How to ensure that your brain has no abnormal developments or serious issues?

Sometimes there are close to no symptoms that your brain can have any serious issues. Our lifestyle, stress at work, personal problems, acquired brain injuries (injuries that are not instant but are acquired over a long period of time due to certain stress and psychological reasons). Even your own negative thoughts can be the reason for acquired brain injury. Symptoms are sometimes not very much visible and can lead to disastrous health conditions. To prevent yourself from such condition you should consult an expert if you have experienced any of the symptoms like fatigue, vertigo, mental confusion, balance disorder, blurred speech, and sleepiness.

Risks Of Brain Disorders

Brain disorders can lead to severe health conditions depending on the genetics, environment in which person is living and other medical history of the patient. Risks are higher for patients of older age.

How to diagnose brain disorders?

Doctors generally study fluid from brain and spinal cord to find out if there are any infections in brain, bleeding or any other abnormal developments in brain.

Tests on vision, hearing and body balance are also performed to diagnose neurological issues. A thorough diagnosis of brain may also be needed by doctor to find out issues using imaging technologies such as MRI scanning, ct scan or PET scan. Cost of MRI scan is highest compared to other imaging technologies.

Some of the brain diseases are not very complicated and people live normal life in spite of having the disorder but other brain disorder that happen because of some neurodegenerative diseases or traumatic brain injuries, have no cure.

Since there is no cure to some of these diseases, treatment involves training of the patient to effectively live with the disease and behave normally. Patients with these diseases are also trained to live on their own by building up their confidence.

Seven Brain Activities That Will Improve Your Memory

1. Learn a New Language

Learning a new language can benefit you on many levels. Not only does it add to your personal skill set, but it’s also an outstanding brain exercise that can prevent, delay or even reverse memory loss. Language-learning activities will help you remember, recognize and understand words, which will take your cognitive function to a whole new level. Language learning is a great weapon against memory loss that improves vocabulary and grammar, as well as the elements of mental and verbal fluency.

2. Puzzles and Word Games Are Also Great

Another brain exercise that will enrich your general knowledge and help prevent memory loss is playing word games and solving crosswords or other puzzles. It can be Sudoku or a Scrabble game – whatever appeals to you, as long as it stimulates your mind with new words and makes you associate them with objects or actions. It is now known that playing different word games and doing crossword puzzles on a daily basis can significantly reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life.

3. Never Underestimate the Power of Music

Music, and music therapy (commonly referred to as ‘melotherapy’) provides great brain exercise as well, since it not only improves your mental focus but also supports healthy long-term cognitive functioning. While it is claimed that listening to classical music can help babies and young children boost their brainpower and improve verbal fluency skills, music is also a great ‘treatment’ for memory loss. Simply listen to your favorite kind of music on a daily basis, and try to remember the melody or lyrics (and sing or hum along), and you will find it both useful and entertaining.

4. Don’t Be Ashamed to Talk to Yourself

Studies have revealed that people who talk to themselves actually have a lower risk of developing dementia later in life. In other words, talking to yourself and even telling yourself stories is an outstanding way to delay memory loss and to stay focused on important details. Moreover, this is also a great ‘emotional exercise.’ Storytelling has been used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s for a long time, and it has turned out to useful in improving memory function by helping you retain more information.

5. Read Different Books and Try to Remember the Plots

Who doesn’t like to read a good book every once in a while? They say that a man who does not read only lives one life, but one who reads can live a thousand lives. This is why one of the greatest brain exercises you can do to prevent memory loss is to read as much as you can, and as often as you can. From books and essays to newspaper or magazine articles, you should read anything that draws your attention. You can do it in your spare time at home, or while riding the train or waiting in a line. Another great tip is trying to remember the plot of the books you read years ago – it definitely helps strengthen the memory.

6. Try Brain-Building Exercises

There are numerous games and exercises that are specifically designed for boosting your brain. Also, hand-eye coordination is particularly important for stimulating your mind and preventing memory loss. You do not need to exhaust yourself with demanding brain exercises; you can rely on easy or moderate exercises that activate the neurons and the synapses, thus sending immediate messages to the nervous system and helping prevent cognitive deficits.

7. Mnemonic Devices Also Come in Handy

Last, but not least, a mnemonic device is a ‘tool’ that helps you remember things easier. For instance, you can associate a visual image with a name or a word to help you remember a person, or you can associate an acronym with a bigger word. On the other hand, alliterations, rhymes and jokes are three other great ways to remember names, facts, figures and other essential information. These are seven efficient brain exercises that you can rely on to help prevent or delay memory loss as you age. Used individually or combined, these exercises will undoubtedly help you stay focused and alert, both right now and during your senior years.

How Is Modern Technology Improving Our Health?

Medicine and technology go hand in hand whether we realize it or not. How much of a difference is there for the average hospital stay, operation, doctor’s appointment or even managing a chronic illness compared to those of the past? What key developments have pushed the boundaries of the medical world and allowed professionals to care and treat patients much more effectively? Well if you want to find out, you’re in the right place!

