November 1, 2021 - EyeClarity Podcast
This is a bit from a class I did recently on Neuroplasticity. We talked about how to increase your brain health naturally, even if you work in front of a computer all day. We also connect that increase in brain health to an increase in eye health and longetivty. Enjoy the show. If you want more, sign up for my newsletter at: www.drsamberne.com.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
neuroplasticity, brain, eyes, structure, bifocals, brain cells, function, neurons, important, exercise, called, working, modulators, blink, optometrist, oxygenation, macula, aspect, degeneration, rehabilitation
Hello, everyone, it’s Dr. Sam, I’d like to welcome you to my EyeClarity podcast. This is a show that offers cutting-edge information on how to improve your vision and overall wellness through holistic methods. I so appreciate you spending part of your day with me. If you have questions, you can send them to hello@drsamberene.com. Now to the latest EyeClarity episode.
No one knows for sure, but the latest estimate is that our brains contain roughly 86 billion brain cells 86 billion. Now each neuron can transmit 1000 nerve impulses per second, and make as many as 10s of 1000s of synaptic contacts with other neurons. All brain cells are not alike. There are as many as 10,000 specific types of neurons in the brain. And in class number two, I’m going to go into some of the most important modulators in brain function. Other two that are really important for neuroplasticity, one is called acetylcholine, and the other is called epinephrine. So how do we stimulate those through our diet? Through natural methods, there are ways that you can certainly increase through pharmaceutical sources, I’m not really into that I’m not really in the pharmaceutical drugs, I only say take them when you need them. But because of the side effects and the synthetic nature of pharmaceuticals, how are there natural ways that you can increase these brain modulators. And we’ll talk about in class number two. Another fast fact about the brain is that the brain needs a constant supply of oxygen, as little as five minutes without oxygen can cause some of the brain cells to die. And this can lead to brain damage.
So we need to really think about how we can improve our breathing practice get more oxygenation, flowing, throwing in flowing into the brain, and throughout the entire body. Now I’m going to talk a little bit about the development of neuroplasticity. And for those of you that are parents out there, you can attest to the teenage brains are not fully informed. And what I mean by that is that the teenage brains are not developed until we reach about age 25. Now, once we hit 25, our access to neuroplasticity changes. So how do we maintain that accessibility? Because most of us are over 25 in this class? How do we do that, and I’m going to show you ways that you can access the neuroplasticity even as you get into your 60s 70s and even 80s. Last, last thing I’ll say about the brain is that the brain can process an image that your eyes have seen for as little as 13 milliseconds, less time than it takes to blink. And we’re going to work with our eyes today and our brain with a focusing exercise that’s going to help you with things like visual memory, attention, focus. And these particular aspects, especially through the eyes, is one of the best ways to activate your neuroplasticity. And I’m going to share some research that I did, working with trauma patients around this particular practice. And we’re going to move to the next slide. And this is an important concept here for you to get and that is called the eye brain connection. And that is this that the eyes originate from the brain prenatally. So every structure of the eyeball is brain tissue from the eyelids, all the way back to the optic nerve. And so when we’re working with the eyes, we’re working with an extension of the brain. So what is the definition of neuroplasticity, you can go on the internet. And there are hundreds of scientists that are talking about neuroplasticity.
04:22
It is called neural plasticity. You may see it as that or blink brain plasticity. And it’s the ability of neural networks in the brain and nervous system. So I’m going to bring in the nervous system here. That’s going to help in the change through growth and reorganization. If we go a little deeper another way to say it is that neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to modify, change and adapt both the structure and the function throughout life and in response to experience. Now, this particular aspect of structure and function are very important because most neuroscientists stay in the world of structure and they don’t move into the world of function.
Now, myself being a rehabilitation therapist, as an optometrist, well, that’s kind of a unique combination optometrist eye doctor, who’s also thinking about rehabilitation is unusual. But in my training, what I realized was, and what I observed clinically, is that the way we use our eyes, the way we use our brain, the way we use our body, eventually affects the structure. So I’ll give you an example. Let’s say that you are an IT person, and you’re working on your computer all day. And let’s say you’re in the 40 to 50 age range, and you’re starting to need bifocals, and you go to your local ophthalmologist, and he says, Jane, you know, you’re turning 45, you can’t see the print anymore. This is a normal aging, normal aging process. And so here’s a pair of progressive gradient, bifocals. These are bifocals that split into three different parts. And so you go back to your job, and you go, wow, these are hard to get used to. And you have to find the right piece of the right part of the lens to focus through, which is a very tiny part of the entire lens. And you continue to do that for say, another year. And you notice that some of your detail now is distorted when you look at it, and you go back to him.
And he says, Oh, you now have age related macular degeneration. You go, Oh, my God, how did this happen? You know, I mean, I eat well, I exercise a healthy lifestyle. And then they find somebody like me, and they go to somebody like me. And they, I say to them, you know, the optical system you’re looking through is putting incredible pressure on your macula, because that’s the only part of the vision that you’re using. And so this is the reason why you’re developing macular degeneration because you’re only using your Macula while you’re focusing on the computer seven or eight hours a day. And so we take you out of the progressive lens, and we give you a single Venge single vision lens that you use just for the computer. We put a blue blocker in there, we have you start taking some very intensive carotenoids like lutein, Z Xanthan as to xantham. We do some eye exercises, and the macular returns to normal. So there you go. That’s how function can stay can change structure and all the things that you sent me everything that you sent me about the things that you have you’ve been diagnosed with. There probably is a functional aspect to why the structure has let you down why the anatomy has let you down.
Thank you for listening. I hope you learned something from the EyeClarity podcast show today. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe on iTunes or Spotify and leave a review. See you here next time.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More