Brain Balance: Negative and Positive

 Curated Paper #2

Emerald Lane

October 29, 2020

Biology of Disease

Brain Balance: Negative and Positive

Brain health is very important for anyone’s health. It is the control center for the entire body. It receives signals from parts of the body and gives off signals in response so that the particular body part knows what hormones to release and where to send it. If this does not occur then the body goes into havoc, and imbalance that can affect the health of an individual. Due to this sensitivity of the brain's role, it is important that it is balanced. Substances such as medicines, genetics, diet, and environment can affect the brain's health either positively or negatively.

             The brains are separated into parts. The frontal lobe is responsible for cognitive function, voluntary movement, parietal lobe process information from the sense such as temperature, touch, taste. The occipital lobe is for visual information and makes sense of the incoming information, whereas the temporal lobe makes sense of auditory information. Other parts of the brain help in keeping the body in balance. The cerebellum literally keeps the body in balance so that a person won’t walk around wobbly. The medulla’s function is involuntary movement or automatic involuntary functions like sneezing, vomiting, or flinching. Neurons process and sends signals to different parts of the brain and body via the spinal cord. These fine-tuned parts of the brain down to the myelin sheath (helps electrical impulses to transmit) are important to brain and body health.

             During the 1900’s heroin, cocaine, opium, and morphine was seen in over the counter drugs. Opium was used to calm someone who was seen as hysterical, morphine was used and still used today to help alleviate the pain that is unbearable, whereas cocaine was used to treat fatigue. Amphetamines were also used to help soldiers during World War II, it was meant to keep them awake and alert (The History of Prescription Drugs, n.d.). However, some of these drugs are no longer seen as medicine due to the side effects and its easy addiction or there are limited to certain disorders that can be helped by the drug. It has been found that these drugs affect the brain negatively by becoming a crutch and slowly degrade (Gateway, n.d.). After multiple uses on a continuous basis, the brain will no longer produce the chemical that associates with the drug. If one drug releases a serotine, a natural neurotransmitter, then after a while the brain will no longer be able to produce the serotine in a natural way, this is how the drug becomes a crutch. Because the natural neurotransmitter cannot be produced then the drug is needed to produce the neurotransmitter (NIDA, 2020). The side effects of continuous use of drugs are diminished ability to learn, anger issues, and inability to make decisions.

             Not all drugs are bad, sometimes they are needed to help maintain a balance in the brain. There are times where the brain does not produce the neurotransmitters needed to function properly. Such as depression, the brain does not make serotonin naturally. The lack of a serotine can cause insomnia, anxiety, and low self-esteem. But now there is a drug that can help bring the brain back into balance. SSRI or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor helps bring the brain back into balance by increasing the amount of serotonin release so that it can bind to the receptor. But some of these medications are addictive such as Xanax, Zoloft, and Prozac, the common medications that people become addicted to (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). Another disorder that can be helped by drugs is ADHD or ADD. ADHD is caused by low norepinephrine, which is also related to dopamine release. This lack creates an impairment in the frontal cortex, which controls cognitive functions like attention, organization. But with the help of drugs like amphetamine with dextroamphetamine by increasing the neurotransmitters that the brain lacks to improve function (Silver, 2020).

             Some brain disorders cannot be helped with medication. Dementia, Huntington Disease, Parkinson, and ALS to name a few. All these illnesses have in common is the brain slowly degrading and genetics. Dementia is caused by a protein in the brain called Amyloid Beta protein, it slowly aggregates in parts of the brain. This abnormal brain change prevents any new short-term memory from forming and eventually causing all memory to disappear for a time. Huntington Disease is a genetic illness that slowly breaks down the brain cells from an abnormal copy of a gene. This mutation in the gene causes the inability to walk, memory loss, personality changes, a decline in cognitive abilities, and involuntary movements. Parkinson is another genetic illness or sometimes caused by environmental factors. The brain of a Parkinson person is shown to have less basal ganglia neurons and substantia nigra. These neurons are responsible for motor function, substantia nigra is also responsible for dopamine production while the basal ganglia help in behavior, emotion, and learning. Symptoms of Parkinson's are tremors, ridged movement, speech change, and sometimes loss of movement. ALS has no known cause but many speculate that it’s the cause of protein build-up, an imbalance in the neurotransmitter glutamate, or free radical change. But what is known is that ALC affects the spinal cord and brain. ALS symptoms are slurred speech, difficulty swallowing and breathing if there is damage to the medulla or twitching, limp muscle, and muscle degrading if the spinal cord is affected. (Han, 2018)