Wearable technology is becoming a huge way of improving our health, allowing continuous and discrete monitoring of vital signs. 2016 has seen massive leaps in this area, with Royal Philips releasing a medical-grade biosensor patch aimed at hospital patients that measures vital signs, like respiratory rate, and sends the data to app-based software via Bluetooth to inform a clinician of any issues. GreatCall released Lively Wearable, a wrist or lanyard device that has a button that connects to a specialist team in an emergency. However, not all wearable devices are for emergencies. In the UK, The NHS (National Health Service) are going to trial a digital coaching device for patients with type 1 and 2 diabetes to manage their condition following reports in 2015 that over 20% of diabetes patients had an avoidable hypoglycaemic episode in hospital. All these devices are essentially a way of monitoring a condition, stopping unnecessary hospital trips and potential life threatening emergencies.

Technology providing one of the biggest improvements to our health, especially in the near future, is 3D printing. When Charles W Hull filed his patent for the 3D printer, he never thought that the device would become so popular in the medical world. The first major use surgically was in 1999 when an artificial bladder was transplanted into a patient for the first time, a biodegradable scaffold of their bladder based on a CT scan and cultivated tissue layered upon it. The next leap came with organ printing utilizing a bio-ink replicating tissue, the first example being a non-living kidney printed in 2002. In 2016, scientists created the Integrated Organ and Printing System or ITOP which uses a biodegradable plastic to print tissue shapes and a water-based ink to hold cells and micro-channels open to let air and nutrients flow through. 3D printing is an astonishing subject and could easily have an entire article written on its own with so many enormous leaps in this field. The main problem with 3D biological printing is keeping the cells alive and this is what scientists across the world are trying to crack, but rest assured, when this has been mastered, organ printing will become a huge leap forward, especially for those on the transplant list and the ITOP seems to be the device leading the charge.

Robotic surgery, a far off concept, never to be seen in our lifetimes, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The DaVinci Si is a piece of equipment used in many surgeries in the US including myomectomy, the removal of certain tumors. This system gives surgeons complete control of the operation and provides much less scarring, pain during healing and recovery time as well as drastically lowering the risk of infection. As of yet there are no fully automated surgical procedures but there are numerous studies being carried out and it’s only a matter of time until you’ll go in for major surgery, get patched up and be on your way the next day, an unbelievable achievement all down to advancements in technology.

Computer diagnosis is becoming a more and more cost-effective and feasible option, already being trialled by some hospitals across the world, and why not? Computers are infinitely quicker and less accident prone. A supercomputer called Watson (the same one that beat Jeopardy!) created by IBM, is to help physicians diagnose patients and recommend treatments. Doctors will use Watson to follow patient history, stay up-to-date on medical research and work out treatment options. In 2016, Watson is going to be used to treat 200 patients in New York hospitals such as the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In the University of Indiana a computer similar to Watson using an AI, or Artificial Intelligence, framework was tasked with diagnosing and setting out treatment plans for 500 patients and managed this 42% better than its human counterparts, costing 62% less.

Tailor made treatment plans seem a futuristic idea but as we’ve seen with Watson and others, they’re becoming more and more prevalent in modern medicine. They give patients more efficient, individualised treatments and diagnosis. The tailoring is done via genome sequencing, first completed in 2004’s ‘Human Genome Project’, and is going to seriously reduce costs as well as reduce re-admission, misdiagnoses and the amount of incorrect medication offered. At the moment, these mappings are usually only done in specific trials and in a very small scale but in 2015, at Kansas’ Children’s Mercy Hospital, they used full genome sequencing which took 26 hours, more than 15 hours less than before, due to the newly created Dragen Processor.

Smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi and other Wireless technology has literally removed the tethered nature of accessing medical data in hospitals. Doctors can now view Electronic Health Records by a patient’s bed side or on the move, sharing information, viewing scans and results, giving them the best chance of issuing the most up-to-date diagnosis and treatment. Patients are also more and more able to book appointments and assessments with their doctor remotely via FaceTime, Skype and other software, share pictures and keep track of their treatments much easier. With “Portal technology” they can even view the same records with their doctor during a virtual appointment. These technologies are particularly useful for those living in more rural areas who have to travel or potentially receive second rate care, and those who unable to get an appointment due to other commitments. Dr. Eric Topol said of virtual appointments and electronic medical records that it was medicine’s “Gutenberg moment”.

In just the last 15 years or so, technology has seriously affected how we handle our health and it’s only going to get better and more involved. Technology can and is reducing our use of doctors, cutting costs, speeding up care and giving patients more power whether it be continuous monitoring of vital signs with wearable technology, the idea that if you have a serious issue a robotically fitted replacement can be instantly printed, or whether it’s as simple as your doctor being able to give you up to the minute advice on your condition wherever you are in the world. The Chief executive of the NHS said it best; “Over the next decade major health gains won’t just come from a few miracle cures, but also from combining diverse breakthroughs in fields such as biosensors, medtech and drug discovery, mobile communications, and AI computing”. Whatever the outcome, just remember that our generation’s technological advances aren’t only great for killing time and making life easier, they’re also drastically affecting our health and wellbeing.

How to ensure that your brain has no abnormal developments or serious issues?

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