Karen Mazzella

Anyone that has had a bad night’s sleep knows how it can intrude on productivity the following day!  Have you ever experienced “brain fog”?

As I progress through my studies on dementia, I’d like to share some of the information given by Dr Michael Breus, Ph.D.  He is a Clinical Psychologist and author who is nationally-recognised in the US as an expert on sleep.  All of the information below has come from an interview he gave in the “Regain Your Brain” series by Peggy Sarlin.

He talks about the importance of establishing and maintaining a consistent waking and sleeping routine to assist your circadian rhythm and by doing this assisting your memory.

Questions to ask yourself about sleep – because sleep is definitely about quality and quantity.

• Do I have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep?
• Do I wake feeling rested?
• Do I snore? (you might need to ask your partner this one – and believe them if they say you do!  You’re asleep – you may not know!)
• Do I have sleep apnea (your partner may have to answer that one too!)  This is when you actually stop breathing and may do a big gasp when your body realises it’s running low on oxygen!

According to Dr Breus, if our circadian rhythm is functioning well, our focus will be best earlier in the day as we should have higher levels of cortisol in our system.  In the later part of the day, our creativity is at its best because the cortisol is dropping off and our melatonin levels are beginning to rise.

One way of developing a good sleep/wake routine and reducing the brain fog effect is this:

On waking –

1. Hydrate – have at least one glass of water to make up for the fluid loss overnight.
2. Sunlight and movement – natural light helps shut down the melatonin release.  Exercise gets the blood flowing assisting your body to function well
3. Nutrition – have a protein-based breakfast rather than a carbohydrate loaded breakfast as the carbohydrates elevate melatonin levels.

 “Light (natural) is Medicine” – “Movement is Medicine” 

During the day – Most people can maintain good focus for about 45 – 50 minutes before fatigue sets in.  When you notice your focus is dropping, Dr Breus suggests:

1. Re-hydration – keep the body hydrated – he really stresses this point
2. Walk outside – recharge and turn off the melatonin!  Also getting outside gets you fresh air.  Do exercises that cross the mid-line of your body.
3. Deep breathing (regardless of whether you can get outside).
4. Nutrition – Eat a good, healthy lunch – you can have more carbohydrates in this meal

In the mid-afternoon, there is a drop in energy levels and body temperature so go outside again to get more natural light.

Dr Breus advises a consistent bed-time and wake-up time.  Every body is different but most people need 7 to 8 hours sleep a night and certain behaviours encourage a good night’s sleep followed by a productive day and then a good night’s sleep …  So, before going to bed, there is a little preparation required.

For the healthy, non-medicated person, using the example of their bed time being 10 pm:

• 9 pm to 9:20 pm – turn off all the gadgets – phones, tablets, computer work and do the preparation for the next day – organise anything that you know needs to be done for tomorrow that can be done tonight
• 9:20 pm to 9:40 pm – end of day hygiene – showering, brushing teeth etc
• 9:40 pm to 10 pm – relaxation – find the technique that works for you that allows you to fall asleep.

If anxiety and depression or a busy brain gets in the way of easily falling asleep then try this technique.  Maintain a “worry journal” – or call it what you like!  Divide the page in 2  and have a “Problem” column and a “Solution” column.  Sometimes the solution will be that you will concentrate on that tomorrow!  Having the problem written down sometimes helps resolve the problem or at least put it into perspective.  This activity should be done before the routine written above.  That is, before you turn of the electronic devices and preparing for the next day.

Things that can get in the way of a good night’s sleep can include:

1. Medications – your doctor/pharmacist can advise you of the best times to take your medication so that sleep problems from the medication are minimised.
2. Pain – Dr Breus works in a pain clinic and specifically mentions that pain and sleep should be treated simultaneously
3. Sleep Apnea – maintaining a healthy weight helps to reduce this problem.  Also using devices that help you to breathe well through the night eg CPAP, mouth devices that keep your jaw forward
4. Nocturia – needing to go to the toilet through the night.  Dr Breus didn’t have any suggestions for this but I would suggest you start by being referred to a Continence Adviser as they have so much knowledge to share.  Nocturia comes into their area of expertise.  You could also consider a Urologist.

Dr Breus’s guide to successful night’s sleep starts with his Banana Tea as it is very high in magnesium – great for a muscle relaxant.

His instructions are:

1. wash the banana (skin intact)
2. cut off the tips
3. cut into half
4. put into a pot of water – 3 to 4 cups
5. boil for 4 to 5 minutes
6. drink the water

This wouldn’t be great if you hate bananas but if you love them, then apparently it is very delicious!

The story behind the drink recipe

The gentleman (I’ll call Bill – not his real name) who shared this recipe with me was given it from a friend of his.  Bill told me that 5 months ago, one of his knees was very painful and double the size it is now and he also used to have dreadful pain in his neck that caused him to stoop – and this is completely gone as well.  He credits these changes to the drink.  What I also saw was a motivated and charismatic elderly man who had a new lease on life! 

Bill attends a clinic where a while back he was delivered the news that he carries the gene that makes him susceptible to Alzheimer’s disease.  He understood what this meant as he had watched family members progress through the disease.  This brought about an initial bout of depression but he courageously picked himself up and decided to make the most of what he had.

Please don’t let your genetics to get in the way of your perception of your health.  If you feed your cells with good food, a healthy attitude and do regular exercise, you’re a long way down the track of living well.  A good read on this topic is “The Biology of Belief” by Dr Bruce Lipton – the Cell Biologist that really put Epigenetics out there.  Epigenetics means “above the genes”.  He does a fabulous presentation on this subject on You Tube as well if you find that easier than reading.

