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Want to improve your brain’s performance? Here’s how:

BRAIN FITNESS PROGRAMS: WHAT MAKES POWER BRAIN FITNESS UNIQUE?

People wonder how POWER BRAIN FITNESS is different from the many other brain fitness programs available today?

THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE!

Power Brain Fitness is a UNIQUE PHYSICAL EXERCISE PROGRAM. It is based on actions that scientists have proven to stimulate the growth of new glial cells, the sprouting and branching of dendrites, and the connection of cortical cells in the brain. I call this effect the “cells and wiring” of the brain. I consider this stimulated growth to be BASIC BRAIN FITNESS. I hypothesize that improving the basic fitness of the brain allows the brain itself to impact a wide range conditions. Participants of POWER BRAIN FITNESS have witnessed improvements in Parkinson’s muscle lock up, learning disabilities, mental focus, balance, agility, muscle response time, memory, ability to do arithmetic, brain energy, positivity, confidence, handwriting, speech, personality…

Other brain fitness programmers have developed specific exercises, OFTEN DONE ON A COMPUTER, to improve specific cognitive functions such as processing speed, reasoning, and attention; visual improvements such as perception and scanning; and working memory.  We would all agree that cognitive functions like these are critically necessary.  Cognitive exercises such as these have been scientifically proven to work.

LINDA SCHAUMLEFFEL’S POWER BRAIN FITNESS PROGRAM:

Necessity is the mother of invention!  10 years after I suffered a car accident, I still had symptoms of a brain injury that affected every part of my life. I wondered if a brain could actually heal. In 2000 I started reviewing published research to see what scientists at that time thought about brain injury recovery.

The prevailing thought was that the brain was quite fixed and unchangeable. However, there was an undercurrent of scientists who were starting to ask questions about how the brain actually worked.

IMPACTFUL BRAIN STUDY: “THE NUN STUDY”

I found this study. Researchers in Kentucky reported in 1998 their massive 10 year study. They had interviewed 628 nuns to record every detail of their entire lives. If the nun died during the 10 year period of the study, the researchers got the brain. Then they cut open the nun’s brain and tried to relate the changes in her brain to events in her life.

WHAT DID SISTER MARY DO TO SAVE HER LIFE?

Sister Mary died at the age of 101. Her brain was shrunken and riddled with the plaque of advanced Alzheimer’s… but Sister Mary never exhibited any signs of dementia during her entire life! Immediately I thought that she must have been inadvertently doing something that allowed her brain to continue as normal. I optimistically thought that if it was possible for one person, then it was possible for others too!

RESEARCH REVEALS KEY ACTIONS:

With the quandary of Sister Mary in the back of my mind, I continued to review published and unpublished research. I COLLATED A LIST OF ACTIONS that various scientists and researchers had proven to cause changes in brain cells. These actions stimulated the growth of new glial cells, the sprouting/branching of dendrites, and the connection of cortical cells. I described this phenomenon “the growth of new communication cells & wiring in the brain.”

WE NEED BRAIN FITNESS:

With my physical education background I likened this activity to creating basic physical fitness. I dubbed it “brain fitness”. I wondered if improved brain fitness would empower changes in brain related behavior, as improved physical fitness changes our physical performance.

We know that kicking a soccer ball improves the ability to kick a soccer ball. (This is similar to what the cognitive brain fitness programs do.)  However we also know that appropriate  basic muscle strengthening exercises contributes to improvement in kicking a soccer ball. At the same time the improved muscle strength also empowers other functions. I wondered what effects would be created by increasing the basic fitness of the brain.

POWER BRAIN FITNESS PROGRAM:

In 2005 I designed the POWER BRAIN FTINESS program to include the LIST OF ACTIONS THAT I HAD COLLATED FROM MY REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. My hypothesis is that SPECIFIC PHYSICAL ACTIONS stimulate the growth of new cells and wiring in the brain, giving the brain the basic material it needs to solve other problems. (This is like increasing muscle strength to improve soccer ball kicking.)

WAS THE MYSTERY OF SISTER MARY SOLVED?

After collating this list of actions I returned to the Nun Study to read what Sister Mary did in her life. She ate well, exercised, had fun, de-stressed. She led an unbelievably impressive physically and mentally active life to the day she died. She was the kind of fully active person that we strive to be! CONTAINED IN HER LIFESTYLE WERE ALL OF THE ACTIONS FROM MY COLLATED LIST! It seems to me that the specific actions imbedded in her regular lifestyle continued to stimulate the growth of new cells and wiring in her brain. The result was that  her brain had enough healthy cells to somehow build “detours” around the dying areas of her brain, and keep her functioning as normal.

THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF:

In his best selling book, “The Brain That Changes Itself”, published in 2007, Dr. Norman Doidge reviews a collection of case histories detailing the astonishing progress of people whose conditions had long been dismissed as hopeless.  Dr. Doidge concludes that the brain “is a plastic living organ that can actually change its own structure and function, even into old age.” This discovery is called ‘neuroplasticity.’

WHAT STIMULATES NEUROPLASTIC CHANGES IN THE BRAIN?

I wanted to know the answer to this question. When I met with Dr. Doidge in August 2007, he was excited to learn about my Power Brain Fitness Program. He was not surprised at the testimonial reports of far ranging outcomes reported by participants of the Power Brain Fitness program.  He called me the “neuroplastician” meaning that the program was able to provide what was necessary to cause neuroplastic changes in the brains of the participants.

THIS SCREAMS FOR RESEARCH!

Do the actions that I listed and that form the basis for the POWER BRAIN FITNESS PROGRAM actually stimulate the brain in ways that cause the brain to change in positive ways? This screams for research.

