Brain structure and function

Get Moving! There is a Link Between Exercise and the Brain.

A number of things happened this past week that lead me to this discussion today about exercise and the brain. I have been in New Zealand visiting my family. My mother had saved a collection of resources about brain injury and dementia for me. One was a booklet entitled “Exercise and the Brain. The New Science of Brain Health”, published by the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand. Walking and Thinking I had flicked through the booklet, just before I went on a long, strenuous and very beautiful walk, through the amazing bush, of the Coromandel Peninsula – which is where this photo was taken. I was thinking about the booklet as I walked. Sometimes, when we are learning about the brain, and how to best care for the brain, we focus on caring for another person’s brain. We need to remember to look after our own brains as well. Based on research becoming available there are a number of things we can…

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How the Busy Brain Works

The challenge I am setting myself today is to see if I can write a simple explanation on how the brain does its work. One that helps understanding of brain injury and cognitive impairment. Knowing that our brains are so complex increases this challenge. To begin here is an extraordinary video of a brain at work: Why should the brain interest you? Do you really need to know about the brain? YES,  I believe some understanding helps: [unordered_list style="tick"] It helps you understand how the outcomes of brain injury come about. It helps make sense of an often confusing combination of cognitive difficulties. It can help you support a person with brain injury more effectively, as you are more able to think through what might happening in the brain. It helps you to not take things personally. [/unordered_list] We know that the brain is responsible for everything we do and if you think about it, that is a huge amount of work.…

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The BRAIN Takes Centre Stage

FINALLY, a momentus year for the brain. Yes the BRAIN is to be recognized and studied for the amazing organ it is. This week Barak Obama announced a project appropriately called BRAIN aimed at discovering, not the mysteries of outer space, but our very own brain. Earlier in the year the European Union announced an even larger project, the Human Brain Project. As a part of this project they aim to create a realistic simulation of the brain to assist study the brain and find treatments for brain disorders. What's this got to do with brain injury? Think about how we all stand to benefit from these projects: through our own increased knowledge of all things brain related, through the ability of scientists and people involved to collaborate and build shared knowledge and hopefully new treatments and prevention of brain injury and brain disorders. A short video here explains more about the Human Brain Project, an exciting initiative. It reinforces the complexity…

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Brain Injury – the Micro Picture

  Brain injury is damage to brain cells. And we have an estimated 100 billion brain cells, that’s: 100,000,000,000 cells. How can we possibly understand anything with this many pieces? And how do we know its 100 million cells – I don’t know the answer to this, except to say it seems a pretty common estimate. It is an odd picture imagining someone counting all those cells! Remembering that there are millions of cells, helps explain why brain injury is so complex, so hard to understand, and why no two people will have exactly the same brain injury – 100,000,000,000 allows for a LOT of possibilities. It also explains why we are always learning more about the brain – all those cells responsible for different things and many, many, different combinations.   To understand a bit about the brain, can help you understand what is happening for the person you are supporting. Once you start learning you will find it’s a fascinating,…

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