3 Ways to Heal Your Brain At Home

One of the things that I'm trained to do as a functional neurologist is to look at the human body from a holistic standpoint. I don't separate the brain from the gut or the thyroid from the brain, etc. I look at it as a complete whole. 

As a neurologist, though, I'm trained to understand that the nervous system controls everything. It's one of the master regulators of our body. So from a neurological standpoint, what I call the gut, is actually known as an end organ. 

Within the brain, there are specific regions of the nervous system such as the parietal insula, vestibular cortex, the insula cortex, the brain stem, and the vagus nerve. All of these control gut function. 

Many times patients have these chronic digestive symptoms, chronic thyroid issues, or chronic hormone issues, They may even have a history of some type of brain symptom or brain trauma.

Most likely, the root cause for that is...

🚫 Not in their gut
🚫 Not in their thyroid
🚫 Not in their hormones

It's actually located in the neural networks within their nervous system.

I feel blessed to have access to all of these advanced brain-based technologies, not only so I can use them on my own brain, but also for all of my patients. 

Of course, not everyone has access to these things. The great thing is about our brains, and many of the methods I use to help my patients heal is that we're using our senses to activate different regions of our nervous system. As a result, you can do this at home without any fancy technologies. 

Gargling

As an example, one easy and simple way to activate your vagus nerve to help shift you from the state of fight or flight to one of resting, digesting and healing is by simply gargling with warm water. 

When you gargle with warm water, not only are you exercising the muscles of your soft palate, but you're also activating the region of your nervous system that controls those muscles that we call the vagus nerve. 

Belly Massage

In addition, the vagus nerve also conveys information from our digestive system. So another great way to activate your vagus nerve safely and noninvasively on your own is by simply doing a gentle belly massage.

Lightly push and move your hand around your belly and feel if you have any areas of tension.

If you do, if there's any painful points just pushing in there and taking deep conscious breaths into those areas. 

Breathing

Speaking of breathing, some patients of mine have an overactive mesencephalon. This essentially causes them to struggle with a few issues. One is that they tend to hold their breath a lot and oftentimes they're not even aware of it. That ends up creating more carbon dioxide, resulting in more anxiety, pain, and increased light and sound sensitivity. 

So a simple thing you can do if you struggle with those symptoms is to breathe. Breathe in for 5 seconds and out for 10 seconds. When you do this, you literally blow out more carbon dioxide, thereby reducing the overactivity of your mesencephalon. 

I just love the brain because I believe that the key to living an extraordinary life is having a really healthy and vibrant brain that's beaming with energy. 

To your Total Health, 

Dr. Titus Chiu