Anti-inflammatory drink

1 heaped teaspoon of turmeric

1 heaped teaspoon of coconut oil (the oil that goes solid in cool temperature)

Make a paste of the above ingredients.

Add a couple of “twists” from dispenser of black pepper to paste

¾ cup of hot water

Add ½ a teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of honey (ensure it is a quality honey – our local SW unprocessed honey has healing properties)

Hold your nose and drink!  (This was Bill’s advice!)

This is how the recipe was handed to me but there are points to note:

Go for quality ingredients –

1. Cocoa powder could be substituted with organic cacao from health food shop
2. Not all honeys are equal! Avoid honey sold at the supermarkets, pay the extra and get honey that will serve you well.  In the SW of Australia we have fabulous suppliers of unprocessed honey from bees in our forests.

I feel so blessed when I come into contact with amazing people and their stories. 

Below is information about each of the active ingredients in the drink – I’ve sourced these off the internet but please do your own research and take control of your own health.  Be aware that you may have an intolerance or allergy to one or more of the ingredients so take responsibility and make healthy substitutes that suit you.

Properties of the ingredients:

Turmeric – anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, boosts Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (improves brain function), contributes to assisting with lowering risk to heart disease, assists with preventing cancer, assists with arthritis, benefits those with depression. https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-662/turmeric

Coconut Oil – Raise HDL levels, contain medium chain triglycerides, a quick source of energy, convert easily to ketones that benefit the brain, increase fat burning, has an anti-microbial, anti-viral and anti-fungal effects.  There are gut side effects so watch your dosages and make changes that suit your body’s response. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil#section9

Black Pepper – Bill told me that he was told that black pepper helps the body to absorb the turmeric.  Other sources advise it’s great for providing manganese, Vit K, Iron and fibre.  It is also an antioxidant, discourages intestinal gas from forming, helps breakdown of fat cells.  Increases the body’s ability to absorb a multiple of nutrients.  https://foodfacts.mercola.com/black-pepper.html

Cacao – an anti-oxidant, it contains protein, and a multitude of nutrients and essential fatty acids.  It contains phytochemicals that can lower LDL cholesterol, improve heart function and reduce cancer risk.  https://foodfacts.mercola.com/cacao.html

Honey – a blend of sugar and multiple nutrients, amino acids.  It has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and antioxidant properties as long as it is unprocessed honey.  https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/10/20/health-benefits-honey.aspx

Water – it’s also my policy to look at the quality of the water you drink and the additives that contribute to your daily intake and therefore health.  Loads to research there!!

My latest research has taken me in the direction of Alzheimer’s, dementia and brain health from the mainstream perspective. This is because my nursing work has a restorative focus usually involving older patients with cognitive issues and other health issues generally related to aging.  Even if the aging patient has no cognitive issues then their health issue almost always has a neurological deficit eg Stroke, Parkinson’s Disease or immobility from another cause.

I watched the “Awakening from Alzheimer’s” series that explained the importance of lifestyle changes to reduce the inflammation in your gut and therefore your brain (think microbiome).

Listening to this series offers only optimism for health improvement.  Although these presenters are focusing on Alzheimer’s and memory loss, the information shared is completely on track for how my son’s profound dyslexia (diagnosed as a 6 year old at the Neuroscience Unit in Perth) was reversed after being on a nutritional and kinesiology program in 3 weeks – close to his 7th birthday!  I could not convince his Year 2 teacher of what he couldn’t do in Year 1 as we started the program in the holidays – and his Year 1 teacher had left the town we were living in!  At the end of Year 1 he had around 30 of the expected 100 sight words – yet he was reading individual letters and numbers as a 2 year old.  He now has a tertiary English qualification as a Professional Screen Writer.

For those interested in the way things work!
A couple of weekends ago I was reminded that I really wanted to look at the Methylation Cycle in its relation to chronic health conditions like auto-immunity, thyroid issues, mental health issues, cancer and the list goes on. It is where toxins, infections (bacterial, viral and fungal), heavy metal toxicity etc fits in with health outcomes.
I’d been taught aspects of the cycle particularly in my kinesiology studies courtesy of Dr Igor Tabrizian’s “Visual Textbook of Nutritional Medicine” but hadn’t got to the point of joining the dots until now.  I don’t remember being taught much more than the Kreb’s Cycle in nursing but then maybe they didn’t know the extent of it back in the 80s or maybe I blocked it all back then!

If you’re interested in biochemistry there are some fabulous lectures available on YouTube (I started with the 4 part series called “Methylation Made Easy” and progressed from there!) and some great images of the Methylation Cycle map in Google images to help complete your understanding.

The main point is – stomach acid must be at pH 2-3 (Guyton) and from then on the right balance of proteins, vitamins and minerals in the diet and presence of necessary enzymes needed to cause the chain reactions required for good health.

So when you are told that it doesn’t matter what you eat – the Methylation Cycle tells differently!

Things that can alter your stomach acid pH outside the pH 2 – 3 range:

• poor dietary choices
  • (high starch carbs like wheat based foods, excess potatoes, rice etc)
  • carbonated drinks – particularly those high in sugar (watch “That Sugar Movie” to see just how much sugar is in some drinks that you may not be aware of)
• stress
• medications – particularly those that are designed to bring comfort from reflux and heart burn.

When you are told that supplements “… make expensive wee”.  It is really very important to make sure you are only supplementing under the advice of a qualified practitioner and that you are not buying substandard supplements that can actually cause more harm than good.  An example of this is our milk (dairy and alternative versions) are supplemented with calcium – but not a calcium that is easily absorbed into our body system.  One of the reasons I make my own almond milk if I can’t get the organic version that is not “value”-added.