LINDA’S RECOVERY:

After I put together my Power Brain Fitness program and got exercising in this way, my own brain injury started improving immediately. Within one year of regular Power Brain Fitness exercising, I would say that my brain injury symptoms were 80% alleviated. Now, compared to my healthy peers, I have no sign of a brain injury.

MEASURE YOUR OWN “BRAIN FITNESS”

Recently, from a variety of brain injury resources, I collated a list of about 100 functions of the brain.  I offer this list as a before-&-after self-evaluation. To use it, you give one point for every function you struggle with. In hindsight, at the height of my brain injury after the car accident, I would have scored about 86! Now I score about 14. My healthy but aging peers score between 10 and 30.

CAN DEMENTIA BE PREVENTED?

Sister Mary’s story shines a light on the notion that dementia may be preventable. I hope so, because I think that people who have suffered brain injuries might be more susceptible to getting dementia. After 4 concussions, and my two aunts who died from Alzheimer’s, I’m worried.

“60 MINUTE” INVESTIGATORS’ STUNNING REPORT on CBC TV:

Recently my thought got some validation. The journalists on the Canadian TV investigative program called, “60 Minutes” published a report about the long term effects of concussions in football. The shocking fact is that the average age of death for a front lineman (whose job it is to stop the advancing players, and who receives the most head trauma in football) is 55 years! Autopsies on some of those players who died so young revealed that their brains had the Alzheimer’s level of an 85 year old!

WHO IS SUSCEPTIBLE TO DEMENTIA? YOU ARE!

I believe YOU are  more likely to get dementia than your parents! Modern lifestyles, with all its tech conveniences, EXCLUDES SO MANY OF THE ITEMS ON MY COLLATED LIST OF ACTION. Most of us are not living the lives of those admired active elders we strive to be.

EXCITING PIVITOL RESEARCH!

I’ll never forget the day! One October noon in 2005 I came home for lunch and turned on the TV news.  It was the exact moment researchers from New York University Medical Center were about to report the findings of their recent 10-year study. What caught my attention was the un-scientific demeanor of these scientists…they were smiling and laughing.

95% ACCURACY: RESEARCHERS PREDICTE DEMENTIA:

In this study, researchers measured the brain waves of a large group of 60-70 year old people using fMRI. Then the group of people lived their normal lives for 10 years before being reassembled. The researchers divided the people into two groups: those who got dementia, and those who didn’t. Their fMRI data was divided into these same two groups. Then computers scanned the two groups of data to find anything significant in the group that led to dementia. THEY FOUND 3 FACTORS THAT WERE 95% CORRELATING TO THE DEMENTIA GROUP!

WHAT DID THE RESEARCHERS DISCOVER?

What were these 3 factors? I delved into the body of this research study to find out. To my delight, the number one factor, brain hemispheric synchronization, is the number one principle underlying POWER BRAIN FITNESS. Recently I had my brain waves measured.  The technician was shocked to find that my brain hemispheres were perfectly in sync, a condition she rarely saw. I had been doing my Power Brain Fitness program regularly!

The second factor in the study is overall brain amperage. For amperage, you could say ‘brain energy’. After my car accident brain fatigue was the most debilitating factor of the injury giving me at first only 1 or 2 productive hours a day. Now I have enough energy to be productive all day and go then give a presentation in the evening! Participants in Power Brain Fitness experience improved brain energy after the very first session.

The third factor in the study is “too much theta waves in the hippocampus”. According to Dr Norman Doidge, activity in one area of the brain can affect  a neighboring area of the brain. In Power Brain Fitness, the actions include stimulus to the vestibular region of the brain which neighbors the hippocampus area. The hippocampus is where short term memory is turned into long term memory. After my car accident I could barely remember my name. Now my memory serves me well again.

If it’s possible for one person, it’s possible for others!

THIS SCREAMS FOR RESEARCH!

In research, finding factors to measure that make a difference is usually the most difficult part. The New York University Medical Center’s research established 3 easily measured factors that coorelate to dementia 95% of the time! The next research is easy! Now, let’s discover and prove what activities positively affect these 3 factors.

I don’t have the time, resources, or expertise to conduct research. I am not in a position to underwrite the expenses to have research undertaken. However I hope the simple discoveries I have made because of necessity, which have culminated in the creation of the Power Brain Fitness Program, will be the springboard for someone to take these ideas further. I want to be the first in line to learn  the results of such research!

WHILE YOU ARE WAITING FOR RESEARCH… WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT YOUR HEALTH?

Here’s my attitude: “You don’t have to get it right; you just have to get it going!” For example, in 1976 when I was one of the 21 pioneering women in rowing for Canada, we had poor equipment, little time for training, no history of what women could do in this sport… and we started anyway! We threw ourselves into the Olympic competition “flying by the seat of our pants”. The result? Canada now has one of the strongest rowing programs in the world! I used the same attitude in tackling the challenge of healing my brain: ”You don’t have to get it right; you just have to get it going!” There is so much you can only learn by being in action! You don’t have time to wait for conditions to be perfect. Start now.

2010 UPDATE: READ THIS:

After observing Power Brain Fitness participants for 4 years, I have created a more efficient application of the POWER BRAIN FITNESS PROGRAM.

I call  it THE OPTIMUM BRAIN GAIN PROGRAM.

It is a unique training strategy applied to the Power Brain Fitness Program that:

• accelerates your time and effort
• creates the biggest and widest range of results
• makes efficient use of your time
• keeps results optimized  over the long term

There is only one way you can prove to yourself the validity of POWER BRAIN FITNESS.  Be your own scientific research project. Do the program for yourself and OBSERVE YOUR RESULTS! Can you afford to wait? Do it now. And feel free to email me anytime. No one is on this journey alone…