to pull that info back out to their recent accessible info files. Kids have poor filing systems in their brains. It is all there, they just haven't learned to access it well yet. But they can recall song lyrics almost perfectly. Maybe that is a key to teaching this ability for us. Use what works for them. Remember back when you were their age. Was it all roses and clover? Not hardly. I bet your parents asked that same "what were they thinking" a million times over and maybe still do. Imagine the most significantly scary and stupid things you did. How did it feel and what were you thinking? Now try to explain that to your 13 year old. Not an easy task... "I don't know why" will come up and that is a legitimate response from a kid; they likely don't know for sure. So spend some time with your kids and learn what things they recall quickly and how they do that. This is the key to helping your kids remember those important adult pieces of advice when you aren't there. If you would like more info on brain development check out http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/understanding-the-brain-teenagers.html