             A person's environment can also reduce an individual's brain health. If they are in a stressful environment the brain can change the brain by causing an increase in glucocorticoids which creates a cellular change in the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory and learning. Or if a person’s environment was involved in a series of head injuries like football or car rollover. These result in a brain injury that can affect the brain chemistry balance and cause a series of changes in personality, mood, and how the emotions are regulated. But some environments can help a person's brain health. Being in nature can positively help the brain by decreasing blood flow in the prefrontal cortex. The decrease in blood flow improves mood, concentration, and creativity. Reading also helps by exercising the brain by utilizing the left temporal cortex and creates new connections. Sleeping helps by resting the brain and placing it in stasis to archive memories, clean out toxins, and create new connections. Exercising is another environmental aspect that can help because it improves brain plasticity and releasing endorphins. Being in a musical environment also improves brain health by forcing the brain into a certain brain wavelength that helps an individual learn better (Martin, n.d.). Overall being in a positive environment helps the brain because it reduces stress.

             Ayurveda's suggestions for brain health include meditation, yoga, and diet. Meditation and yoga have shown to improve brain health by reducing stress and improving blood flow in the brain thus improving concentration, attention, and decreasing anxiety and depression. According to Ayurveda the reason meditation and yoga have these effects on the brain because it forces the individual to focus on the issues in their life, the issues that cause stress in their life. By doing this is the stressor becomes obsolete in the view of the individual that it is no longer a stressor. The diet that is suggested by Ayurveda for brain health include foods that are soft and oily and fatty. These foods are to represent the texture of the brain, and the reason an individual might suffer from a brain disorder like ADHD and depression is that their brain is no longer fatty. Some of the foods that are said to improve brain health and inhibit disorders are ghee, walnuts, avocado, coconut, and bone marrow or broth. Bone marrow is suggested because according to Ayurveda the brain is not a body part but a bone marrow because it's encased in the skull (Parla, 2018). They also suggest a tonic called Bacopa monniera for those suffering from a brain injury, it is supposed to improve cognitive function, memory, and concentration. Herbs that are said to help brain health are turmeric, brahmi, shankhpushpi, and many more (Farooqui, Farooqui, Madan, Hwee-Jing Ong, & Ong, 2018). These herbs are to reduce brain age and induce antistress hormones. It does so by encouraging the releases of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, and immune support.

             Brain health is important to everyone. It helps the body function properly because if it is not then many bodily functions will no longer work in the capacity it should or cease functioning. To keep the brain in balance depends on the individual and their preference either it be in nature to reduce stress or a library. But there are always times when no matter what an individual will do to keep healthy it just won't work because of genetics and misfolded protein. But it doesn’t hurt to try.

Works Cited

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Martin, T. (n.d.). Ambition and Balance. Retrieved from 10 Things You Can Do to Literally Change your Brain: https://blog.doist.com/change-your-brain/

National Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Retrieved from Depression: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml

NIDA. (2020, July 10). National Institute on Drug Abuse. Retrieved from Drugs, Brain and Behavior: The Science of Addiction: https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drugs-brain

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The History of Prescription Drugs. (n.d.). Retrieved from Good Medicine, Bad Behavior: Drug Diversion in America: http://www.goodmedicinebadbehavior.org/explore/history_of_prescription_drugs.html