Loops
February 2021
Like a nauseating loop-de-loop ride, stress and illness encircle me. I want off this pandemic ride!! It’s given me brain fog, tears, PTSD and daily anxiety, not to mention what it’s done to my immune system. When stress handed my brain the ticket into this Bermuda Triangle of a ride, I thought, “A couple of cycles around the wheel, then on to the next attraction.” But here I am, still wanting this pandemic to be over. It’s like the carnival chant, “round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows.”
The loud announcements in this Tunnel of Terrors and the sass talk back and forth between the brain’s amygdala, nucleus accumbens and the hippocampus* have kept me awake at night and closed the dictionary in my brain. (“You know…what’s that word?”) My digestive tract gurgles, and I’m in full-blown worry mode.
My poor brain. Definitely running on empty. The brain has a budget of energy withdrawals to get me standing, keep me moving and help me emotionally navigate the sadness. The ledger is surely out of whack right now. I need to make some deposits.
Since the brain sees no difference in mental and physical expenditures, deposits can be either one, which broadens the possibilities for replenishing this greedy little organ. If I’m freaking out, which happens, I can help the mental overdraft with something physical like breathing, sleeping or eating a healthy meal. It’s all the same to the brain. Help is help. My comforts may be unique or universal: from massage to reading, from talk therapy to dark chocolate.
Thank goodness, nutrition is a deposit for our depleted brains.
The hippocampus, a major player in controlling stress:
· Creates new neurons and new pathways
· Site of neuroplasticity for brain rewiring
· Makes and stores memories
· Interprets information and organizes it into long-term retrieval systems
· Sensory and motor relay
· Processes experience and produces adaptive behaviors in response
· Activated along with amygdala after emotional event
A weakened hippocampus loses focus and may lose neurons. Importantly, new neurons created in the hippocampus can help to stop the merry-go-round of fear.
Nutrition is being examined as a piece of the anti-anxiety puzzle, as a boon for the brain. Both animal and human studies have verified that being well nourished helps decrease apprehension and fortifies the ability to deal with overwhelming situations.
Feed and nourish the hippocampus
· Enrich the microbiome
· Microbiome produces, maintains and responds to neurotransmitters
· Choose fermented foods
· The microbiome requires fiber, especially inulin, a plant fiber
· Inulin stars: fennel bulb, sun chokes, garlic, onion and leeks
· Omega 3s are anti-inflammatory
· DHA, an omega-3, is 20-30% of the brain
· Higher omega 3s may increase hippocampus size
When it comes to the brain, size does matter
· Add anthocyanins with blueberries and other blue and purple foods
Include black rice and black beans for more anthocyanins
· Decrease added sugar and greasy foods
· Exercise
· Eat a nutrient dense, lower calorie diet
To nourish my whole being, I recall this line from Amanda Gorman’s poem. “Somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken, but simply unfinished.” As a human who’s weathered these exhausting times, I claim that promise: I’m not broken, but simply unfinished. And I’ll do all I can ~~ from healthy foods to compassion ~~ to bring healing all the way to the off-ramp of this wild ride.
*For more information about the brain’s loop of stress, the amygdala, the nucleus accumbens and the hippocampus, see my May 18 blog post, “A Scrim of Anxiety.”
All photos from my life in Seattle